Issue 035

March 2008

Choosing just five of the greatest KO’s in MMA history may be an impossible task. So many fights have ended with devastating punches, kicks, knees, slams and stomps that any list is bound to miss out some spectacular finishes. Nevertheless, we’ve picked out a small selection of some of the most sudden and memorable knockouts of recent years.

Quinton Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona

(PRIDE: Critical Countdown, June 20th 2004)

Oddly, this fight featured not one, but two unusual knockouts. Arona briefly KO’d Jackson with some nasty up-kicks from his back, but didn’t quite finish the American. Given those precious seconds of inaction, Jackson recovered his senses and fought on. A few minutes later the immensely strong American made Arona pay. Working to secure a triangle choke, Arona refused to let go, even as Jackson lifted him skywards for a pro wrestling style ‘powerbomb’. As Arona landed, the back of his head bounced off the mat and his face collided with Jackson’s forehead. It was this crushing double impact that ended the fight in such stunning fashion.

Rob McCullough vs. Olaf Alfonso

(WEC 19: Undisputed, 17^th March 2006)

Lightweight kickboxer Razor Rob ensured his long lasting role in knockout highlight reels to come with his brutal KO of crazy Olaf Alfonso. An unorthodox yet dangerous fighter Alfonso took it to Rob in the first round, but met a crunching left body-kick, right cross combination that sent his mouthpiece flying to the other side of the cage. Alfonso fell to his back and looked to be compus-mentus but was actually operating on reflexes alone. The referee bizarrely ran to the other side of the cage to retrieve the lost gumshield, leaving Alfonso defenceless to Rob’s sickening follow up punches. Alfonso was stretchered out, but recovered enough and was walking around later that evening. 

Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson

(PRIDE 28: High Octane, October 31st 2004)

There’s more to Wanderlei Silva than just stamping on people’s faces. Already holding a stoppage win over Jackson in 2003, he repeated the trick in even more devastating fashion in their rematch. Trapping Jackson in a Muay Thai clinch, Silva unleashed a series of vicious knees to the face that sent Jackson tumbling face down and hanging through the ropes, blood pouring from his face and pooling on the white canvas. 

Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell

(UFC, Ultimate Fighter IV Live Finale, November 11th 2006)

The fight itself was nothing special as Smith and Sell’s chumminess and repeated high-fiving lent it all the drama of a sparring session, but the ending may have been the most exciting of the year. Sell nailed Smith with a perfect bodyshot and the injured fighter backed away, holding his ribs in agony. Sell rushed in hands down for the finish and ran straight onto a desperate right cross that ended the fight in a way that wouldn’t have been out of place in an over-the-top action film. Though Smith won, he was left crawling across the mat. 

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Mirko Cro Cop

(UFC 70, April 21st 2007)

No KO list would be complete without the words ‘Cro Cop’ and ‘high kick’. But this entry isn’t one of his left high kick KO’s of Igor Vovchanchyn, Aleksander Emelianenko or Wanderlei Silva. This time the Croatian striker was the unfortunate recipient of a shin to the face. Gonzaga’s imitation of Cro Cop makes the list for it’s incredible shock value, the destructive perfection of the kick and the way the unconscious Cro Cop landed with his leg gruesomely twisted beneath his limp body.