#3 Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon – UFC Fight Night 8 – 01/25/07
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When unbeaten TUF champion Rashad Evans was booked against newcomer Sean Salmon at UFN 8, more than one eyebrow was raised.
Evans was coming off his first UFC knockout, a devastating TKO of fellow top ten fighter Jason Lambert, while Salmon was fresh off the regional scene, seemed more like a 185lber and had never beaten a name opponent.
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It looked like a squash on paper and sure enough, Rashad delivered, just not in the way that people were expecting.
Up until this point, Evans was more known as a wrestler who would out-grapple his opponents to a win. While he’d knocked Lambert out, that had been from a flurry of punches from full mount.
Nobody expected him to suddenly uncork one of the most devastating knockouts in UFC history, and even fewer expected it to come from a head kick of all things.
After a tentative first round that saw the fighters mainly feeling each other out on the feet, Evans came out early in the second round and threw a right head kick that landed flush. Salmon’s lights instantly went out and he crashed to the ground, bouncing on the way. Evans even added a right hand for good measure.
Unlike Cro Cop – who did come around after a while in the recovery position – Salmon did not come around in the cage and had to be taken away on a stretcher. Dana White was able to update the fans on his status later that night, explaining that he’d gone to hospital but he was okay.
If Salmon hadn’t been okay, it would hardly have been surprising given the brutality of this knockout.
