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The old saying goes something like, "If you live by the sword, you die by the sword." Those words can certainly ring true in the world of the UFC.
Over the years, we’ve seen countless examples in the UFC of known knockout artists being given a taste of their own medicine, often suffering even more brutal KO’s than the ones they’d dished out themselves.
Naturally, the UFC is a largely cyclical business, meaning that knockout artists building their names off the back of previous ones often end up being victims in their own right somewhere down the line. However, to see a renowned knockout artist suffering a bad KO is still jarring and often wildly entertaining, too.
Here are five times that UFC knockout artists got a taste of their own medicine.
#5. Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans – UFC 88
As one of the most renowned knockout artists in UFC history, perhaps no other fighter made his name off the back of violent stoppages more than Chuck Liddell.
‘The Iceman’ held the UFC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007. During his tenure with the UFC, his list of knockout victims read like a who’s who of great 205lbers at the time. Liddell finished off Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Kevin Randleman, Renato Sobral, Alistair Overeem and Jeremy Horn, all in brutal fashion.
However, by 2008, his chin had begun to degrade to the point where he could no longer eat punches from his foes before countering with a heavier shot. That led to his title defeat at the hands of Quinton Jackson, as well as another loss to Keith Jardine. However, the best example of ‘The Iceman’ being given a taste of his own medicine came at UFC 88 against Rashad Evans.
Few UFC fans were giving Evans a chance. After all, ‘Suga’ had not fought in over a year prior to his clash with Liddell. He’d also never really shown knockout power, especially against an opponent of the caliber of ‘The Iceman’. However, when the fight began, it quickly became clear that Evans was substantially faster than Liddell, which allowed him to land the cleaner strikes.
And when ‘The Iceman’ threw a looping left, Evans countered over the top with a brutal right hand, snapping him out of consciousness immediately.
It was a truly brutal knockout that still ranks amongst the best in UFC history. Afterwards, Liddell was never quite the same again.
#4. Alistair Overeem vs. Francis Ngannou – UFC 218
While his best days were arguably behind him, in late 2017 Alistair Overeem was still considered one of the most feared knockout artists in the UFC’s heavyweight division.
Not only had the Dutchman knocked out the likes of Junior dos Santos and Mark Hunt inside the octagon, but he’d also won the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix, making him one of the world’s best kickboxers. However, ‘The Reem’ was in for a seriously rude awakening when he was matched with up-and-coming knockout artist Francis Ngannou at UFC 218.
Ngannou debuted in the octagon in late 2015 and quickly cut a path of destruction through the division, taking out fighters like Curtis Blaydes and Andrei Arlovski. Overeem, however, was on another level to those fighters, and most fans expected him to give ‘The Predator’ his toughest test to date.
Incredibly, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. After a brief clinch was broken, the two big men exchanged punches and Ngannou caught Overeem with a left uppercut that practically took him off his feet, knocking him utterly senseless.
‘The Reem’ had suffered some knockouts earlier in his career, but none quite as scary as this one. It took him an age to come around after the blow and the replays made the uppercut look like a clip from an early Mortal Kombat game.
In the years that have followed, Ngannou has gone onto establish himself as the most terrifying knockout artist in the UFC, while Overeem struggled to regain the traction he had prior to the clash.
#3. Cris Cyborg vs. Amanda Nunes – UFC 232
There has never been a more feared knockout artist in the history of women’s MMA than Cris Cyborg. The hulking Brazilian first emerged in the late 2000’s in Strikeforce, where she rose to fame after stopping Gina Carano in violent fashion.
Often boasting a huge size advantage over her opponents, Cyborg’s brutal striking allowed her to stop the majority of her foes in violent fashion. That didn’t change when she made her way to the UFC in 2016.
Cyborg quickly took out the likes of Lina Lansberg, Tonya Evinger and Yana Kunitskaya, establishing herself as the UFC women’s featherweight champion in the process.
However, she finally met her match at UFC 232 in 2018 when she faced off with reigning UFC bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes. Few UFC fans were giving Nunes a chance, as the 'Lioness’ appeared to lack the size and power to threaten Cyborg.
In reality, that idea couldn’t have been further from the truth. Nunes not only enjoyed a speed advantage over her slightly larger foe, but it turned out she could easily match her for power, too.
When Cyborg attempted to blitz the 'Lioness’ with strikes, Nunes quickly fired back and hammered her foe with clean punches that knocked her down and then out cold.
It was not only the first time that Cyborg had lost a fight since her MMA debut in 2005, but it was the first and only time anyone had ever stopped her with strikes. To date this remains the only time Cyborg has had a taste of her own medicine.
#2. Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman – UFC 162
Arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time, Anderson Silva ran roughshod over the middleweight division for the best part of a decade and established himself as a feared knockout artist during that period.
‘The Spider’ claimed the likes of Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami as his victims during that period, knocking all of them out with incredible skill.
More to the point, Silva’s striking was also highly unique, with the Brazilian often appearing to operate in an entirely different dimension to his opponents. This style garnered him comparisons to a character from the famed Matrix series of movies.
Despite not suffering a single knockout loss in the first 16 years of his MMA career, Silva was finally dealt a taste of his own medicine at UFC 162 in the summer of 2013. Faced with a stylistically tricky opponent in the form of Chris Weidman, ‘The Spider’ found himself behind on the scorecards after the opening round.
Recognizing that he needed to change things up, Silva attempted to draw Weidman in by taunting him, dancing around and dropping his hands.
It turned out to be a huge mistake. As Weidman threw a right hand, Silva leaned back out of the way but evidently misjudged how long his opponent’s reach was. ‘The All-American’ surprised him with a left hook, dropping him, and a series of follow-up punches left the Brazilian unconscious.
The entire UFC was stunned by the finish, as Silva had rarely been hurt by strikes previously, let alone knocked out. Although he would lose more fights by KO later in his career, this finish remains the best example of this knockout artist tasting his own medicine.
#1. Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier – UFC 257
The biggest star in the history of the UFC, Conor McGregor rose to fame thanks to his well-deserved reputation as a devastating knockout artist.
‘The Notorious’ debuted in the UFC with a knockout of Marcus Brimage. He then went onto take out the likes of Dustin Poirier and Chad Mendes before becoming the first man to stop Jose Aldo, taking the UFC featherweight title in the process.
Later on, he cemented his status as one of the UFC’s premier knockout artists by dropping Eddie Alvarez multiple times en route to claiming the UFC lightweight title, too.
While McGregor eventually dropped both titles and was defeated by Khabib Nurmagomedov in one-sided fashion at UFC 229, by the start of 2021 ‘The Notorious’ had still never been stopped by strikes, essentially avoiding a taste of his own medicine.
That changed at UFC 257. Faced with a rematch against Poirier, who had improved dramatically since their first meeting in 2014, McGregor came in confidently, but appeared to be far too focused on boxing for his own good.
Poirier took some punches from McGregor, but returned fire on ‘The Notorious’ with some nasty leg kicks. Eventually, those kicks set up a series of brutal punches that dropped the Irishman midway through the second round and left him defenseless.
To see ‘The Notorious’ finally knocked out by an opponent in the octagon was a huge surprise. For some fans who’d grown tired of his antics, it was highly enjoyable too. This was a classic example of a knockout artist being given a hefty taste of his own medicine.
