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Saturday night at the UFC 131 post-fight press conference, Dana White called Sam Stout’s knockout of Yves Edwards “one of the most brutal — if not the most brutal — knockouts in the history of the UFC.”
That got me to thinking: where does Stout’s pinpoint left hook land on a list of the best knockouts of all-time?
Does it really top every other knockout in UFC history? Does it even make the top 10?
How do you judge these things anyway?
The last question I can answer up front by saying a list like this is completely subjective. The knockouts that knock my socks off may be hum-drum to someone else and vice versa. Just like divisional rankings and the mythical pound-for-pound debate, there really is no right answer.
Note: that doesn’t mean there aren’t wrong answers. No matter how hard you try, you’re not going to convince me that Harold Howard’s knockout of Roland Payne at UFC 3 is the best knockout ever. It’s not. Accept it.
As for the rest of the questions, looks like you’ll have to keep reading to find out those answers.
These are the Top 10 Knockouts in UFC history… in my opinion.
This one had historical significance as well as being a brutal knockout.
For me, this is one fight that really signalled a changing of the guard in the UFC. Liddell was one of the fighters who carried the sport to new heights and became a star in the process, but when Jackson dropped him, there was a pause.
You had to wonder whether Liddell would rise again, and how good guys like Jackson, Dan Henderson and other Pride refugees really were. Not only did it end Liddell’s reign as the top light heavyweight in the world, it started the game of “Hot Potato” that has been played with the 205 pound belt ever since.
Beyond all that, it was a perfectly placed punch, well-timed and right on the button. This punch started to rewrite the way we remember Liddell’s career.
9. Rashad Evans vs. Chuck Liddell – UFC 88
No, I’m not trying to pick on Chuck. I love the guy. He’s one of the reasons I started getting back into this sport after spending “The Dark Ages” in the dark.
That being said, there is no denying this is a nasty knockout. Evans beat Liddell at his own game at UFC 88, pulling the trigger and connecting quicker than “The Iceman” could, the same tactic that carried Liddell to the lofty heights he once called home.
If the knockout loss to “Rampage” was the start of a change, this was the knockout that signaled the next generation had officially taken over. This loss told you Liddell’s days as an elite competitor were over, and that guys like Evans were ushering in a new era in the division and sport.
8. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva – UFC 92
Silva owned a pair of savage knockout victories over Jackson from their days in Pride, and the rivalry remained heated heading into their third meeting. Though “The Axe Murderer” may forever own a 2-1 edge over “Rampage,” Jackson got the last laugh by delivering this crushing knockout to Silva at UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008.
Jackson took advantage of Silva’s penchant for throwing wide hooks, blistering his chin with a compact left hook of his own. BOOM! It was over in an instant. Silva was starched and static on the way to the ground, out before his body hit the canvas.
As much as the Liddell knockout had greater historical significance, this one stands as the most devastating of all the knockouts in Jackson’s illustrious career.
7. Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards – UFC 131
What can I say? I agree that this was one of the best knockouts in the history of the UFC.
There are a couple different elements that put this very recent result into my top 10.
For starters, the execution is beautiful, as Stout follows a trademark Team Tompkins right to the body with a left that comes down over Edwards’ right and lands right on the button, turning the lights out instantly.
Secondly, the way Edwards simply shut off the second Stout’s hand connected with his chin. This wasn’t one of those “Is he out?” moments; this thing was done, and you knew for sure because Edwards stiffened up and fell to the floor like someone pushing over a mannequin.
Third, it was recent and I was there to see it live. Why lie? Those things factor into the way we rank and recall things all the time, so there is no point in pretending it doesn’t hold true in this discussion.
Yeah, when you knock out a 400-plus pound Hawaiian in under 20 seconds, you’ve got yourself a place on the top 10 knockouts list.
Abbott did just that at UFC 6 in his first appearance in the Octagon. Billed as a street fighter, Abbott looked every bit the gruesome, thuggish, nasty dude people like John McCain were worried about when they battle against this sport back in the early days. His debut performance showed he wasn’t just dressed for the role either.
After Abbott dropped Matua with the first shot, he connected with another as the massive Hawaiian started to get back to his feet. The blast left him twitching on the Octagon floor, a sight that still gives me that icky feeling whenever I see it.
5. Spencer Fisher vs. Matt Wiman – UFC 60
This is one that flies under the radar with almost everyone, but deserves greater recognition.
While most of the memorable finishes we remember come from meaningful bouts with titles on the line or future implications resting in the balance, this was as nondescript a lightweight bout as you could get at the time. Fisher was coming off his split decision loss to Stout at UFC 58, while Wiman was making his UFC debut, filling in for an injured Leonard Garcia on two weeks notice, and coming off a loss.
After an entertaining first round, Fisher clipped Wiman with a solid right hook early in the second. As he backed up, Wiman raised his hand as if to signal that he was okay. He wasn’t, and he was going to be even worse in a second.
Fisher took the opening and finished the fight, delivering a perfect flying knee that put Wiman out. People sleep on this finish, but it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen in the UFC.
After months of going back and forth as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, Henderson and Bisping got the chance to resolve things in the cage at UFC 100. The result would be the Knockout of the Year for 2009.
We all remember it, Bisping curiously circling towards Henderson’s power, moving backwards and to his left, Henderson stalking…
BA-BOOM… H-BOMB!
Henderson connected with a big overhand right, Bisping stiffened and crashed to the canvas. Game over. We’re done here. No matter how many times I watch it, I still can’t believe Bisping circled into Henderson’s power hand. I also can’t think of many knockouts that top it.
3. Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon – Ultimate Fight Night 8
Before Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell or became light heavyweight champion, he was a promising prospect coming off of The Ultimate Fighter. Having won Season 2 of the Spike TV reality show, Evans had some momentum behind him. For his fifth fight in the UFC, Evans would headline an event for the first time.
The heavyweight winner from TUF 2 would face Sean Salmon in the main event of Ultimate Fight Night 8. Salmon, 9-1 at the time and making his UFC debut, was a fellow wrestler with solid submission skills, and expected to be a test for the unbeaten Evans.
Salmon did in fact win the opening round, scoring with a pair of takedowns, but 66 seconds into the second round, the fight ended in spectacular fashion. Evans, stalking Salmon with an outstretched and pawing left hand, uncoiled a perfect headkick. As Joe Rogan asked on the broadcast, “Who saw that coming?”
No one, especially not Salmon, who ate the full force of the blow and crashed to the mat with a thud. His lay motionless for a minute or two, the lights in the Salmon house still turned off.
As for Evans, this was the finish that started to push him towards the spotlight, and eventually the light heavyweight title.
2. Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Mirko Cro Cop – UFC 70
The Evans headkick on Salmon was awesome and unexpected, but this one tops it based on the irony.
Here you had Gonzaga, a solid, but unspectacular heavyweight riding a three fight winning streak and little fanfare into a meeting with one of the most popular fighters and feared strikers in the sport. Fresh off winning the 2006 Pride Open Weight Grand Prix and debuting in the UFC with a first round finish over Eddie Sanchez, Cro Cop was supposed to beat Gonzaga and earn a shot at Randy Couture and the UFC heavyweight title.
Of course, that never happened. What did transpire was both epic and ironic, the perfect combination for the second best knockout in UFC history.
Gonzaga, a Brazilian jiu jitsu stylist, finished Cro Cop with his own move, landing a right head kick that folded the Croatian into an unconscious heap. It won Knockout of the Year for 2007 in numerous publications and across a number of websites for good reason, and remains the signature moment of Gonzaga’s otherwise uneventful career.
1. Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort – UFC 126
There are times when I think Anderson Silva is messing with all of us. This was one of them.
In the build-up to this fight, a lot of people thought Belfort was going to be the stiffest challenge Silva had faced in years; a guy with fast hands and knockout power who wouldn’t be overwhelmed by his opponent’s aura and standing atop the pound-for-pound rankings.
Belfort didn’t charge across the cage and bring the fight to the middleweight champion. Instead, they felt each other out, neither man doing much of anything early in the opening round. Then it happened.
Silva planted a front kick right in Belfort’s face, effectively ending the fight with one strike. He’d follow the former champion to the mat and finish the fight there, but “The Footercut” as Heavy MMA editor-in-chief Matt Brown has dubbed it was the story.
To the best of my knowledge, we’d never seen anyone knocked out by a front kick in the UFC, and not only was it spectacular and unexpected, it came from the best fighter in the world in one of the biggest fights of the year. Just when a lot of people were questioning whether Silva was still the man, he proved that he was with the most impressive knockout in UFC history.
Honorable Mentions:
Pedro Rizzo vs. Josh Barnett (UFC 30), Yves Edwards vs. Josh Thomson (UFC 49), Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell (TUF 4 Finale), Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin (UFC 101), Rich Franklin vs. Chuck Liddell (UFC 115)
