Terence Crawford wins Best Fighter ESPY over Justin Gaethje

Terence Crawford upset Justin Gaethje to win Best Fighter at the 2026 ESPY Awards, marking his third trophy from the ceremony despite being retired from boxing.

Gaethje closed as a minus-600 favourite at sportsbooks after consecutive wins over Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria made him the UFC lightweight champion, per MMA Mania. Crawford, who retired undefeated last fall after moving up to defeat Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed middleweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super middleweight title, was listed at plus-250.

Gaethje's manager calls ESPY result 'mind blowing'

Ali Abdelaziz, who manages Gaethje, called the result shocking. "It's crazy how Crawford wins ESPY's over Justin Gaethje is mind blowing," Abdelaziz wrote on social media. "Justin won two fights in six months where in both fights he was an underdog and the last fight he was a 7-to-1 underdog."

Crawford, who owns a 42-0 record with 31 knockouts, posted his reaction on social media. "Retired but still in my winning season," he wrote. "Three-time undisputed and three-time ESPY Award winner. Blessing on blessings."

ESPN folded all combat sports into one Best Fighter category for 2026 after previously splitting boxing and MMA. Crawford beat fellow boxers Claressa Shields and Gabriela Fundora in addition to Gaethje. Crawford previously won the award at the 2024 ceremony, when UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley took the separate Best UFC Fighter prize over Alex Pereira.

Reported via:

• MMA Mania — ESPY winners 2026: Terence Crawford scores ‘mind blowing’ upset, wins ‘Best Fighter’ over UFC’s Justin Gaethje