Few things can get a crowd off
their feet like a good knockout, and no knockout ranks higher than a head
kick. Whether it comes from a spinning, round, front, or crane kick, head-kick Knockouts excite fans and remind them of the cruel nature
of combat sports. Without further ado, here are some of the most Brutal Head
Kick Knockouts in Combat sports history. In the first defense of her UFC flyweight title, Valentina Shevchenko faced
Jessica Eye in the co-main event at UFC 238 in June 2019. After dominating the first round,
Shevchenko unleashed a brutal head kick that immediately brought an end to the fight. Eye
was unconscious for several minutes afterward. It was the first knockout win of
Shevchenko's UFC career and the first knockout defeat of Eye's MMA career.
In May 2018 Lyoto Machida delivered one of the greatest KOs and reactions ever seen.
Belfort, who was well past his prime, absorbed a front kick to the
face that shot out of nowhere, causing him to crash to the canvas.
Machida knew
the job was done, put his hands on his hips, bowed, and then kneeled in front of his
Brazilian fellow as a sign of respect. Back in Japan in September 2004, Akebono faced a
Dutch striker who was known for his flying knees and spectacular kicking attacks. Akebono started
the fight by pressing with punches and pushes, ignoring his opponent's signature high
kicks. Remy, had had enough in the third round and scored a high right kick that
put the former sumo wrestler out cold. In February 2011 at UFC 126, the reigning
middleweight champion Anderson Silva successfully defended his title against Vitor Belfort. Although
Belfort had a great record of impressive knockouts under his belt, in this fight he ended up
being on the wrong side of a head kick. The kick won Silva the title
of Knockout of the Night, and the action eventually led to the creation
of the game's cover image for UFC 3 Undisputed.
Lyoto Machida has a respectable number
of head-kick victories on his resume, but his front-kick finish of Couture was the
most remarkable. Some would even say his front kick finish was more impressive than his
training partner, Anderson Silva’s front kick finish of Vitor Belfort. While
Silva landed a standing front kick, Machida took things a step further, landing
a jumping front kick, karate-kid style. In November 2005, a rookie Badr Hari faced a
German Kickboxer in Tokyo Japan. It’s a fight that nobody really cares about, but as it often
turns out, the fight became legendary as the night Badr Hari made it clear that he will dominate
the kickboxing scene for the next ten years.
In September 2021 Badr Hari faced the #8 ranked
Glory heavyweight contender in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Hari had a great start
to the fight and managed to knock his opponent three times with body shots
before the midway point of the fight. As Badr was hunting the finish, his opponent
catches him perfectly with a left-high kick. Hari was unable to beat the count
as the Polish jumped in his corner knowing he had managed to pull off one of
the biggest upsets in kickboxing history. One of the best knockouts of 2016 occurred
in the co-main event fight between Marat Grigorian and Djime, which was featured
on Glory 30. Grigorian put an end to the fight in highlight-reel style by knocking
out Djime with a head kick. The Frenchman fell and took a slow-motion
dive straight into the canvas, causing the referee to immediately stop the fight. the MMA world since his opponent was the Ukrainian
legend Igor Vovchanchyn. Less than 1:30 into the fight, Cro Cop landed a brutal left high kick that
made the audience hear the ‘snap’ of Igor's head. Cro Cop was the first and only fighter to
knock out Igor during his 66-fight career, earning him the "Knockout of the
Year" award from Fight Matrix.
When Gabriel Gonzaga and
Cro Cop met in April 2007, many expected the fight to end
with a head kick. No one, however, anticipated Cro Cop to be on the receiving end
of this kick. In the first round, Gonzaga gave the Croatian a taste of his own medicine sending
him crashing with a single right kick to the head. In January 2012, Former Muay-Thai kickboxer Edson
Barboza delivered a highlights reel that you can simply never bore of watching again and again. Two
minutes into the fight, Barboza unleashed one of the cleanest spinning heel kicks ever landed in
MMA history. It was so quick and clean that Etim hadn't even a chance to react to the strike,
as he was sent to the canvas. This win earned Barboza the Knockout of the Night, Fight of the
Night, as well as Knockout of the Year honors. In March 2006 a young and arrogant Badr
Hari fought 30-year-old Peter Graham, whom Badr mocked and called an amateur. Hari once
again showed his bad-boy reputation by offending Graham and starting a street fight at the press
conference.
In the actual fight, Hari was knocked out by Graham's trademark "Rolling Thunder". The
heel hit Hari hard on the head and knocked him out cold. Graham's kick broke Hari's jaw in multiple
places and sidelined him for almost a year. Don Frye and Gary Goodridge met on New
Year's Eve in Japan in 2003. Don Frye already held two wins over Goodridge, but 39
seconds into the first round, Gary ended the fight in dramatic fashion, with a vicious high
kick that put Frye face first on the canvas. Thanks for watching, if you like
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