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CBS Sports Illustration

This year for Bellator MMA saw potential stars emerge, a decorated champion regain his crown and veterans reach the pinnacle. One combatant was a notch above the rest in 2022, a feeling the fighter is quite familiar with.

Patricio Pitbull, considered by many the greatest competitor in Bellator history, was unanimously voted by CBS Sports' expert panel as the Bellator Fighter of the Year after reclaiming and defending his featherweight championship. It was a return to form for a fighter who suffered a crushing loss the year prior but persevered and overcame.

Take a look below at CBS Sports' Bellator Fighter of the Year, as well as the athletes who were deserving of some recognition.

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Winner: Patricio Pitbull 2-0 (def. AJ McKee and Adam Borics)

The 2022 Fighter of the Year is also arguably the promotion's all-time greatest. Pitbull reclaimed the featherweight championship and avenged his first loss in six years against AJ McKee, 2021's Fighter of the Year. Pitbull temporarily put McKee in the rearview mirror, regulating his rival to the co-main event and successfully defending his featherweight crown against Adam Borics in September.

Not satisfied with his long list of accomplishments -- three-time featherweight champion, simultaneous two-division champion, most title fights, most wins and most finishes in Bellator history, among others -- Pitbull has a new challenge ahead of him. Pitbull will represent Bellator on New Year's Eve against RIZIN's featherweight champion Kleber Koike Erbst. Pitbull deserves a standing ovation for bouncing back and re-emerging as Bellator's top dog.

Honorable Mention

Liz Carmouche 2-0 (def. Juliana Velasquez twice)

UFC's loss was Bellator's gain. Carmouche, the first woman to ever fight for the UFC opposite Ronda Rousey, was unceremoniously dumped by the promotion following a loss to women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko in 2019. Any rage Carmouche had was channeled into an explosive Bellator run. Entering 2022 with three straight wins and two stoppages, Carmouche twice finished Juliana Velasquez to cement herself as the undisputed and undoubted Bellator women's flyweight champion. It is a heartwarming outcome for one of MMA's most under-appreciated veterans.

Rafueon Stots/Patchy Mix 2-0

(def. Juan Archuleta and Danny Sabatello/Kyoji Horiguchi and Magomed Magomedov)

Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix finalists Stots and Mix share this spot without the benefit of future sight. Interim bantamweight champion Stots and former title challenger Mix have emerged as the last two standing and will fight for the interim title and the $1 million prize next year. Both deserve to be recognized for their efforts in 2022, at least until they can settle the matter for themselves.

Stots cracked former champion Archuleta with a stunning head kick KO in April to win the interim title in an eye-opening performance. Stots had certainly impressed in four prior Bellator showings, but it was the evolution of his dynamic striking that really turned heads. The build-up to his fight against Danny Sabatello in the semifinals was refreshing in its spiritedness. Stots and Sabatello talked a lot of trash in the lead-up. Although the fight will be most remembered for judge Doug Crosby's head-scratching scorecard, the right man won and Stots enters 2023 as interim champion.

Mix was considered something of a dark horse heading into the tournament. Mix had lost to Archuleta in a 2020 bid for the bantamweight title. Subsequent submission finishes of Albert Morales and James Gallagher were promising, but it was a five-round decision win over tournament favorite and former champion Kyoji Horiguchi that really inspired confidence. Mix closed out the year by swarming Magomed Magomedov, snatching a guillotine choke that rendered Magomedov unconscious and secured his date with Stots.