Issue 134

In MMA, fighters are always looking for an early sub or TKO, but there are some who practically need the stoppage. get the word from those MMA fighters who literally live for the finish...

To a casual UFC fan, when Donald Cerrone knocked out Melvin Guillard at UFC 150 it's likely they only saw ‘Cowboy’ head kick Guillard, and then land a huge right hand to knock him out. It certainly looked spectacular, but there was so much more involved in that moment than most fans could ever fathom.

Fighters like Cerrone crave the finish, and to them it's what makes this job worthwhile. The rush of knocking an opponent out, and knowing you've given them more than they could ever handle is what drives a lot of fighters back inside the Octagon. It's the ultimate act of dominance and, in some ways, it's like a drug. It’s a rush that no other feeling in the world can replicate.

And yet for these KO addicts to get their ‘fix’ they must first go through three specific stages within the fight: 'the opening,' 'the execution' and 'the aftermath.' These three consecutive motions to a finish are exactly what leads a fighter with their specific needs to the thing they crave most: the TKO.

STAGE ONE: THE OPENING

Before the inception of a finish can even occur, there has to be an opening. Being given an opening during a fight is like being given a gift-wrapped present at Christmas or on your birthday. During that moment your adrenaline surges with the realization that success is in your hands; your chance to finish the fight has arrived.

However, knowing whether or not you've got the opening in the first place can be more difficult than it seems. “You have to find that balance,” explains Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix champion Daniel Cormier. “If you see the opening, then you have to attack it, but you need to set the trap before you can attempt to do anything. 

“The kill-shot can be difficult to find in MMA. When I fought (Josh) Barnett, I'd kicked him in the head and had him on 'queer street,' but I couldn't find that shot. You have to find the shot that changes a guy from being hurt to a guy being at the end of a fight.”

Some fighters are like Cormier, and look for that specific moment when they find an opening, but in the case of UFC welterweight striker Che Mills, he allows the moment to just come naturally. “I don't usually see the opening, and that might sound strange, but I don't, it just happens. It's almost like for a split-second, you're surprised your opponent dropped. I never go looking for the knockout. 

“The reason why is that sometimes people look for the knockout, but don't get it and end up burning themselves out and losing the fight. They've spent a whole round and a half trying to knock someone out and suddenly they've got nothing left, I'm not going to let that be me.”

STAGE TWO: THE EXECUTION

Execution, by its definition, is the exact and specific moment KO-hungry fighters crave. The moment when their fist, knee, or shin makes clean contact with a chin, head or torso, rendering their opponent limp and motionless on the mat, is the split second when the drug really kicks in. 

When discussing his first knockout, Cormier cracks a wide smile. “It was unbelievable (getting his first knockout). I was fighting John Devine in Fresno and I caught him with a right hook. He was a big guy, but he went down like a tree. The feeling of knocking someone out, it's almost like lightning going through your body. You can feel it all connecting, from your shoulders, to your elbow, to your fist. You can feel it all come together. It's a pretty unbelievable feeling.”

Mills introduced himself to mixed martial arts fans across the world with a stunning knockout of Chris Cope at UFC 138 last year, and even though he exudes confidence due to the fact he’s such a dangerous finisher, that didn't stop him from still being surprised at how quick a fight can finish.

“Like I said before, it's almost like a surprise when it actually happens. In reality, it only takes a split second to realize what you've done, but you do get taken back a little bit. When it happens I'm always slightly shocked. If they're out straight away then I let them go, but if they're not out straight away, as soon as I'm past the shock, I go for the kill.”

STAGE THREE: THE AFTERMATH

The aftermath is the moment these fight finishing fanatics live for. The thrill of being the victor, the screaming fans who go wild after they saw you deliver a brutal finish, the moment when you made your opponent physically shut down. It's a feeling that, according to Cormier (who's had four of them), is impossible to replicate.

“Once it's done and the referee pulls you off, you go through this high,” explains Cormier. “It's a high that you can't really match anywhere else, unless it happens again. It's like you go through this incredible moment, then after that you get completely exhausted. You can hardly get through the post-fight interviews (laughs)." And even though fighters can feel completely drained after a fight, it’s the high from the TKO that brings them back into the gym on a Monday morning. Addicted to knockouts, this is the junkie life of a UFC finisher.

WHEN THE TKO BITES BACK!

Famously, heavyweight finisher Pat Barry’s lust for the knockout cost him dearly in his UFC Live matchup with Cheick Kongo back in 2011. With the Frenchman down, but not out, Barry blazed in for the finish only to walk into a right uppercut that switched his lights out, instead of his opponent's.