'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAYACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABiAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwgQAAEEAgMBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwURAAQGEiETIgEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQURAAIABgMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAAMEBRESITFR/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwDPfGdWETNQ+rGxbDRaiwpxx5S1gj7gWEdr7FdE/qqsZfb2J9nafbEXx6kOrSLQ4o+GvSfTjGFtRXo0LZJ2bkk+xWukxpdU6pqqjXACgDqP/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Stephen Thompson was in awe of Molly McCann's spectacular knockout of Luana Carolina at the UFC London event in March.
'Wonderboy' recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel, during which he broke down his favorite UFC knockouts of 2022. While speaking about McCann's KO, Thompson said the finish was a contender for Knockout of the Year.
'Wonderboy' also claimed that the elbow strike was liekly powerful enough to even knock him unconscious:
"This could have been like, Knockout of the Year... Nobody would see that coming. She would knock me out with that, to be honest with you. Like, who throws that? I've never thought once about throwing a spinning back elbow in a fight. It's just something you don't see too often... That was just phenomenal timing. She had to have been working on that in camp but crazy KO right there."
Watch Stephen Thompson speak about Molly McCann's knockout from the 2:16 mark below:
At the UFC London event in March, Molly McCann took on Luana Carolina in a flyweight scrap. In the third round, 'Meatball' struck a devastating spinning back elbow on her opponent that knocked her out cold.
In her next fight in July, McCann again used a spinning back elbow strike to finish her opponent Hannah Goldy in the first round.
For each of those performances, McCann earned a Performance of the Night bonus worth $50,000.
Stephen Thompson names his Knockout of the Year
In the knockout breakdown video, Stephen Thompson named Leon Edwards' head-kick finish against Kamaru Usman as the KO of the Year for 2022.
'Wonderboy' event went one step further and called it one of his favorite knockouts of all time:
"This is Knockout of the Year... What made this so epic was altitude, right? These guys are fighting up above altitude. Two, it was in the fifth round. So, your defense is a little slower. You're over-exaggerating your defense... head kick straight to the face. One of my all-time favorite knockouts ever. Not just of 2022, but ever."
Leon Edwards took on Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title at UFC 278. When it seemed that 'The Nigerian Nightmare' was about to cruise to a decision victory, Edwards pulled off a jaw-dropping head-kick knockout in the last minute of the five-round fight to dethrone Usman.
