Knockouts, are there any fight fans who don't appreciate them? A slick submission finish is just as good, and every now and again even better. Many great fights end in the form of decision too, but this post is all about taking it straight to the dome. Whether it be quick and brutal, come out of nowhere, set up masterfully, or down on the cards comeback win; knockouts are just plain fantastic. The stand-up world is full of knockouts so this will be part one of a near endless amount of posts. I'll also make posts on body shots and leg slaying at a later time.
Once again some of you will have seen these and some of you won't. I'm posting these on both HKL and Mania, I'm still not sure about how many of my fellow sbnation users go between the two and I'm trying to expose the content to as many people as possible.
Number 5:
Dzhabar Askerov vs Bruce Macfie (Evolution 15)
December 6, 2008 - Brisbane, Australia (video quality isn't the best)
(for those of you only interested in the finishing stroke go about 6:27 into the video)
Number 4:
Stefan Leko vs Badr Hari II (K-1 World Grand Prix 2005)
November 19, 2005 - Tokyo, Japan
(5:50 into video)
Number 3:
Ruslan Karaev vs Melvin Manhoef (K-1 World Grand Prix in Amsterdam)
June 23, 2007 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
(45 seconds in)
Number 2:
Badr Hari vs Peter Graham I (K-1 World Grand Prix in Auckland)
March 5, 2006 - Auckland, New Zealand
(11:39 into video)
Number 1:
(Personal favorite)
Scott Shaffer vs Yuya Yamamoto (Krush 6)
April 29, 2010 - Tokyo, Japan
round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
(go 2:45 in)
...and because it makes me chuckle every time:
Jerome Le Banner vs Nicholas Pettas (K-1 WGP Nagoya Semi Finals)
July 30, 2000 - Nagoya, Japan
(about 2:50 in, watch from there)
...because a submission is just as good:
Hinata vs Andy Souwer (Shootboxing Ishin 4)
September 18, 2010 - Tokyo, Japan
(About 55 seconds into this one)