Issue 147
November 2016
The definitive list of the most sensational concussive finishes ever seen on MMA’s biggest stages
Out cold 1-11
With one flick of the switch, the lights went out in the cage
Ace out
Le vs. Franklin – UFC on Fuel 6
Cung Le hit the jackpot in Macau with a one-punch finish against a legend.
Hook dreams
Daley vs. Smith – Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu 2
Even the ultimate comeback king couldn’t survive the best left hook in the business.
Axe murderer
Silva vs. Rampage 2 – Pride 28
Silva was deadly in the clinch and left Rampage hanging over the ropes.
Full-frontal assault
Silva vs. Jardine – UFC 84
Wanderlei’s unique brand of violence – in the UFC for the first time in a long time.
The walking dead
Leben vs. Martin – UFC FN 11
‘The Crippler’ was barely conscious, but snatched victory with a huge left hook.
Killa blow
Trujillo vs. Varner – UFC 169
A right hook that looked like it put the former WEC champ in an early grave.
Champion’s charge
Miocic vs. Werdum – UFC 198
The champ chased, caught a fist, faceplanted, and the firefighter took the title.
Crumpled
Abbott vs. Nelmark – UFC Ultimate Ultimate 96
A massive right hand folded ‘Tank’s victim like a piece of garden furniture.
On the charge
Sanchez vs. Riggs – UFC FN 7
‘The Nightmare’ ran like a raging bull and launched his leg into ‘Diesel’s jaw.
Settling the score
Rampage vs. Silva 3 – UFC 92
Revenge. After falling twice to the Brazilian, ‘Rampage’ finally ran him down.
Ready to rumble
Johnson vs. Texeira – UFC 202
We expected a war, but ‘Rumble’ caught a body like we’ve never seen before.
Heavy artillery 12-23
Barrages of strikes that no man could stand up to
Body blow
Wineland vs. Campuzano – WEC 49
The final shot of a big salvo vaporized the poor Mexican-American’s insides.
Liver shot
Rutten vs. DeLucia – Pancrase Truth 6
The master of torso striking won with an accumulated abdomen assault.
Gatling-gun attack
Liddell vs. Ortiz – UFC 47
‘The Iceman’ shut his nemesis up with the most vicious combo seen in the UFC.
Champion’s combo
Henderson vs. Silva – Pride 33
It started with a spinning back-fist and ended with a rare left-handed H-bomb.
The best eva
Baroni vs. Menne – UFC 39
A quick finish against the cage with all the speed of machine-gun fire.
Karate combination
Machida vs. Evans – UFC 98
More than 20 blows made Rashad pull one of the craziest faces we’ve ever seen.
Phenomenal
Belfort vs. Silva – UFC Brazil
‘The Phenom’ earned his nickname with an unstoppable bombardment of strikes.
Out of nowhere
Alexander vs. Jardine – UFC 71
No one knew who this muscled man was until he socked up ‘The Dean of Mean’.
The answer
Edgar vs. Maynard – UFC 136
After 12 rounds, the champ finally put a stamp on this trilogy to keep his belt.
Pounded on the ground
Liddell vs. Couture 2 – UFC 52
The first punch came from nowhere, then the finishing blows put Randy to sleep.
Tekken moves
Hall vs. Mousasi – UFC FN 75
A spinning back-kick, flying knee and punches straight out of a video game.
Accumulated
Gaethje vs. Palomino 2 –
WSOF 23
It takes a lot to finish Peruvian-American brawler Palomino, but ‘The Highlight’ prevailed after another all-out war. However, it took a cavalcade of crushing combinations to finally put the challenger away and conclude another epic wild brawl.
Canny kicking 24-33
One leg goes up, the other fighter goes down
Soccer shot
Nastyukhin vs. Lisita – One Championship 43
A sight rarely seen outside of Asia – a brutal kick on the mat after six seconds.
Big boot
Curran vs. Sandro – Bellator 48
The Brazilian was known as a KO artist, but he was the one punted across the cage.
Taste of his own medicine
Gonzaga vs. Cro Cop – UFC 70
The jiu-jitsu expert flattened the kickboxer for a huge upset.
Axe to grind
Cro Cop vs. Silva – Pride
Final Conflict 2006
‘The Axe Murderer’ was chopped down by The Croatian’s patented finishing strike.
Giant slayer
Cro Cop vs. Emelianenko – Pride Final Conflict 2004
A high kick so mighty, it toppled a six-foot-four Russian in the first round.
Left kick – cemetery
Cro Cop vs. Vovchanchyn – Pride Total Elimination 2002
The left high kick par excellence. One shot cracked the Ukrainian’s iron chin.
Heard around the world
Holm vs. Rousey – UFC 193
One of the biggest upsets in UFC history on its biggest stage. A true giant slaying.
Timberrrrrr
Evans vs. Salmon – UFC FN 8
The best kick ‘Suga’ ever threw felled a man with a fishy name.
First in the face
Williams vs. Coleman – UFC 17
The first head-kick KO in the UFC is still one of the best – 12 years later.
Shin to chin
Pettis vs. Lauzon – UFC 144
‘Showtime’ kicked off the main card of the UFC’s return to Japan with a bang.
High flying 34-43
One man lifts off, their opponent crashes to the canvas
Call the shot
Fisher vs. Wiman – UFC 60
‘Handsome’ Matt pointed to the sky, and Fisher flew in for a one-shot finish.
Soaring strike
Condit vs. Kim – UFC 132
‘The Natural Born Killer’ takes out his Korean opponent in violent style.
Broken-skull strike
Page vs. Cyborg – Bellator 158
A strike that connected with such venom, it broke bone inside Santos’ head.
Nasty by name & by nature
Nastyukhin vs. Folyang – One FC 23
If the flying knee wasn’t enough, the soccer kicks certainly were.
Panther’s pounce
Rodriguez vs. Fili – UFC 197
‘El Pantera’ put the Alpha Male down as quickly as he jumped up.
Leaping lay-out
Almeida vs. Pickett – UFC 189
Brazil’s 135lb KO artist showed Chute Boxe’s striking spirit is alive and well.
Bounding blow
Hunt vs. Struve – UFC on Fuel 8
Yes, even the ‘Super Samoan’ got airborne to deliver a leaping left hand.
Soar & smash
Irvin vs. Martin – UFC 54
‘The Sandman’ put the UFC debutant to sleep just nine seconds into round two.
Aerial assault
Head kick & punches – UFC 49
The ‘Thugjitsu Master’ chased ’The Punk’ and launched his shin into his face.
The Crane Technique
Machida vs. Couture –
UFC 129
“Called crane technique,” said Mr Miyagi to Daniel San in The Karate Kid. “If do right, no can defense.” This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen at the highest level of mixed martial arts, but ‘The Dragon’ showed you can lift a finishing move from the movies and use it to defeat one of the most iconic fighters of all time. Couture took this challenge as the last of his career because he thought Machida’s karate style of striking would be an interesting challenge to overcome, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy. “It takes you some time to try to get used to seeing what you’re seeing and until you get used to it, you get hit with a lot of different things, things that you don’t expect that come from weird places,” he said before the fight. That turned out to be an accurate prediction, as ‘The Natural’ flinched at a left-foot fake then got leveled as the Brazilian’s right appendage connected flush with his chin in front of a record crowd at the UFC’s first stadium show in Toronto, Canada. A finish – and a $129,000 check for ‘Knockout of the Night’ – that was worthy of the occasion.
Out of the blue 44-54
Sudden explosions that brought the curtain down quick
Superman punch
Kato vs. Schilling – Bellator 139
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Hisaki Kato and he’s come to beat a pure striker at his own game.
The art of eight limbs
Silva vs. Fryklund – Cage Rage
‘The Spider’ gave us a glimpse of the ability that was about to make him a UFC great with this unorthodox reverse back-elbow.
Back from the dead
Kongo vs. Barry – UFC on Versus 4
Cheick Kongo was out on his feet, then hit the greatest come-from-behind KO the world has ever seen.
Knee from nowhere
Mir vs. Cro Cop – UFC 119
One of the UFC’s dullest main events got saved by one the most shocking finishes – nobody saw it coming.
Boom, blast & ruin
Aldo vs. Mendes – UFC 142
Aldo turned a bad position around to floor ‘Money’ with a knee strike with the force of a shotgun blast.
Stockton strike
Diaz vs. Lawler – UFC 47
With one straight arm, Diaz made one of MMA’s most reliable chins crumble.
Showstopper
Weidman vs. Silva – UFC 162
While Silva was busy clowning around, ‘The All-American’ kept his cool, then shocked the world.
Front-kick comeback
Browne vs. Overeem – UFC FN 26
After taking a beating early on, ‘Hapa’ earned ‘Comeback of the Year’ for this long-legged effort.
Hands of Stone
Stout vs. Edwards - UFC 131
Four years without a finish, then the Canadian found this in his locker. Check please, Dana.
Counter comeback
Lawler vs. Manhoef – Strikeforce Miami
He almost had his leg kicked off, but ‘Ruthless’ planted his feet and unleashed the fury from his fists.
Front kick to the face
Silva vs. Belfort – UFC 126
If there was any doubt before this, Anderson Silva cemented himself as the most lethal and creative striker since mixed martial arts began in this all-Brazilian title encounter. It captured a nation’s imagination and made ‘The Spider’ a star in his homeland. But this wasn’t his usual sort of stoppage. A counter-striker by trade – this time he took the lead. On his toes after Belfort charged forward with punches moments before, Silva reset himself to set up a simply unbelievable finish. He looked low, then aimed high as he sent the sole of his foot straight into ‘The Phenom’s face. His eyes rolled a full 360 degrees as he fell back onto the canvas, where he was assaulted again by two follow-up shots that were delivered with deadly accuracy – coffin nails hammered in with no hesitation. Despite only making it to number nine on Sports Center’s list of the top 10 plays of that day, it was hailed as the number-one KO of all time by the UFC in 2013.
Bombs away 55-65
Some of the hardest haymakers ever thrown – and landed!
Nap time
Rizzo vs. Barnett – UFC 30
‘The Baby Faced Assassin’ got staggered by a hook, then melted with a straight shot.
Throw from the hip
Stephens vs. dos Anjos – UFC 91
A huge wind-up followed by a huge uppercut to send a future champ flying.
Flat out
Rousey vs. Correia – UFC 190
‘Rowdy’ showed the Brazilian who ruled Rio with her biggest ever punch.
Photoshop fodder
Vila vs. Warren – Bellator 51
The punch that inspired a thousand memes featuring the ‘Baddest Man’.
Fireball
Gomi vs. Azeredo – Pride Bushido 7
A dynamite blow blasted the Brazilian across the ring and into the ropes.
Guy swatter
Guillard vs. Davis – UFC 60
‘The Young Assassin’ hit so hard, it looked like a sniper had done his work for him.
Ear-wiggle uppercut
Dos Santos vs. Werdum – UFC 90
The impact was so hard, ‘Vai Cavalo’s lugs shook until he dropped to the ground.
Decapitation technique
Emelianenko vs. Rogers – Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers
‘The Last Emperor’s go-to punch was designed to take heads clean off and Brett ran right into it.
Hail Mary
Smith vs. Sell – TUF 4 finale
Almost crumpled by a body shot, ‘Hands of Steel’ won with the ultimate last-chance strike as Sell rushed in.
Over the top
Shogun vs. Machida 2 – UFC 113
Rua was mugged by the judges in the first fight, but he made sure they weren’t needed this time around.
H-bomb
Henderson vs. Bisping – UFC 100
If there was a Manhattan Project for MMA, it would have created Dan Henderson’s nuclear right hand. And at the UFC’s biggest ever showcase, if the former Pride champ was the Enola Gay, Michael Bisping was Hiroshima – the target of an atomic strike. The Brit was the American former Pride champion’s antagonist for six weeks of The Ultimate Fighter and ‘Hendo’ wanted nothing more than to detonate his fist on his face. ‘The Count’ had to stay away from it at all costs, but he played directly into the right hand of his rival. Circling to his left with his chin in the air, it was a matter of time before a megaton payload was dropped on his jaw. Midway through round two, destruction struck. Using the classic Team Quest inside-leg kick, Henderson forced his nemesis to step back, then unleashed his ‘Little Boy’ and, boom! Just for good measure, he dropped a ‘Fat Man’ too, for more certain destruction – and hand out a nice bit of revenge.
Walk-off shots 66-74
Sometimes, you just know one strike is enough to end it
Big Country
Nelson vs. Nogueira – UFC FN 39
Abu Dhabi witnessed ‘Big Nog’ get stretched by a cataclysmic power punch.
Zombie killer
Roop vs. Jung – WEC 51
Proof you don’t have to use a chainsaw to stop a marauding ‘Korean Zombie’.
Down goes quarry
Franklin vs. Quarry – UFC 56
Stretched out, stiff as a board and in need of an ambulance – stat.
ONE + two = win no. 3
Silva vs. Sakuraba 3 – Pride Total Elimination 2003
Silva’s power one-two completed a hat-trick of wins against his Japanese rival.
Knee from nowhere
Hansen vs. Uno – Hero’s 1
The first of ‘Hellboy’s three career-defining catastrophic walk-away knee strike finishes.
Step off
Hunt vs. Nelson – UFC FN 52
The heaviest right hand in the business makes the most crushing KO seem casual.
Violent beauty
Rutten vs. Funaki – Pancrase 1996 Anniversary
The final blow of an absolute massacre and the apex of ‘El Guapo’s career in Japan.
Put on ice
Evans vs. Liddell – UFC 88
‘Suga’ froze ‘The Iceman’ and silenced the arena in Atlanta as he sent him to sleep.
Humiliation
Silva vs. Griffin – UFC 101
‘The Spider’ crushed the original Ultimate Fighter with the most embarrasing blow he ever took.
Power slams 75-80
Few and far between, but almost automatic entries onto this list
Powerbomb
Rampage vs. Arona – Pride Critical Countdown 2004
A powerbomb that belonged in the pro-wrestling ring by the king of the slam.
She slams, she slams
Kaufman vs. Modafferi – Strikeforce Challengers 7
The most terrifying defense of a title ever seen in women’s MMA.
Buried alive
Wineland vs. Stone – WEC 53
A rough welcome to the blue cage for Stone, who left out cold on a stretcher.
Deadly dump
Ortiz vs. Tanner – UFC 30
A signature finish for Ultimate Fighting Championship’s early-days poster boy.
Injury inducer
Shamrock vs. Zinoviev – UFC 16
‘The Legend’ caused a KO, a broken collarbone and fractured vertebra. Ouch.
Finish from the farm
Hughes vs. Newton – UFC 34
The country-boy way to escape a triangle choke – with a piledriver.
Quick as a flash 81-89
Some of the fastest stoppages ever seen – blink and you’ll miss ’em
Elbows unleashed
Goodridge vs. Herrera – UFC 8
Trapped in the crucifix, there was no escape from ‘Big Daddy’s horrifying attack.
Six-second shooter
Ludwig vs. Goulet – UFC FN 3
The official’s clock said 12 seconds, but we all know ‘Bang’ shot Goulet down in six.
Just like that
Jimmo vs. Perosh – UFC 149
The quickest UFC debut victory took ‘The Big Deal’ just seven seconds.
Hit and run
Hendricks vs. Fitch – UFC 141
Boom! ‘Bigg Rigg’ erased one of the toughest welterweights ever with his first punch.
Precision beats power
McGregor vs. Aldo – UFC 194
‘The Notorious’ backed up all of his talk with the fastest ever UFC championship KO.
Prodigious punches
Penn vs. Uno – UFC 34
A flurry of strikes against the fence ended this 155lb title eliminator in a hurry.
Like Lightning
Lombard vs. Silva – Bellator 18
Hector Lombard lived up to his name with the fastest ever finish in the circular cage.
One, two, three, knee
Yamamoto vs. Miyata – Hero’s 5
‘Kid’ flew across the ring in four seconds to concuss his opponent.
Spin city 90-99
Special strikes set up in 360-degree majesty
Human highlight reel
Loiseau vs. McCarthy – UFC 53
How to turn a man into a gif-fodder with one devastating spinning back-kick.
Back-fist twist
Reyes vs. Payan – Bellator 6
One of Bellator’s greatest ever finishes, six weeks into its existence.
Ring the alarm
Kim vs. Hathaway – TUF China Finale
We’re throwing elbows. ‘Stun Gun’ sent shockwaves with a revolving one-shot KO.
Big wheel
Dos Santos vs. Hunt – UFC 160
A special spinning wheel-kick needed to crack the ‘Super Samoan’s granite head.
Rotate & deflate
Newton vs. Lawal – Bellator 106
‘The Hardcore Kid’ beat ‘King Mo’ to the Bellator crown in an incredible upset.
Belt-winning back-kick
Barao vs. Wineland – UFC 165
The champ defended his strap with a twisting bolt from the blue.
The original spin
Carter vs. Serra – UFC 31
The first whirling Octagon finish courtesy of the most fly guy on the roster.
Bring it back-fist
Makdessi vs. Watson – UFC 129
A decade later, majestic technique brought the UFC’s second spinning back-fist.
For heel
Belfort vs. Rockhold – UFC on
FX 8
The former champ had no answer for ‘The Phenom’s sensational kick.
Knock ’em stiff
WMMA Awards Winner 2012
Barboza vs. Etim – UFC 142
If knockouts were judged for aesthetics, this would score a perfect 10 every time. Everything that goes into creating a great KO was present and correct when Edson Barboza flattened Terry Etim on home soil. It began with an example of beautiful technique, as the Brazilian pivoted on his toes to spin smoothly in the center of the cage. Then he connected perfectly with his heel right in the middle of the Englishman’s face to make him go stiff as a board and topple onto his back while ‘Junior’ stood back and admired his work. Finally, he didn’t leap around in celebration. He didn’t jump on top of the cage. The Rio native dropped to his knees and praised God for giving him the physical gifts to thrill UFC fans with one of the most sublime slices of striking seen in mixed martial arts competition. His ‘Knockout of the Night’ check and World MMA Awards prize for ‘Knockout of the Year’ were well deserved.
