With the exception of RIZIN’s traditional New Year’s Eve show, the year 2021 in MMA is, for all intents and purposes, over. 2021 has been an uncommonly memorable year in mixed martial arts, featuring quite a few fights, moments and stories that we’ll remember for many years. And when putting together my list of the year’s best knockouts, I found that it was a task that was much tougher than I expected.
There were some absolute scorchers this year, ladies and gentlemen. Way more than what’s typical. So, without further ado, here’s my shot at putting together a ranking of the best MMA KOs of the year that was.
10. Terrance McKinney vs. Matt Frevola, UFC 263
I went back and forth between a few KOs on who should sneak into the 10 spot, but sometimes you simply need to give credit to pure speed. And in June, lightweight Terrance McKinney introduced himself to the UFC in just about the most impressive way you can do it – with 2021’s quickest Octagon KO.
McKinney’s seven-second starching of Matt Frevola tied for the second-fastest KO in UFC history, joining Todd Duffee, Chan Sung Jung and the late Ryan Jimmo, and trailing only Jorge Masvidal‘s iconic flying knee of Ben Askren. And it was also especially notable and memorable for other reasons as well. First, McKinney it came just EIGHT DAYS after McKinney scored another first-round KO in an LFA main event. Second, it was McKinney’s third KO of 20 seconds or quicker in his standout 2021. And third, McKinney was so hype at what he just did, he visibly injures his knee celebrating.
A Performance of the Night bonus will certainly soften that blow. As will going down in history.
9. Edson Barboza vs. Shane Burgos, UFC 262
Few knockouts this year left me absolutely gasping harder than this one. In May, Muay Thai woodchipper Edson Barboza and relentless pressure striker Shane Burgos were in the third round of a fast-paced striking battle that had electrified the crowd in Houston’s Toyota Center.
Both were giving as good as they got, but Barboza’s hands had looked just a little more accurate and impactful. About a minute into the final frame, Barboza lands a nice right hand. It was sharp and direct, but Burgos has a heck of a chin, and had shaken off a number of similar blows throughout the fight. He gets back into his stance and bounces up and down a couple of times. Then, slowly, his entire body shuts down.
I don’t know if I’ve ever yelled “WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK?” louder at a knockout than I did at this one. We’ve all seen plenty of thunderous one-punch KOs, cool head kicks, flying knees, wheel kicks, anything you can name over the course of this sport’s history. I don’t know if we’ve ever seen a delayed reaction quite like that, ever.
Barboza has had a fantastic career filled with great knockouts, but this might be his most unique and most memorable. And it’s more than enough to make this year’s top 10.
8. Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Roosevelt Roberts, UFC Vegas 34
Listen man, at the end of the day, I’m just a sucker for a great wheel kick. We had a few real good ones over the course of 2021: Rafael Fiziev‘s to finish a great striking battle with Brad Riddell last month stands out, as well as Chris Barnett‘s joyous knockout of Gian Villante at Madison Square Garden. But the best wheel kick of the year belonged to lanky Chilean lightweight Ignacio Bahamondes, who just fucking annihilated Roosevelt Roberts with seconds left to go in August.
The 24-year-old Bahamondes has shown a flair for the flashy kick early in his pro career – he won his UFC contract with a sweet front kick on the Contender Series last year. The gold standard for wheel kicks has always been Barboza’s 2012 murder of Terry Etim, but this one isn’t that far off.
The spin is tight, the kick is swift and accurate, and the impact is devastating. Roberts is rendered completely unconscious the moment the foot touches his face. Beautiful shit.
7. Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili, UFC 261
Heading into her title defense against former champ Rose Namajunas in April, Zhang Weili was poised for superstardom. The UFC strawweight champion had won 21 fights in a row, including my 2020 Fight of the Year against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and promised to be the key name that opened up the massive Chinese market for the UFC.
But then, Thug Rose reminded us why you never count her out in a big moment.
Thug Rose has two knockouts in her pro MMA career. Both won world championships, and both were stunners. This was a good year for head kicks, but none were better than Rose’s against Zhang, which caught the champion completely by surprise just over a minute in – she thought it was heading for the leg until Rose’s foot suddenly smacked into the side of her head.
It was a shocking moment amplified by a blisteringly hot crowd. As good as it gets.
6. Tai Tuivasa vs. Greg Hardy, UFC 264
Just based on the aesthetics of the KO alone, Tai Tuivasa’s July knockout of Greg Hardy is absolutely not one of the year’s top 10. It’s pretty sweet, to be sure – Tuivasa, on wobbly legs, fires back as a sneering Hardy comes in for the kill and annihilates him with a one-two. But is it cooler than, say, Cory Sandhagen‘s flying knee on Frankie Edgar? Or Marlon Vera‘s front kick on Frankie Edgar? (Oh jeez, Frankie’s had a tough year.)
Absolutely not. But Tai makes the list, based off the fact that it was one of the single greatest babyface moments in the history of this sport.
To recap: Tai Tuivasa dances out to the ring to the Spice Girls, knocks an unrepentant wife-beater out cold, electrifies the crowd, then chugs like five beers on his way to the back. MMA can be a really brutal sport, and bad things happen all the time. This moment, right here, is one of the most joyous MMA moments I can recall. It ruled so, so much.
Thank you, Tai.
5. Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, UFC 261
Remember when people thought Kamaru Usman was a boring wall-and-staller? Usman is probably the Fighter of the Year for 2021, a year where he defended his UFC welterweight title three times and elevated himself to the status of world No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and all-time great. No one moment symbolized that better than his thunderous KO of Jorge Masvidal.
The straight right Usman landed is one of the greatest single punches ever thrown in MMA, and it will go down as the indelible highlight of his career – it lands with such force that you can see what looks like a gallon of sweat explode off of Masvidal’s head. Masvidal is one of the toughest scrappers the sport has ever seen, having previously only been knocked out once in 18 years and almost 50 pro fights. Then Usman just cleaned his fucking clock like you wouldn’t believe.
This was the moment where you knew Usman’s title reign was going to be something special, and I have a feeling he’s got a few more of these left.
4. Roman Faraldo vs. Robert Turnquest, Bellator 271
When you’re talking about pure cinematics, however, it’s hard to beat the best flying knee of 2021, courtesy of Bellator welterweight Roman Faraldo.
The undefeated Faraldo had been teeing up on overmatched opponent Robert Turnquest in a bout hidden away on the undercard of Cris Cyborg‘s fight with Sinead Kavanagh. You can see Faraldo’s gears turning, calculating the coolest possible way to finish this guy off. He knows exactly what he wants to do. He stares Turnquest down, he points – as if to call his shot – then blasts him unconscious with the cleanest switch knee you’ll ever see.
This thing is so aesthetically pleasing. The way Faraldo covers half the cage while flying through the air, the point of his knee connecting squarely with the point of Turnquest’s chin, causing Turnquest’s stiffened body to fall up against the cage at the perfect angle for everyone to see how badly Faraldo just destroyed him. This is one that you could rewatch a thousand times and it wouldn’t get old.
3. Justin Barry vs. Alan Benson, Cage Warriors 130
This list is full of big moments from across the MMA landscape, but it’s mostly concentrated on the UFC and Bellator, since they’re the two biggest promotions in MMA with the biggest spotlights. That’s just natural – a crazy KO in the Octagon will feel bigger and make a bigger impact than a similar KO on the regional scene.
Here’s the exception. How does Justin Barry, a 33-year-old middleweight in his pro debut, end up on a list with names like Usman and Thug Rose? How about knocking a dude flat with a CRESCENT KICK?
This is one of those cool-looking taekwondo kicks that you never see in MMA because it’s always been considered impractical in a real fight – the only time I really remember seeing one even attempted was by Anderson Silva against Chris Weidman in their first fight, which didn’t connect. Barry, however, proved this thing can be a finisher. And that’s not all – two months later, Barry rocked his second pro opponent with another crescent kick before following up with a right hand to knock him out. Maybe this guy’s onto something. The crescent kick revolution has started!
2. Jiri Prochazka vs. Dominick Reyes, UFC Vegas 25
We only got the privilege of seeing Jiri Prochazka, the insane Czech samurai who ranks as one of the best and most exciting light heavyweights in the world, once this year. But boy did it not fucking disappoint.
Prochazka scored one of the only spinning elbow knockouts in UFC history when he flatlined Dominick Reyes back in May, at the end of a deliriously entertaining two rounds of action. Prochazka charged through Reyes’ punches, nearly got knocked cold with an upkick, battered him with all kinds of creative offense. Then he destroyed him with something out of Tekken.
Only Jiri. As Prochazka appears to be the next challenger for the UFC light heavyweight title, hopefully we’ll see a lot more of him in 2022. Until then, I’ll settle for watching this over and over.
- Sergio Pettis vs. Kyoji Horiguchi, Bellator 272
We had to wait until the final weeks of 2021 to find our Knockout of the Year, but in one of Bellator’s biggest fights of the year, we got a true all-timer. Three rounds down in his bantamweight title defense against favored challenger Kyoji Horiguchi, Sergio Pettis uncorked what will go down in history as the single greatest spinning backfist of all time, knocking Horiguchi cold.
It’s impossible to truly do justice to how absolutely shocking this was in the moment. Horiguchi is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and was cruising through this one – Pettis looked like he had nothing for him. I think it’s the greatest Hail Mary KO of all time, and it was set up beautifully, taking advantage of Horiguchi’s hands-down stance in tight.
Sergio Pettis shocked the world with this one, in more ways than one, and it’ll be remembered as quite possibly the single best knockout in Bellator’s history. That’s more than good enough for the No. 1 spot here.
The Big Fight 