This decision has really been twisting my brain.
Just counting W's, Tybura would be above Dern... but Der
n's striking was so amateurish that you have to recognize the difference in how big that gap was that she has now covered. I actually wrote her off after her performance vs Ribas, but it turns out that Ribas is just that good. Her striking did show improvement though in the Ribas fight. Then here comes 2020 & she looks like a whole different striker. I had this feeling like "is that even the same person?" lol... & so it's hard not to appreciate the extreme contrast that gave her a very surprising 2020. imo.
It's interesting making this comparison to a guy like Ortega who also upped his game from a grappling heavy strategy to improved striking... & although he only had one fight while Dern had 3... Ortega's guy was top of teh food chain, so he gets a lot of xtra credit for that. Tybura did good too with his 4 wins, but old man Rothwell was his only semi-higher level win... & even Dern is only just now coming into site of the upper end of the division.
Teh kid who grew up in poverty...Ortega ...hooked up with Halle Berry though (for BJJ training) so he gets my vote.
Dats teh true true.
Haha... I think any of these 3 are well deserving of it & I needed some kind of criteria to go off of because their situations were so different, so there ya go.
Hooking up with Halle givez him a lifetime achievement award after growing up with the deck stacked against him. The absolutely fantastic improvement in his striking to comeback after an ACL injury & long lay off gives him my vote.