Everyone loves knockouts. Here’s our list of the most iconic and memorable knockouts ever in the UFC! Relive MMA KO glory with us!
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been around for a long time. Since its inception in the early 90s, the company has held countless world record-breaking events and martial arts spectacles. One of the biggest crowd draws remains the magic of a momentous knockout.
Despite wrestling and BJJ gaining a lot of respect among fight fans over the years, there’s nothing quite like a good knockout. So let’s look at some of the most iconic knockouts in UFC history:
Five most brutal and memorable knockouts in UFC history
1. The Spider Kick
Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva is not just the UFC middleweight champ with the highest string of title defenses. Despite his humble demeanor has some of the most spectacular knockouts in UFC history.
Now, we could include the Forrest Griffin TKO or the face-shattering knee that ‘The Spider’ gave to Rich Franklin. But we want go with the iconic spider kick that leveled Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort at UFC 126 and made ‘The Spider’ a GOAT among fight fans.
The kick came out of nowhere and put Belfort’s chin in his forehead remains at top UFC highlight reel. Michael ‘Iron’ Chandler recently put Tony ‘El Cucuy’ Ferguson at to sleep at UFC 279 with the Spider Kick. But you gotta give respect to the OG and here it is below.
2. The Showtime Kick
For those who have been fans of the UFC and MMA for a while, the names Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis and Benson ‘Smooth’ Henderson are not new. In fact, these headliners have the most outlandish knockout in UFC history. At UFC 164, Pettis bounced off the cage and landed a flying roundhouse to Benson Henderson’s face.
The knockout instantly shot Pettis to UFC stardom and had him raking in money from multiple brand deals and future fights. It is seriously one of the most spectacular knockouts we have ever seen in the UFC and if you haven’t seen, you should check it out right here.
3The Street Knee-sus
Many UFC fans didn’t know Ben ‘Funky’ Askren before he was famously knocked out by Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal at UFC 239. The flying knee knockout is the fastest UFC history at five seconds and it put a permanent dent in Askren’s flawless MMA career.
Before this, Askren was an undefeated Welterweight champion for over a decade at Bellator MMA and One Championship. Seriously, if you are one for brutal career-halting knockouts, then this is definitely one you should not miss.
4. When that H-bomb Landed
Dan “Hendo’ Henderson and Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping are both UFC legends. And the build-up to their second fight at UFC 204 had everyone on the edge of their seat. It was a young trash-talking brash-acting Michael Bisping against a strong and stoic Dan Henderson.
Bisping trash-talked all the way to the cage and a lot of the fans believed that someone needed to shut him up. So, when ‘Hendo’ his dreaded right cross on Bisping for a lights-out KO, the crowd erupted like never before. Henderson delivered on fan expectations in such spectacular fashion that this is still one of the top-ranked knockouts in UFC history. Have a look yourself
5. Crowning of the Red King
Okay, so this one is not exactly a knockout. In fact, the knockout part here does not even matter. What matters is the sheer display of heart and grit that both Robbie ‘Ruthless’ Lawler and Rory ‘Red King’ MacDonald put on display. If you ever imagine a no-f*cks given street brawl, this is as close as any UFC fight willever get.
Both bloodied and battered fighters fought to exhaustion before Lawler got a TKO on McDonald. This win cemented Lawler’s legacy as one of the Octagon’s all-time greats. Despite his loss, McDonald earned the fans’ respect and the GoT-level nickname, ‘Red King’.
Not surprisingly, this fight is ESPN’s fan-voted best UFC fight ever. It will be remembered as one of the most gut-wrenching ever in UFC’s new era. For many MMA fans, this fight has the epic status few can ever rival. The only one in our memory is the 2002 Pride 21 FC match between Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama voted the manliest fight ever.
That was our list of the most brutal UFC knockouts ever. Do you think we missed any? Tell us in the comments below.
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