The faster it is, the gooder it is.
There is something about a strike that swiftly sends a man crashing to the mat that grabs the attention of not only die-hard fans, but also the casual ones who’ve stumbled across the sport by chance.
A knockout is one of those wondrous things that can be described as both “brutal” and “beautiful” in the same sentence (usually howled by an overzealous Joe Rogan).
While a TJ Dillashaw-esque fifth-round brain-loosener or a Dan Henderson back-from-the-dead H-bomb will always get a warm response, there is nothing that springs the crowd to life quite like a one-strike coup de grâce in the opening round.
To celebrate the rare gift of the quick finish, we present to you 10 UFC KOs that took less time than it took Usain Bolt to break the 200m record.
10. BJ Penn, UFC 34 – 11 seconds
In his third professional fight, Penn took on the vastly more experienced Caol Uno. However, if the former Shooto champion saw a match up with the youngster as an easy one for the win column, he had set himself up for a rude awakening.
After attempting an audacious flying knee right off the bat, Uno tried to settle himself. However, Penn refused to allow the Little Gremlin to get comfortable as he swiftly dropped him with a ferocious uppercut, before pouncing and pummeling his unconscious opponent until the ref had seen enough.
9. Mark Weir, UFC 38 – 10 secs
There were absolutely no UFC debut jitters for Mark Weir. After throwing a hook kick, he tagged Eugene Jackson with a perfectly timed jab that sent him crashing to the mat. He followed this up with a barrage of punches until his opponent’s lights went out.
Unfortunately, his first fight in the promotion would also be the zenith of his career, as he was cut from the promotion less than a year later after suffering back-to-back losses to Phillip Miller and Dave Loiseau respectively.
8. Gray Maynard UFC Fight Night 11 – 9 secs
One left hook was all Maynard needed to end this contest early. Although this is by far his most spectacular victory, Maynard’s singular KO of Joe Veres will always be overshadowed by that ludicrous double-KO against Rob Emerson in his prior fight.
7. Makwan Amirkhani, UFC on Fox 14 – 8 secs
What a stunning way to introduce yourself to the biggest stage in the sport. Amirkhani never finished a fight with strikes until he faced Andy Ogle in his promotional debut. The submission specialist showed the world his striking game was also to be feared with that glorious flying knee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQkb1qPFao
6. Don Frye, UFC 8 – 8 secs
We now go from the most recent to the oldest fight on our list, as we take a trip back to the early years of the UFC.
Moustache enthusiast Frye was an accomplished wrestler and a professional boxer before switching to MMA, while his opponent, Thomas Ramirez, had seen one too many Steven Seagal movies. Remarkably, Frye followed up his MMA debut and claimed the UFC 8 tournament by defeating Sam Adkins and Gary Goodridge… later that day.
5. James Irvin, UFC Fight Night 13 – 8 secs
Houston Alexander got lazy, threw out a lacklustre jab which was instantly greeted by a thunderous Superman punch to the jaw from Irvin. A couple of glancing punches from the top position followed until he went limp.
James Irvin's 8 second KO of the night against Houston Alexander! (UFC Fight Night 13) pic.twitter.com/qqxF9U2NE9
— MMA GOSSiP (@MMAxGossip) September 21, 2014
4. The Korean Zombie, UFC 140 – 7 secs
Mark Hominick entered into this bout after going the distance with arguably the greatest featherweight to ever grace an Octagon, Jose Aldo. Everyone expected him to propel himself back into title contention by steamrolling Chan Sung Jung.
The Korean Zombie had a different plan though and nailed Hominick with a straight right counter to hand the Canadian a crushing loss in front of his home crowd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3WvfwsQyjs
3. Ryan Jimmo, UFC 149 – 7 secs
You can look back now, Canadians. Here’s your boy Ryan Jimmo flooring Anthony Perosh with a huge overhand right. The Aussie was out before he hit the canvas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUp0xuEPJoY
2. Todd Duffee, UFC 102 – 7 secs
Heavyweights hit hard. All it took was a stiff jab from Duffee to Tim Hague’s grill to make his adversary’s legs crumble. Duffee then climbed on top of his downed opponent and relentlessly hammered him with punches until Hague went to sleep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITY27uo23gw
1. Duane “Bang” Ludwig, UFC Fight night 3 – 6 secs
Due to a timekeeping error, Duane Ludwig’s stellar KO against Jonathan Goulet went down in the record books as an 11-second finish. Any fool with a stopwatch (or stopwatch app) could see that the fight lasted 6 seconds.
El Presidente Dana White has recognised it as the fastest knockout in the promotion’s history, which is why it takes the top spot on our list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGz3zJoxZAc
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