I'm sure this has been asked before in various forms, but the question is simple.
We’ve all seen a million KOs and highlight reels throughout the years, but which one-strike KOs immediately come to mind that had you seriously concerned for the safety of the receiving fighter? The shots that had you most concerned for the future brain health/CTE etc.?
On one end of the spectrum we have the flash-KOs where the fighter might not even fall all the way down and they’re wondering what just happened a second ago, and on the other end have the poor bastard with the pointed toes and shaking legs, frozen in their posture making HNNNNG noises, and having no recollection of the whole week of the fight. Those are the examples I’m looking for.
I’ll kick us off with a few examples, let’s see your lists of most damaging one-shot KOs.
Rashad’s “fastball pitch” KO of Chuck. Chuck looked like his brain turned to mushy rice pudding from that shot.
- Crocops headkick of Vovchanchyn. Hard to pick just one Crocop KO, but that was the one where I was worried Igor might wake up a different person.
Pablo Garza’s flying knee of Fredson Paixao (lesser-known one). When this knee landed, it looked like if Paixao’s head wasn’t connected to his shoulders by his neck, it could’ve gone flying into the upper stands. He also looked like he was literally dead and stiff for several minutes after the strike. Looked like a potential career-ender.
Masvidal’s flying knee on Askren. No description needed, my mom probably knows about this KO by now. Nasty stiff legs.
Tank’s KO of John Matua. Poor Matua got hammerfisted into having only his right ass cheek touching the mat, all 4 limbs were stiff as a board pointed straight up in the air and vibrating. Then he got to have Tank make mock his decerebrate posture during his celebration.
- Barboza’s wheel kick to Terry Etim. Etim definitely took a trip to the twilight zone and back. Again frozen in time, landing in the exact position he was in when the kick landed. Nasty stuff.
Paul Daley’s crushing hook to Scott Smith. Daley landed a 3-left-hook-in-a-row combo on Smith, and as Smith wobbled back toward Daley in a daze, Daley sent him faceplanting to the shadow realm with the mother of all hooks to the jaw. Smith’s body just went into complete independence from his nervous system, and we got to see what looked like a glitchy video game character twitching around on the mat. As Bas Rutten would say, “Dat one is not good for the brain”.
So, which one-strike KOs come to mind that had you most concerned for the safety of the fighter?
I have no real basis to explain why I think it, but I don't think it's the single KO shots. I think it's too much hard training, followed by wars like MacDonald vs Lawler.
Masvidal vs Askren - you could tell Ben was still gone as he was escorted out, I turned to my brother and said I hope he's okay and this isn't a 'collapse backstage and fall into a coma or worse' situation.
Michael McDonald vs Miguel Torres - later realeased cornerman mics pick up Torres continuously asking the same questions over and over - was I fighting Mark Hominick? was this a fight or sparring? was it Bantamweight or Featherweight? etc.
I have no real basis to explain why I think it, but I don't think it's the single KO shots. I think it's too much hard training, followed by wars like MacDonald vs Lawler.
I worry for guys like Chris Lytle for this reason. He loved a brawl and aimed to entertain. He had a great chin that allowed him to get away with it, but I have to wonder if it's going to cause him issues as he ages.
I have no real basis to explain why I think it, but I don't think it's the single KO shots. I think it's too much hard training, followed by wars like MacDonald vs Lawler.
I truly believe it is both; sub-concussive/cumulative trauma adding up over time, obviously compounded by the full lights-out KOs.
I think sub-concussive trauma was being extremely overlooked until only recently, but I guess it all boils down to the seemingly obvious: there’s no such thing as a harmless blow to the head.
That one almost made my list. Ninja's eyes were each in full independent orbit looking in opposite directions when Sergei landed the last hook that almost sent Ninja through the ropes. That's the kind of KO a fighter should take a full 6 months to recover from.
Kharitonov on Arlovski, I thought Andre was as dead.
Tank on Nelmark, I immediately stood up and said “that’s it, it’s over, we’ll never see another fight, that fucking guy is dead”. Something like that as I paced back and forth for a minute.