HKL Reader's Choice - 2011 Knockout Of The Year
by Earl Montclair on Jan 10, 2012 9:35 AM EST
in MMA
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The time has come to decide 2011's Knockout Of The Year. This year offered no shortage of spectacular KO's but we here have whittled the long list down to 6 finalists for the winner to be selected from by the Head Kick Legend community. The nominees are......
Anderson Silva's front kick on Vitor Belfort - The kick that started a craze in MMA. After Anderson landed it, everyone was trying it. Machida, Justin Buchholz and even Dong Hyun Kim have utitlized it since "The Spider" crumbled Vitor at UFC 126. It was not only stunning and incredible, it was downright shocking. I remember seeing it live and I didn't even know what to do. I just started laughing in sheer disbelief.
Alexis Vila's one punch starching of Joe Warren - Warren came into the cage at Bellator 51 looking to get one step closer to his goal of becoming a two division champion. He's lucky he managed to leave the cage even as I write this. Vila came out and pressured Warren, rocked him, and after a brief recovery put him to sleep with a crushing left hook. Warren was out instantly and Vila put himself on the map in the United States all in a minute and four seconds.
Cheick Kongo's unconscious zombie KO of Pat Barry - Pat Barry not only dropped Cheick Kongo twice in this fight, he knocked him out twice. Two times he dropped Kongo and followed up with strikes. These strikes just seemed to wake up the awesomely bearded Frenchman and both times he got back to his feet. What happened next was unbelievable. Kongo staggered back towards the cage, Barry walked him down and walked right into 2 massive punches that landed right on the button and sent Pat crashing to the canvas out cold. This was the most improbable comeback I have ever seen. This showed incredible heart and toughness shown by Kongo in what will probably be the defining moment of his career at UFC Live 4.
Lyoto Machida's crane kick on Randy Couture - Randy had thought his epic submission win over James Toney was going to be the final fight of his career. That was until he got the offer to fight Machida. Randy called him "the Rubik's cube of MMA" and he was looking forward to trying to solve the puzzle. He would not be able to as the most prolific karate fighter ever in the UFC went full Karate Kid on Randy with a devastating crane kick. The kick dropped Randy into a heap and even knocked out a tooth. All I keep thinking about is that Lyoto, a man who is in perpetual motion inside the cage, completely stopped moving before unleashing the crane kick. I have never seen him still during a fight and it was almost as if he paused to allow 55,000 people in Toronto get ready for what he was going to do.
Minotauro Nogueira's retirement defying knockout of Brendan Schaub - "The Hybrid" was fresh off his cartoonish knockout of Mirko Filipovic when he arrived in Rio to attempt to take out his second PRIDE legend in a row. Big Nog hadn't fought in 18 months and had been brutally knocked out in 2 of his last 3 fights. Somewhat surprisingly, Rodrigo came in looking sharp and landed crisp combinations on Schaub, putting him down and out much to the delight of the sold out crowd in Brazil, sports bars across the world and certainly my living room. Nog earned Knockout Of The Night for his utter destruction of the much younger Schaub. Even if it was only for one more time, Minotauro reigned supreme and he did so with style.
Johny Hendricks' stunning 12 second knockout of Jon Fitch - "Big Rig" snuck this one in here at the last possible moment as he skyrocketed himself to the top tier of the Welterweight division. Mike Goldberg barely got done telling us what color shorts each fighter was wearing when Johny put his left hand to Fitch's chin, making him do a Nate Quarry-esque tree log straight to the canvas. Steve "Hot Tub" Mazzagatti saved Fitch from further damage only to get put on his back and momentarily wrestled by him. It only took one fifth of a minute for the consensus #2 WW in the world to see his quest for the belt end. That same 12 seconds also brought a new contender with dynamite in his hands to prominence.
Who will be the winner? Vote now or forever hold your peace.
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Gotta go with Anderson
I mean, with that kick he basically brought about a revolution in contemporary MMA striking technique. I love it.
For me, Hendricks’ KO of Fitch is a close second, given how nearly unprecedented it was. Plus, was that not the first time that he fought under the moniker Big Rig? Excellent!
Nice collage, by the way.
SquishingMachine, now at HeadKickLegend.com
I think he's been Big Rig for a while now...
If you are going to lie to me, then we are going to box
JOHN
MOTHERFUCKING
HENDRICKS
Any event that can make an agnostic jew stand up on his barstool and yell SWEET JESUS in a packed TGiF’s is ____ of the year. The sideview of that is also my desktop image at home.
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Jan 10, 2012 10:55 AM EST reply actions
Vila
Old man sympathy vote. He’s 40, and only competing in mma since 07. Lemme repeat that – he was a freshman in the sport at 36!
This is an oule.
by some schmuck in texas on Jan 10, 2012 11:04 AM EST reply actions
I hadn't realized that
Extremely hardcore old-man strength.
SquishingMachine, now at HeadKickLegend.com
Anderson takes it for me.
I have 2 reactions to big happenings in MMA. One reaction is sitting silently, contemplating what I just watched. The other is screaming gibberish at the TV. Anderson’s kick made me erupt in a storm of barely intelligible nonsense while I jumped up and down like a maniac, as did Kongo’s KO over Barry.
Like my post? Well, follow me on Twitter anyways. @LenBarson
This reminds me...
I was watching 126 at a friend’s place. I’m not sure if it’s his cable provider or his hardware or what, but occasionally the feed start’s lagging. It’s not the worst, mostly ruins the audio.
This particular night it got worse and worse throughout the card and by the main event it was so bad that the screen was basically snow except you could make out the fighters silhouettes. Of course we’re freaking out, trying to decide if we should stop watching altogether and re-start the show or just hope it improves.
In the middle of all this, Anderson throws the front kick, we could tell it was a high front kick but couldn’t really tell what happened afterwards, until it was clear that the fight had been stopped. And we still freaked out, all “ooooooooh he knocked him out with a front kick!!!????”
If you can still go nuts after watching something on a stone age television feed, you know it’s awesome.
If you are going to lie to me, then we are going to box
Who is the only Maniac to appear in every mmamania fantasy football league superbowl in league history?
by DetroitDrew1980 on Jan 11, 2012 2:42 AM EST up reply actions
I feel like my story was not "worthy" of a cool story bro.
If you are going to lie to me, then we are going to box
i will be voting for Lyoto when i get home from work.
I just thought it was phenomenal and to end the career of a legend on such an unprecedented note……it was absolutely bonkers.
Writing things on occasion @ Head Kick Legend.
Team Captain for Ruining Your Special Night. That's what we do.
by Earl Montclair on Jan 10, 2012 2:43 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
I find your old moniker
and your name are outstandingly similar to each other. I approve.
The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com
by Cory Braiterman on Jan 10, 2012 2:47 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks, man!
Writing things on occasion @ Head Kick Legend.
Team Captain for Ruining Your Special Night. That's what we do.
by Earl Montclair on Jan 10, 2012 6:23 PM EST up reply actions
just make sure you throw something soft in case it hits your computer.
I want you to be able to check us out ever day RIGHT HERE at Head Kick Legend!!! (cheap pop)
Writing things on occasion @ Head Kick Legend.
Team Captain for Ruining Your Special Night. That's what we do.
by Earl Montclair on Jan 10, 2012 8:03 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions 1 recs
Definitely Anderson front kick
Machida’s is a close second as it improved on what was already an awesome KO.
I went with Anderson.
I loved Machida’s kick,, it was incredibly cool and the sort of finish that is fantastic to see from my ‘favourite fighter’, but the mad scramble & heart-pounding, breath holding that led up to Silva’s snap kick decided for me. That weigh-in stare-down was intense. The only fights this (last) year to come close for heartrate were watching Overeem square off with Lesner and a former gym member & coach fight a pair of brothers from a rival gym at a local event. (Not at the same time.)
The others were fairly spectacular, but I also like to think King Mo woodentopping Roger Gracie is worthy of inclusion. Sure, the headclash played a part, but he just wasn’t capable of handling Lawal. It also put an end to weeks of facebook BJJ hype – hearing how Gracie was gonna show everybody what the world’s top guy was capable of. I said Mo was world class, and I was right.
Mo is a world class fighter
But that fight didn’t prove it at all. The headbutt clearly stunned Gracie; everything after that was academic. I could have finished the job. Fight should have been a no contest in my opinion but proclaiming that Mo showed his quality in that fight is homerism plain and simple.
If you are going to lie to me, then we are going to box
by Luke Nelson on Jan 11, 2012 2:30 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Gracie showed he wasn't up to it.
That headclash is the only point on the fight he actually tucked his head down. He shucked forward with his left arm wide out and they collided. Furthermore, Gracie is the man I was rooting for – he’s a bit of a hero among the GBBJJ crowd. G.Britain that is, not just Gracie Barra.
I guess I can get on board with the idea that Gracie showed he wasn't up to it.
I also like the term “woodentopping”.
If you are going to lie to me, then we are going to box
Thinking about it, you are kind of right.
I was supporting Gracie, but honestly didn’t give him much of a chance and I was irked at the way everybody seemed to be ignoring Mo’s record & style. In short, the homerism displayed by my friends upset me.
I’m glad you liked the term. It felt appropriate. Gracie is clearly daddy woodentop, and King mo cut his strings. Poor fellow looked like a fallen puppet.
I had to go with Machida for the "Holy Shit" moment when I saw Randy's tooth fly
Status: Awesoming
I don't know more about MMA than you, I just act like it at HeadKickLegend
No Love for the Walk-Off?
I gotta go with Mark Hunts walk off KO of Tuchscherer. Techincal mastery be damned, who else has the Cajones to pull that??
by Blindside81 on Jan 11, 2012 6:17 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Hunt's KO was awesome.
I really hope he can give us a sequel against Kongo but I think Cheick will take him down and unleash the fury with GnP
Writing things on occasion @ Head Kick Legend.
Team Captain for Ruining Your Special Night. That's what we do.
by Earl Montclair on Jan 11, 2012 7:23 PM EST up reply actions
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