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Whether it's in a premier MMA organization like the UFC or a kickboxing promotion like Glory, knockouts are the primary attractors for spectators across all combat sports. Nothing quite matches the sight of a thunderous blow crashing into a fighter's skull and separating them from their consciousness.
However, not all knockouts are thrilling in a positive way. As science evolves to attain deeper insight into how the brain works, the neurological damage dealt by knockouts has cast a blanket of fear. The most terrifying fighters in every sport that involves striking are always knockout artists.
Such fighters can be on the receiving end of a lopsided beating, but as long as one second remains in a bout, they can claim victory and forever change their opponent's life with a single blow to the head. The most fearsome of such knockouts result in truly terrifying sights.
Fighters lying on their backs with their bodies as stiff as a board or their eyes rolled into the back of their eyes is always a cause for concern. Thus, this list looks at 5 of the scariest knockouts in UFC history.
#5. Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim, UFC 142
While Edson Barboza might not ever claim a title in either the UFC featherweight or lightweight divisions, he was once regarded as a dark horse. The Brazilian kickboxer came into the sport of MMA with a breadth of experience in Muay Thai. He was powerful, explosive and frighteningly fast.
His kicks were especially notorious. To date, Edson Barboza remains the only fighter in the UFC to have defeated his foes with kicks to the legs, body and head. At UFC 142, his divisional rivals didn't quite yet understand that the key to defeating him was by using pressure to smother the space he needed to throw kicks with time and leverage.
Thus, he was undefeated and sought to extend his unbeaten run to a perfect 10-0 record. For his next fight, he crossed swords with Terry Etim. The bout was a back-and-forth affair, but upon entering the 2-minute mark of the 3rd round, the Brazilian dealt the final blow with a spinning wheel kick.
Barboza spun around, and every ounce of his body's momentum and weight crashed into his foe's skull through his heel. Etim immediately lost consciousness, his body and limbs as stiff as wooden boards seconds before he fell to the mat with his eyes rolled all the way into the back of his head.
It was the first spinning wheel kick KO in UFC history, and it was a terrifying sight with Etim lying on the mat as motionless and as stiff as a statue.
#4. Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping, UFC 100
Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping have both earned their places in the halls of MMA legends. The former Olympic wrestler earned the respect of the combat sports world with successful title reigns in both PRIDE and Strikeforce. Alas, respect was the last thing he drew from Michael Bisping.
During the leadup to their legendary bout at UFC 100, 'The Count' engaged in incessant trash talk to unnerve his foe, alongside the heckling he gave Henderson when they coached season nine of The Ultimate Fighter. Finally, on July 11th in 2009, the two men squared off inside the octagon for what should have been a chance at facing the then reigning middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.
At the 3-minute mark of the 2nd round, 'Hendo' tapped his foe's midsection with a body jab to draw Bisping's hands low. The moment his opponent did so, Henderson uncorked a vicious overhand right—his patented H-bomb. The former PRIDE double champion flattened the Englishman.
Bisping collapsed with his neck stiffened and almost elongated as his listless gaze stared into the ceiling. Seconds later, 'Hendo' landed an unnecessary follow-up punch that his foe was simply too unconscious to even react to. It is among the greatest knockouts in UFC history, and one of its most brutal.
With it, Henderson became, at the time, only the second man to ever defeat 'The Count', but the first to ever knock him out.
#3. Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Eye, UFC 238
Certain champions exhibit auras of invincibility. Jon Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov are two, as neither man has ever tasted true defeat inside the octagon, with the light heavyweight legend's only loss being a disqualification in a bout he was dominating with ease.
One such champion who seems all but unbeatable is Valentina Shevchenko. The reigning flyweight queen of Dana White's MMA empire is a patient and elusive counter-striker who, in 2019, was scheduled to defend her newly captured divisional throne against Jessica Eye.
Eye was at the helm of a 3-fight win streak. During the leadup to her bout with Shevchenko, 'Evil' accused the former world champion kickboxer of speeding up the training footage she posted on Instagram to make herself look faster than she truly was.
Come fight night, Eye put her theory to the test. She spent most of the 1st round at the wrong end of 'Bullet's' hard round kicks to the midsection. So within seconds of the 2nd round commencing, Shevchenko faked another body kick. Alas, when 'Evil Eye' dropped her arms to block or catch the kick, her foe chambered her leg high.
Shevchenko's kick soared over her opponent's lowered arms and her shin collided with Eye's skull. No subsequent strikes were needed as her foe collapsed. On the mat, it was an unnerving sight as Eye wore a hollow gaze and her hands and feet curled inwards as they twitched.
The knockout was so brutal that 'Bullet' was asked at the post-fight press conference whether she felt any guilt or concern for defeating her opponent in such violent fashion.
#2. Uriah Hall vs. Adam Cella, TUF 17
A world title in the UFC has always eluded Uriah Hall. The 2nd-degree Kyokushin Karate black belt was long regarded as a future champion and the heir to Anderson Silva's middleweight throne. Unfortunately, those predictions were premature and ultimately untrue.
What Uriah Hall was, however, was a devastating fighter with lightning-fast strikes and earth-shattering knockout power. In the 17th edition of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV series, 'Prime Time' faced Adam Cella in one of the many bouts that would determine who would be signed by the UFC.
The outcome of the fight entailed one of the most terrifying KOs in the promotion's history. Hall teased a jab, inviting Cella into a hand-fighting sequence. However, once his foe obliged and sought to trap the karateka's jab, 'Prime Time' eyed his opening. The right side of Cella's chin was exposed.
The future middleweight standout uncorked a spinning hook kick that blasted his foe's consciousness out of his skull. A spectacular knockout that was equally as concerning once the dust settled. The failed TUF contestant was lying on the mat with his chest heaving as he gasped for air.
His body didn't twitch or stiffen, but save for his lungs straining to breathe, he didn't and couldn't move. Cella stayed that way for an unsettling stretch of time, not moving and not recovering as fears that he might not stand back up thickened in the air. As the realization of what he'd done dawned on him, Hall apologized.
Eventually, 'El Natural' recovered and earned a chorus of applause from the surrounding fighters and officials as he stood back up.
#1. Tim Sylvia vs. Tra Telligman, UFC 54
Tim Sylvia's bout with Tra Telligman is part of MMA folklore. The two men were at very different points in their careers when they faced off inside the octagon. 'The Maine-iac' was a former UFC heavyweight champion with a record of 18 wins and only 2 losses.
Meanwhile, 'Trauma' took part in only his second UFC fight with a dismal 7-4-1 record at the time. It was an unfair matchup, the nature of it being immediately apparent after Sylvia brutalized Telligman in the 1st round. Bloodied and battered in a manner that would've surely led to a TKO win today, Telligman was hopeless.
At the very last second of the 1st round, 'The Maine-iac' punctuated his performance with the scariest knockout in the promotion's history, a head kick of such monstrous impact that 'Trauma' had to be stretchered out of the octagon. Fans never saw him regain consciousness.
Worse still, Telligman retired after the bout. His sudden and perplexing disappearance from the public eye immediately after his retirement from the sport sparked erroneous rumors that Sylvia's head kick caused such damage to his brain that he ultimately died of his injuries.
Fortunately, those accounts amount to nothing but an MMA urban legend. Tra Telligman is alive and well, having comfortably slipped into the role of a coach.
