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ONE Championship is a premiere martial arts organization (the largest in the world, in fact) simply because it constantly produces moments that get fans out of their seats.
Many of its finishes are so unbelievable that you have to call your friends that instant to make sure they see it too. Almost every ONE Championship event has some kind of finish that you've never seen before.
Just look at this body jab knockout by Guto Inocente and tell us if you've ever seen something like it:
You don't see that all the time. Today, we talk about one thing that most people consider the greatest equalizer in combat sports: knockout power. In particular, punching power.
It's what makes professional fighting so exciting and different from all other sports - a well-placed power punch can turn a whole fight around at any moment. A fighter can be losing 90% of a fight, but with just one perfectly timed power punch, he can win. The LA Lakers couldn't be down by 20 points with a second left in the game and rely on LeBron James for a layup to win. It just doesn't happen in those sports.
Today, we name 5 ONE Championship fighters who are gifted with otherworldly power in their hands. We're not going to talk about knockout artists who are known for their kicks, knees or elbows (although ONE Championship has a lot of those as well). We will focus on those fighters with cinder blocks for hands.
With that said, here are 5 of the hardest punchers in ONE Championship today.
#5. ONE Championship bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Gaiyanghadao
ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion, Nong-O Gainyanhadao, is the perfect combination of clinical precision and earth-rattling power. He's not just dangerous with his hands, Nong-O can also put you away with his kicks, knees and elbows if he needs to.
As of late, however, we've seen the Evolve MMA fighter put his opponents away with his nuclear right hand. What's scary about Nong-O is that he's absolutely precise when he hits you.
Just look at how Nong-O uppercut penetrated through Felipe Lobo's tight guard:
Nong-O is like a surgeon with his punches. He'll snake his hands through your guard until he finds the contact point and lands the finishing blow. The best way to describe his fists is homing nuclear missiles. They'll find you and once they do, expect catastrophic results.
#4. Former ONE welterweight world champion Zebaztian Kadestam
13 wins with 11 knockouts. Former ONE welterweight world champion Zebaztian 'The Bandit' Kadestam is so powerful that most of his losses come by way of his opponents desperately taking him down to avoid his punches. We haven't seen a fighter so feverently avoided on the feet than this Swedish powerhouse.
Seriously, if you dare trade punches with this man, you're most likely going to have a short night.
Once 'The Bandit' connects with your jaw cleanly, you're going to be sent to the shadow realms for sure. The powerful Swede used his fists to win the ONE welterweight world title by separating Tyler McGuire from his senses.
The punch nearly took McGuire's head clean off his shoulders:
#3. ONE Championship bantamweight slugger Kwon Won Il
Out of the 10 wins scored in 'Pretty Boy' Kwon Won Il's career, 8 of them were via knockout and were all caused by his sledgehammer fists. The surging South Korean has bombs for hands and has been using them as his go-to weapon inside the Circle. It has been highly effective so far, to say the least.
Former ONE bantamweight world champion Kevin Belingon is as tough as they come but what Kwon did to him raised a lot of eyebrows. Known for his world-class conditioning and otherworldly toughness, nobody saw Belingon folding to a body shot. Kwon did just that in their fight.
Imagine how powerful your punch has to be for you to shatter an elite fighter's mid-section so badly that he couldn't continue. That's Kwon Won Il's punches in a nutshell. The Belingon knockout was Kwon's 3rd straight KO win before losing to Fabricio Andrade earlier this month.
Look to see more fireworks from 'Pretty Boy' in the future as he continues to use his powerful hands to put opponents away inside the Circle.
#2. ONE Championship bantamweight world champion John Lineker
You won't get the nickname 'Hands of Stone' for just any reason. John Lineker, the heavy-handed ONE Championship bantamweight world champion, might be the most legit bearer of this monicker aside from its original owner, boxing icon Roberto Duran. You can say that Lineker is the reason why we even thought of this list in the first place.
You just have to watch one of his fights to know what we're talking about. This man hits his opponents so hard that they start questioning their life choices.
'Hands of Stone' is one of the hardest punchers to have ever fought in the lower weight classes in MMA. The sheer force behind his punches has put most of his opponents to sleep, including the man he snatched the belt from, former ONE Championship bantamweight king Bibiano Fernandes.
What's crazy about Lineker is that he had this power even when he was fighting at 125 pounds. It just doesn't make sense for someone to be that powerful and be that tiny at the same time.
He then increased his power once he moved up to 135 and 145 pounds, the latter being the weight class that he currently rules. In more ways than one, Lineker should be considered one of the pound-for-pound hardest punchers in MMA history, period.
#1. ONE Championship interim heavyweight world champion Anatoliy Malykhin
ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoliy 'Sladkiy' Malykhin is one bad man. The heavyweight champion of the world is considered "The Baddest Man on the Planet" and Malykhin can make the argument that he deserves to be called that. We dare not disagree with him.
If you look at how he absolutely starched then-undefeated Kirill Grishenko back in February, you can tell that Malykhin doesn't need a lot of space to execute a knockout blow. He threw a right cross, missed, then stepped forward to throw a short right hook. The punch connected and immediately sent Grishenko into orbit.
Not only can Malykhin knock you out on the feet, he can also use his wrestling and heavy top pressure to pound your face through the canvas. That's a frightening thought. With 7 out of his 10 wins coming by way of KO, there is no doubt that Anatoliy Malykhin can knock anybody out on the planet.
That's why he's at the top of our list.
