2011 was honestly a pretty brutal year in MMA. There were a lot of sick finishes, both submission wise and knockout wise. Here are the best of the best knockouts according to the posters of this forum. The contenders are:
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry - UFC on Versus 4
Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort- UFC126
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This was one hell of a knockout. Never before had I seen someone get KO'ed from a front kick. It was insane when it happened and to some extent I believe brought Anderson back to being the greatest. He had had a lot of lackluster fights preceding this one, but this KO brought back the killer Anderson we all knew.[YOUTUBE]SSq0njFD3TU[/YOUTUBE]
Lyoto Machida vs. Randy Couture- UFC 129
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Something like a month after the Anderson front kick, we saw another front kick, but this time it was Karate Kid style. Lyoto Machida may have possibly won this award with his Mr. Miyagi learned arsenal of strikes.[YOUTUBE]YVSGQ_FRs3k[/YOUTUBE]
Marius Zaromskis vs. Bruno Carvalho- Rumble of the Kings
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While the KO in this fight didn't come from the cartwheel kick, it certainly was the beginning of the end for Carvalho. This cartwheel kick was sudden and devastating. Simply incredible to watch.[YOUTUBE]tvXBq_oREd0[/YOUTUBE]
Cairo Rocha vs. Francisco Neves- n/a
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Tired of seeing head kicks yet? I didn't think so. This one makes even CroCop cringe. So fast and completely out of nowhere. Shout out to Fizzy for nominating this one, it may have stolen my vote.[YOUTUBE]ncs0-7n_2kE[/YOUTUBE]
John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson- UFC 129
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Shonie Carter is smiling somewhere. This was a beautiful KO and one we haven't seen in awhile. It just proves that having your vision impaired in MMA is a horrible, horrible thing.[YOUTUBE]Zv7lfIBYanw[/YOUTUBE]
Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyung Kim- UFC 132
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Fantastic flying knee, from possibly the best striker in the entire Welterweight division. I don't think Kim had been finished before this fight, at the very least it was his first UFC loss, but it was in devastating fashion.[YOUTUBE]pC8iqSlaGVc[/YOUTUBE]
Johnny Hendricks vs. Jon Fitch- UFC 141
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This one makes me cry a little. Hendricks laid Fitch clean out. It was incredibly sad to see as a fan, but such a nice KO at the same time. "Mini Arlovski" does it again.[YOUTUBE]ULZwjKRrbjA[/YOUTUBE]
Adam Khaliev vs. Alexei Belyaev - League S-70 Fight Nights
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And, one more beautiful head kick from the year. That might just be what 2011 is known for, awesome head kicks. Just awesome to watch.Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry - UFC on Versus 4
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I just couldn't resist posting this entire fight. Holy hell have I never seen anything like this one. Kongo was out twice, yet regained consciousness in time and came back to win with a hell of a punch. Awesome, awesome fight.