<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>When it comes to award time, whether it’s the half-year awards or the end of year honors, there are always categories that will give you fits when trying to narrow things down to the five or ten best. Not the knockout category though; whenever it’s time to choose the best KOs or TKOs, there are always more than enough candidates to pick from, and the winner is almost always clear-cut. So far, 2008 is no exception. 5 – UFC 81 – February 2 – Tim Boetsch TKO1 David Heath Coming in on short notice and beating David Heath would have been impressive enough, but stopping him in the first round made Tim Boetsch the darling of the MMA message boards after his UFC 81 win. Why? Well, take a fighter who follows Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do philosophy of martial arts, add in power and a desire to finish, and you’ve got an instant fan favorite. Oh yeah, and there was the way Boetsch ended the fight - by throwing Heath to the mat on his head and following up with a series of ground strikes – that instantly stamped ‘The Barbarian’ as a fighter to watch. 4 – UFC Fight Night – April 2 – Anthony Johnson KO1 Tommy Speer The old adage that ‘speed kills’ was definitely in evidence in Colorado as Anthony Johnson took out Tommy Speer in just 51 seconds. But maybe even more frightening was how ‘Rumble’ rocked Speer with almost every shot he threw before finally lowering the boom. Speer had shown a granite chin and an almost inhuman ability to absorb punishment during his stint on The Ultimate Fighter. Johnson’s assault made that durability a non-issue almost immediately. 3 –Thiago Alves KO’s Karo Parisyan (UFC Fight Night - April 2) and Matt Hughes (UFC 85 - June 7) Gotta go two for one when it comes to slot number three because of the similarities of Thiago Alves’ biggest two wins to date. In both cases, Alves walked in as an underdog against seasoned and durable vets, and when both fights were over, he had taken out his opponent with vicious knees that shook up the welterweight division in the process. Previously, Parisyan had only been TKO’ed once (by Sean Sherk on a towel throw) in 30 pro fights; Hughes, twice in 49 fights. Alves took them both out. And while his close range knee on Parisyan was impressive, his flying knee KO of Hughes - in which he led with the right before switching and landing with the left in mid-air – was a thing of beauty. 2 – UFC 84 – May 24 – Wanderlei Silva KO1 Keith Jardine Given the intricate strategies and sporting aspect of mixed martial arts, it’s easy to forget sometimes that what we’re watching is a fight. The legendary Wanderlei Silva, aptly nicknamed ‘The Axe Murderer’, reminded us at UFC 84 with a ferocious assault that left Keith Jardine staring up at the lights and Silva sitting on top of the Octagon with his arms raised in victory. If you ever imagined what would happen if the Brazilian bomber ever got into a street fight, it would probably resemble something like what happened in Vegas on May 24th. 1 – UFC Fight Night – April 2 – James Irvin KO1 Houston Alexander Eight seconds. How can you argue with what has to be considered the perfect fight? Look – you come out, throw one punch and win without getting hit. That’s perfection. Plus, James Irvin performed this feat on Houston Alexander with a Superman punch, adding to the aesthetic value of the whole thing. In my eyes, this is the no-brainer for KO of the year thus far, and may only be surpassed if Irvin can do the same thing to Anderson Silva on July 19th. Honorable mention – Melvin Guillard TKO1 Dennis Siver, Jorge Rivera KO1 Kendall Grove, Wilson Gouveia KO2 Jason Lambert, Marcus Davis KO1 Jess Liaudin, Chris Lytle TKO1 Kyle Bradley, Matt Wiman KO2 Thiago Tavares</div> Gotta admit I loved the Tim Boetsch Slam/KO as well as the Superman punch and Wand's dismantling of Jardine. Awww who am I kidding, I love just about any KO
Yea, those were all pretty nice TKOs. Melvin Guillard`s KO on James Bond aka Dennis Siver was pretty recent and nice too.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chocolove @ Jul 10 2008, 01:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>dang it would be nice if these KOs had accompanying videos.</div> I know, I tried to find them quickly.. maybe Speeds can acquire them
Zuffa tries to take down most of their copyrighted stuff on the web, because they offer it for sale on their own website if its UFC or on DVD. However some websites still have it. Here is a link to the Melvin Guillard KO on James bond: (good quality) http://www.pancrase.org/melvin-guillard-vs...-86/07-06-2008/ Speer vs. Anthony Johnson (good quality) http://www.mmatko.com/tom-speer-vs-anthony...fight-night-13/ Here is Alves vs. Karo, but it has no sound [video=dailymotion;x5m0xy]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5m0xy_ufc_sport[/video] Houston Alexander vs. James Irwin (from the crowd, only caught half of the 8 second KO, and camera is bouncing some, but all I could get lol) [video=youtube;xwsFqFUc0FU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwsFqFUc0FU&feature=related[/video] Wanderlei vs. Jardine (good quality) http://blog.ronin5.com/ufc-84-wanderlei-si...ine-video-clip/
Tim Boetsch ragdoll's David Heath Anthony Johnson sends Tommy Speer home http://mixedmartialartvideos.com/2008/04/0...fight-night-13/ Thiago Alves' knees Karo Parysian Wanderlei Silva knocks Keith Jardine dead. Rape choke! James Irvin knocks the corn out of Houston Alexander
The only one he missed that I didn`t post was the Hughes vs. Thiago Silva. He found the `Tim Boetsch ragdoll's David Heath`though
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Jul 10 2008, 04:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The only one he missed that I didn`t post was the Hughes vs. Thiago Silva. He found the `Tim Boetsch ragdoll's David Heath`though</div> great work by you to Lava.. keep'em coming
Hughes pretty much lays there after the knee and decides he's not going to fight back. He just watches Alves come down to him and throw that big punch into his cheek. After seeing this again I'm convinced the last fight of Hughes' career will be the upcoming one against Serra.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (speeds @ Jul 10 2008, 06:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hughes pretty much lays there after the knee and decides he's not going to fight back. He just watches Alves come down to him and throw that big punch into his cheek. After seeing this again I'm convinced the last fight of Hughes' career will be the upcoming one against Serra.</div> Well he was probably dazed from the knee, and really the amount of time in between laying on his back and the punch landed is like .75 seconds. I don't think he is a top 3 contender anymore, he doesnt seem to have the same explosiveness and didnt do any damage to Thiago when he got him to the ground. I think he still has fights left in him, and he probably is still in the top 5-8 in terms of who can beat though in the Welterweight division. I wouldn't pick Hughes to beat GSP, Alves, and Koschek, anymore and probably would lose to a couple other top guys. But I think he could beat a fair number of Welterweights still.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Jul 10 2008, 06:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (speeds @ Jul 10 2008, 06:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hughes pretty much lays there after the knee and decides he's not going to fight back. He just watches Alves come down to him and throw that big punch into his cheek. After seeing this again I'm convinced the last fight of Hughes' career will be the upcoming one against Serra.</div> Well he was probably dazed from the knee, and really the amount of time in between laying on his back and the punch landed is like .75 seconds. I don't think he is a top 3 contender anymore, he doesnt seem to have the same explosiveness and didnt do any damage to Thiago when he got him to the ground. I think he still has fights left in him, and he probably is still in the top 5-8 in terms of who can beat though in the Welterweight division. I wouldn't pick Hughes to beat GSP, Alves, and Koschek, anymore and probably would lose to a couple other top guys. But I think he could beat a fair number of Welterweights still. </div> He was wobbled before the flying knee, which connects with his shoulder almost flush then slides into his chin. I don't think it knocks him out, just down. Hughes was coherent when the fight was being stopped. He isn't the same fighter he was when he had that crazy war with Frank Trigg back in the day. I don't think his heart is in it.
I still want to see Alves make 170 against a top fighter to be impressed. and IMO Karo Parisyan is not a top 170'er anymore. I was surprised at how one dimensional Alves made Hughes look. I think Matt is more interested in being a good old boy back home farming and running his MMA gym than fighting anymore.
Hey, thanks for the videos guys. That James Irvin knock out was nasty. edit: checked out that Alves flying knee again, it did land flush on Hughes shoulder and not his face. Theres no way Hughes would of gotten knocked out by that.
