5 spectacular spinning kick knockouts in the UFC

#2 Joaquin Buckley vs Impa Kasanganay – UFC Fight Island 5

Joaquin Buckley won 2020's 'knockout of the year' award for his spinning kick KO of Impa Kasanganay.

Joaquin Buckley could hardly have started his UFC career in less spectacular fashion. ‘New Mansa’ entered the UFC in August 2020 on late notice, and fell to a knockout at the hands of Kevin Holland.

That meant when he was matched with Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Island 5, fans could’ve been forgiven for largely ignoring the middleweight bout. After the fight, though, everyone knew exactly who Buckley was.

After a back-and-forth first round, the second round saw Buckley throw a head kick at his opponent. Kasanganay blocked it by catching the leg. But before he could react further, ‘New Mansa’ jumped into the air and used his other foot to land a ridiculous spinning kick to the head.

KO of the Year! 🔓Go all angles on @NewMansa94's masterpiece 😳[ #UFCFightIsland5 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/1ywVZzin5U

— UFC (@ufc) October 10, 2020

Kasanganay was knocked silly, falling to the ground as stiff as a corpse, and Buckley immediately became a viral star, with clips of the kick being seen across the world, even by people who weren’t UFC fans.

While ‘New Mansa’ hasn’t really been able to follow the kick up by climbing into contention for the UFC middleweight title, he’ll probably be part of UFC highlight reels for years to come, and was comfortably most observers’ pick for the best knockout of 2020.

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#1 Edson Barboza vs Terry Etim – UFC 142

Edson Barboza's spinning kick knockout of Terry Etim remains the most spectacular spinning knockout in UFC history.

The most spectacular spinning kick knockout in UFC history remains the one unleashed by Edson Barboza on Terry Etim at UFC 142 back in 2012. Other fighters have come close, but nobody has quite been able to replicate what the Brazilian did.

In the third round of what was a back-and-forth fight to that point, Barboza surprised Etim with a jumping spinning wheel kick that landed cleanly on the jaw of the British fighter, turning his lights out instantly. Etim looked to be frozen in time, stiffened up like a corpse, and fell backwards to the ground, where he didn’t move for an astonishing length of time.

The kick was probably the closest thing to Jean-Claude van Damme’s legendary ‘helicopter kick’ that we’ve ever seen in the UFC; the fact that Barboza went airborne to land it still separates it from other wheel kick knockouts unleashed by the likes of Stephen Thompson and Thiago Santos.

Another amazing Kick KO is Edson Barboza vs Terry Etim at UFC 142 in Rio! #DWCOTD pic.twitter.com/dmmDKlpEA5

— danawhite (@danawhite) October 5, 2015

It might be almost a decade old now, but the clip of this knockout never seems anything but stunning, and it’ll probably remain that way for at least another decade to come.