I get what you’re saying, but I don’t think Yair was even trying to land the strike all that hard and hoping for a brutal KO to end the fight. He just kinda flicked it up there and got lucky. When Mo Lawal got knocked out by the weird backfist Newton hit him with, I wasn’t like “holy fuck that was amazing!” I was like “ok, that was fun but incredibly lucky.”
I’m much more impressed by a big KO strike that was intended to be a big KO strike, and not something that surprised even the guy who threw it.
I know what you’re saying, luck was without a doubt a significant factor in Yair’s elbow, and I can’t imagine he thought it would have the success it did.
Still, I don’t see how one can “accidentally” knock someone out (especially in such a brutal way,) and the fact that at the end of 25 minutes of fighting a losing battle, having the ability to still find a knockout from wherever the fuck speaks volumes to me.
Yeah, and if I remember correctly his coaches kept chewing him out for practicing it in camp, thinking it was a waste of time and not at all useful in a real fight.
For sure, but I guess what I’m saying is that I’m more impressed by guys who land big KO shots that are supposed to be big KO shots than I am odd strikes that are unlikely to work again. If I look at stuff like the Price KO from the bottom, or the Holland KO of Jacare from his back, or someone getting knocked out by an up-kick…I don’t go as crazy for those as other guys do. They’re incredibly fun to watch, and make for a great highlight, but I always prefer the KO’s that are a really clean technique over the weird shit.
Like, I think Barboza’s wheel kick KO of Etim is one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen, and was much more impressive to me than Buckley’s spinning kick KO, or Uriah Hall’s spinning kick KO that was thrown to the friggin body, but Mousasi fucked up and leaned his fucking chin right into it.
I understand why people would like Yair’s, but I’m more impressed by the guy landing a huge KO shot that he might be able to repeat. My all time favorite KO is Franklin vs Quarry. Nothing fancy, just picture perfect technique and timing, and he fucking detonated him with one clean shot.
Watch him, he paused, saw the opening, then threw it. He threw the right elbow and if you watch his left arm it was not swinging as part of a combo, he dropped it a bit and planted his foot before throwing it when he knew his back was going to be turned. He also kinda stumbled over Doms left leg in the process. The fact he did all this in a second or less is even more impressive.
I think he threw that elbow as much in an attempt to not leave himself exposed as he did to knock Dominic out.
His momentum was turning him away from Reyes, and I believe he knew the danger of having his back to him. Feeling as if he’d be vulnerable to attack, he improvised.
Which, as you mentioned, makes assessing that on the fly, and being creative enough to throw something meaningful, really fucking impressive.
