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The UFC turns 30 years old later in 2023, and so it’s time to look back at the last three decades of octagon action.
The period from 2013 to 2022 saw the promotion move from Fox Sports to ESPN and create a number of huge stars along the way. These stars were responsible for some truly memorable knockouts.
During this period, we saw the rise – and sometimes the fall – of big names like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, as well as multiple title changes, some of which were stunning.
Here are the best knockouts from every year of the UFC’s existence, with this list covering the period from 2013 to 2022.
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For part one, featuring KOs in the years between 1993 and 2002, click here.
For part two, featuring KOs in the years between 2003 and 2012, click here.
#1. Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva – UFC 162 (2013)
2013’s best and most memorable knockout saw the end of arguably the most legendary title reign in UFC history. Anderson Silva had held the middleweight crown since October 2006, but in July 2013, he finally fell at the hands of Chris Weidman.
Many people were giving Weidman a shot at dethroning ‘The Spider’, but they expected him to use his wrestling and submission skills to do it on the ground.
However, Silva underestimated Weidman’s striking skills, most notably his reach and punching power. When he tried to perform his trademark ‘clowning’, juking and jiving with his hands lowered, he simply couldn’t lean back far enough.
Weidman missed with a backfist, but ‘The All-American’ was able to catch Silva cleanly with a left hook, knocking him out cold for the first time in his career.
It was the end of an era for Silva, who also failed to beat Weidman in a rematch five months later. The legend would only win one more fight in the octagon before his retirement in 2020.
#2. Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – UFC Fight Night 37 (2014)
2014 was the year that saw the advent of the UFC’s Fight Pass streaming service, and so a number of Fight Night events were added to the calendar. One of them, which took place in Abu Dhabi in April, saw one of the most brutal knockouts in octagon history.
That knockout came in the main event of the evening, which saw heavyweight veterans Roy Nelson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira duke it out. Nogueira was once known for his iron chin and ability to absorb punishment, but by this stage, he was 37 years old and was past his best.
Nelson was edging that way too, but he still carried his biggest threat – his brutal punching power. When he landed a big right hook midway through the first round, Nogueira went down like he’d been shot.
It was a truly scary moment, and in many ways, felt like a throwback to the promotion’s early, lawless days. As for Nogueira, he would fight just once more before retiring.
#3. Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo – UFC 194 (2015)
2015 was chock-full of great knockouts, but only one sent the UFC’s biggest-ever star into the stratosphere. That knockout, of course, was Conor McGregor’s finish of legendary featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
The bout had been brewing all year, with Aldo withdrawing from their initial booking, leaving ‘The Notorious’ to dispatch Chad Mendes instead. By the time the fight finally came round, the entire MMA world was excited, with many feeling that Aldo would finally shut McGregor’s trash talk up.
Instead, the Brazilian looked nervous, overreached himself early on, and in just 13 seconds ate a huge left hand counterpunch that put him to sleep.
It was a truly remarkable win for McGregor, particularly as Aldo hadn’t lost in a decade beforehand. With the win, ‘The Notorious’ was positioned as the UFC’s top dog, and he hasn’t really looked back since.
#4. Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey – UFC 207 (2016)
Were it not for Conor McGregor’s earth-shattering KO of Jose Aldo, 2015’s most outstanding knockout would’ve gone to Holly Holm, who stopped Ronda Rousey with a head kick, shattering her aura of invincibility in the process.
By the time Rousey returned in 2016, the bantamweight title she’d once held had changed hands twice, and now belonged to Amanda Nunes. When ‘Rowdy’ was given an immediate shot at the gold, though, many fans felt like she’d regain her title.
It wasn’t to be.
Inside just 48 seconds, ‘The Lioness’ absolutely wrecked the former champion with a brutal flurry in a truly scary showing that stands as 2016’s best knockout.
Rousey hung up her gloves directly afterwards, while Nunes has since gone onto be recognized as the greatest female fighter of all time, even if she hasn’t reached Rousey’s levels of stardom.
#5. Francis Ngannou vs. Alistair Overeem – UFC 218 (2017)
It’s arguable that no fighter in UFC history has ever possessed as much power as current heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. In 2017, he demonstrated that power by scoring the year’s best knockout against veteran Alistair Overeem.
The fight was just over a minute old when ‘The Predator’ caught Overeem with a violent left uppercut that almost took him off his feet.
The Dutchman was knocked out instantly, although Ngannou did add one unnecessary follow-up shot. Left looking like a stiff corpse, it was a relief when Overeem finally came around a few moments later.
It was the closest thing the octagon had ever seen to a Mortal Kombat uppercut, and it remains arguably the scariest knockout in UFC history.
#6. Yair Rodriguez vs. Chan Sung Jung – UFC Fight Night 139 (2018)
The best knockout of 2018 was also one of the latest in UFC history. Yair Rodriguez stopped Chan Sung Jung with just one second to go in the fifth and final round of their featherweight clash in the headline bout of the promotion’s 25th anniversary show.
That alone would’ve made it a classic, but the fact that it also came from a crazy, low-percentage strike only added to its unforgettable nature.
The fight had been wild throughout, and with seconds to go, Jung looked to land one more flurry to really cement what was looking likely to be a win.
As he closed in, though, Rodriguez ducked and landed an upwards-arcing back elbow to the jaw, knocking ‘The Korean Zombie’ out instantly.
Nobody could really believe what they’d seen, and it remains one of the most incredible – and bizarre – knockouts in octagon history.
#7. Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren – UFC 237 (2019)
The record for the fastest knockout in UFC history was broken in 2019, when Jorge Masvidal needed just five seconds to dispatch his bitter rival Ben Askren. Unsurprisingly, it stands as that year’s best KO.
Despite being that quick, the knockout was actually a mark of smart gameplanning from Masvidal. ‘Gamebred’ figured Askren would shoot for a takedown from the off and decided that he’d counter that.
As the fight began, then, he sprinted forward, and as ‘Funky’ indeed ducked his head, Masvidal leapt at him with a flying knee and landed it cleanly, knocking him silly.
The follow-up shots landed were academic, and remarkably, had the referee stepped in a moment sooner, the knockout would’ve been recorded even faster. It remains the best flying knee in UFC history.
#8. Joaquin Buckley vs. Impa Kasanganay – UFC Fight Night 179 (2020)
Nobody had heard of middleweight Joaquin Buckley before his bout with Impa Kasanganay in October 2020, but that all changed in the second round of the fight.
When Kasanganay threw a low kick at ‘New Mansa’, Buckley caught his leg and then leapt into the air to deliver a spinning back kick to the temple of his opponent, knocking him out instantly.
The knockout immediately went viral across the internet, and the social media posts that contained videos of it instantly broke viewing records for the UFC. Buckley, unsurprisingly, became an overnight sensation.
Two months later, it was revealed that the knockout had been viewed more than 65 million times, making it one of the most well-known finishes of all time. How could anything else be considered the best KO of 2020?
#9. Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal – UFC 261 (2021)
When UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman used his wrestling to grind out a win over rival Jorge Masvidal in 2020, he came under fire from some fans for a safety-first approach.
When the two men rematched a year later, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ made sure that nobody could make similar accusations.
In the second round, Usman cracked ‘Gamebred’ with a right hand that looked like it would’ve knocked out a rhino. Masvidal was sent crashing to the ground, completely unconscious, and there was no disputing who the better man was.
2021 featured plenty of great knockouts, but due to the nature of the rivalry between Usman and Masvidal, this one stands at the top of the mountain.
#10. Michael Chandler vs. Tony Ferguson – UFC 274 (2022)
2022 had a number of tremendous knockouts, including Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira’s title wins over Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya respectively.
However, for sheer violence, nothing could possibly top Michael Chandler’s front kick KO of Tony Ferguson. Put simply, this was one of the most frightening knockouts in octagon history.
We’d seen a number of great front-kick knockouts before from the likes of Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida, but those felt more like perfectly timed pieces of traditional martial arts.
Chandler, on the other hand, looked like he was kicking a locked door open, his foot smashing through Ferguson’s face and disconnecting him from his consciousness immediately.
Even taking recency bias into account, it’d be hard to disagree with any fans labeling this the greatest knockout in UFC history.
