The best and worst from UFC 242: Khabib vs. Poirier

#2 Best: Azaitar’s brutal knockout

Ottman Azaitar scored one of the knockouts of the year over Teemu Packalen

The main card of UFC 242 wasn’t exactly filled with highlight reel finishes; Curtis Blaydes’ TKO of Shamil Abdurakhimov was almost anticlimactic and while Khabib Nurmagomedov’s choke submission of Dustin Poirier was memorable, it wasn’t as brutal or stunning as his finish of Conor McGregor in 2018. The prelim fights, however, saw a contender for knockout of the year.

The fight between Teemu Packalen and newcomer Ottman Azaitar wasn’t garnering a lot of hype; unsurprising given the low profile of both men, despite Azaitar’s strong 11-0 record. That should change next time out though, as Bulldozer lived up to his nickname and picked up his 12th career win in seriously brutal fashion.

Packalen just didn’t seem to have enough speed to deal with the striking of Azaitar, who seemed content to wing heavy punches at his opponent’s head from the off. At just over 3 minutes into the first round, that gameplan paid off, as the Morrocan-German landed a huge right hand to the side of Packalen’s head and sent him crashing to the ground, instantly unconscious. To make matters even worse, Packalen’s legs were left twitching as if he were being electrocuted in a truly horrific scene.

Thankfully, Packalen was fine a few moments later, but this was still one of the most violent finishes in recent memory, and it’ll deservedly find itself on UFC highlight reels for years to come.