The newest UFC star, Joaquin Buckley has offered his opinion on who owns the greatest knockout in MMA history. Buckley started a debate about the best ever KO’s when he propelled himself into consideration with his viral KO at UFC Fight Island 5 last weekend.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you will have already seen Buckley scored one of the greatest MMA knockouts of all time against Impa Kasanganay on the Moraes vs. Sandhagen undercard.
Buckley was making just his second appearance for the UFC after previously suffering a third-round stoppage defeat to Kevin Holland in his debut. An underdog in this fight against the previously unbeaten Kasanganay – he started well. In the second-round things managed to get astronomically better. Buckley threw a high kick that was caught by his opponent. He then used that as momentum to throw and land the most perfect spinning back kick you’ll ever see – check it out here.
Since the fight, Buckley has been showered with praise, gone viral, picked up a $50,000 bonus, inspired Kanye West to create new music, and been booked for another bout. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting Buckley revealed he is feeling confident about his chances of claiming the best knockout in 2020 but is unsure if he is the owner of the greatest KO of all time.
“I’d give myself the ‘Knockout of the Year,’ but my favorite knockout is Dan Henderson with the ‘H-Bomb’ over [Michael] Bisping,” Buckley said. “That’s always going to be the most devastating, vicious knockout to me.”
Buckley took time to talk through his experience of landing the kick and the process of realizing his opponent was out.
“I wasn’t able to see the reaction of him until I turned all the way around,” he said. “I knew I had hit him hard enough to at least knock him down, if not knock him out. So when I turned around, I was going to rush him to finish the job. But once I saw his body lock up, I knew that was game over. There was no need for any unnecessary punishment.”
Do you think Joaquin Buckley has the greatest KO in MMA history?