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#2 Vitor Belfort – 12 knockouts in the UFC
One of the most accomplished fighters in MMA history, Vitor Belfort was able to score 12 knockouts during his UFC career across multiple tenures with the promotion.
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‘The Phenom’ – who is set to return from retirement to box Oscar De La Hoya in the near future – remains the only fighter to score UFC knockouts in three different decades – the 1990’s, the 2000’s and the 2010’s.
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Belfort began his UFC career back in the sport’s dark ages. When he stopped Tra Telligman, Scott Ferrozzo and Tank Abbott with his incredibly fast hands, it looked like the UFC had discovered a truly unbeatable fighter.
Of course, that turned out not to be the case, but over the years, Belfort was always able to remain near the top of whichever division he was competing in thanks primarily to his striking skills and knockout power.
A pair of absences from the UFC both ended when he returned with vicious knockouts of Marvin Eastman (2003) and Rich Franklin (2009) respectively.
And the latter stages of his UFC tenure saw him pull off three of the most memorable knockouts of his entire career, as ‘The Phenom’ unleashed brutal head kicks to stop Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson.
As he aged in the final run of his UFC career, Belfort’s skills began to fade, and he won only one of his last five fights – falling to knockout losses in the other four. However, ‘The Phenom’ will always be remembered as one of the UFC’s most prolific knockout artists.
#1 Derrick Lewis – 12 knockouts in the UFC
The most prolific knockout artist in the history of the UFC heavyweight division, Derrick Lewis has 12 UFC knockouts to his name. If he can add a 13th when he faces Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title this weekend, he’ll stand alone at the top of this list.
In a lot of ways, ‘The Black Beast’ shouldn’t be as successful as he is inside the octagon. His ground skills are sorely lacking in comparison to some of his rivals, his cardio is questionable at times and he isn’t all that durable.
However, what he lacks in those areas, he makes up for with arguably the greatest punching power in UFC history. Seemingly, nobody hits quite as hard as he does, and it’s a gift that’s gotten him out of some sticky situations during his fights over the years.
Lewis opened his UFC career with a knockout of Jack May back in 2014. And while he lost two of his next seven fights, it also took him until his eighth to go the distance in the octagon, as he knocked out all five of the opponents he defeated.
‘The Black Beast’ has finished high-level opponents such as Curtis Blaydes, Alexander Volkov and Aleksei Oleinik during his UFC tenure, with many of those knockout wins coming in fights he appeared to be losing.
Essentially, Lewis’ knockout power is probably the UFC’s greatest equaliser, meaning ‘The Black Beast’ can never be counted out of a fight. And even if he fails to defeat Gane this weekend, it seems likely that he’ll pick up that 13th UFC knockout sooner rather than later.
