The upside-down man pictured above—UFC heavyweight Shawn Jordan—weighs north of 260 pounds.
He’s kind of athletic. There’s something special about a man that big doing things that physically taxing, and today, I’d …
The upside-down man pictured above—UFC heavyweight Shawn Jordan—weighs north of 260 pounds.
He’s kind of athletic. There’s something special about a man that big doing things that physically taxing, and today, I’d like to shine some light on the big fellas who perform impressive feats of skill and athleticism inside the UFC Octagon.
One of the flashiest ways to finish a fight inside the cage is via head kick, and there have been some spectacular showcases of shin colliding with skull throughout the UFC’s history.
Let’s take a look back through the archives and pick out the top five most impressive head-kick knockouts in the UFC’s heavyweight division.
To rank, I’ll use a combination of factors, including:
Degree of difficulty
Quality of opposition
Timeliness (a big-time comeback KO would score higher than a betting favorite knocking out a massive underdog)
Impact
Ready to see how it shakes out? Click on to begin the show.
Forgive undefeated UFC newcomer Andrew Todhunter if he doesn’t seem too giddy about his debut at UFC 188.
It’s just that, you see, he’s kind of been here, in a state of chaos, before. Maybe he hasn’t been on this exact stage. He certainly ha…
Forgive undefeated UFC newcomer Andrew Todhunter if he doesn’t seem too giddy about his debut at UFC 188.
It’s just that, you see, he’s kind of been here, in a state of chaos, before. Maybe he hasn’t been on this exact stage. He certainly hasn’t fought in the UFC Octagon, and he’s never faced anybody quite as dangerous as Albert Tumenov in his seven-fight professional career.
But as a former U.S. Army sniper who was wounded in Iraq and had to undergo three surgeries and rigorous physical therapy as a result, Todhunter just isn’t easily fazed.
“Man, I was a sniper, you know?” Todhunter told Bleacher Report. “I’m pretty emotionless…The opportunity’s great, the money’s great, but it’s not like I’m going to jump up and down.”
After Hector Urbina pulled out of his originally scheduled bout against Tumenov with an apparent arm injury, UFC officials scrambled to find an opponent, according to Todhunter. Nobody answered the call before they buzzed him, but he gladly stepped in to save the day.
Forget that he was overweight. Forget that he’d previously competed at middleweight—never at welterweight—as a pro.
Forget that he had eight days to prepare for the biggest fight of his life and had fought in—and won—a professional boxing match at 197 pounds just two weeks earlier. Todhunter knows an opportunity when he sees it, and he pounces.
“I heard about the injury like two days ago,” Todhunter said. “They [UFC officials] said they were going to scrub the fight if I didn’t make it. I guess they called around and tried to get people to take it, and no one would take it. I said, ‘Well, what’s the deal?’ They said, ‘We’ll give you a four-fight contract, but you gotta fight in eight days.’ OK. Sounds like a plan. And I have to lose a lot of weight. That’s the kicker.”
While he wouldn’t disclose his exact weight as of Friday evening, Todhunter said he was “up there.” He is, however, a professional who routinely cuts 20 pounds of water weight within one day of weigh-ins. He’s also hired a doctor to help with this particular cut, so he believes he can get the job done and hit the 171-pound mark at UFC 188.
Also in his favor is the fact that he’s no stranger to short-notice fights, and one particular instance from earlier in his career sounds a whole lot like his current situation when you hear him tell it. Sure, the stakes are higher now, but in the end, a fight’s a fight, and he’s been here before.
“I feel like it’s been like that [short-notice] every fight,” Todhunter said. “I fought for the amateur Oklahoma state championship against one of Dale ‘Apollo’ Cook’s guys, a Golden Gloves boxer who wrestled, and I wasn’t even training. I was drinking beer out on a boat with my friends.”
The conversation, as Todhunter recalls, went something like this:
Dale Cook: Hey, I heard you’re some kind of tough guy.
Andrew Todhunter: Who is this?
DC: This is Dale ‘Apollo’ Cook.
AT: Well, I wouldn’t say that [that I’m a tough guy], but I’m not scared of you, if that’s what you’re getting at.
DC: Well, it’s not me, but I got a fight, a title fight, and his opponent fell out.
“This is on a Tuesday,” Todhunter said. “I’m throwing back Bud Lights with my friends, but I said, ‘Yeah, I can do it.’ I was young back then, 21, 22. I actually went to the weigh-ins—I was like 192 back then, so it wasn’t a big deal—and I was probably dehydrated from all the beer.
“So I went to the weigh-ins, weighed in, then we went back to partying like we just were. I never trained at all for it, then I went out and knocked him out in a minute and six seconds or something like that.”
Fights like this give Todhunter the confidence he can pull off the seemingly impossible again. Fighting, as they say, is more mental than physical, and Todhunter believes it is here that he gains an edge over his competitors.
In the military, one particularly driven sergeant, Sergeant First Class Cashman, forced him and his platoon to endure a hellacious grind. This moment, Todhunter said, taught him what mental toughness was all about, and he’s been imposing the lessons learned upon his opponents ever since.
“I had this 24-mile ruck march one time,” Todhunter said. “My platoon sergeant, he was a Ranger instructor before he got to us, and he wanted to set records. So we ran this 24 miles for the base record with one-third of our body weight plus our body armor and our gun.
“So you take your body armor, your gun, then you weigh in and one-third of that weight has to be in your rucksack. So then you take off. Twenty-four miles is a long way, man. I remember my feet were bleeding. I was hurting, and this old man was just going. I say old, but I was like 19 at the time. He was like 35.
“I was like, ‘This old man is not going to beat me down. There’s no way.’ He was just a regular guy, probably 5’8”. Nothing crazy athletic, but he was the toughest motherf–ker mentally. That guy, I had him around me for the next year-and-a-half, and he taught me what mental toughness is all about.
“We were supposed to walk it. But he wanted to ruck-run it. And when you’re in the military and your platoon sergeant says something, and not only does he say it, he does it, and he’s 35 years old and 5’8″ and he’s putting a whooping on everybody, you gotta just bite down and go.”
Todhunter knows his opponents haven’t run 24 miles, feet bleeding and body aching, in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. There was no money at the end of that run, no big award ceremony. Bruce Buffer didn’t raise his hand and announce his name to thousands of spectators when he crossed mile marker No. 24.
There was just the knowledge that he and his team accomplished what they set out to do and broke a base record in the process. That’s where mental toughness comes from.
Losing some weight and fighting a world-class opponent in eight days, in this context, is nothing to get too excited about. While he recognizes that the weight cut and the short-notice scrap at a high-altitude venue will affect his performance, Todhunter thinks about Cashman chugging along, refusing to break under the weight of the moment, and it’s here he draws power and inspiration.
“It’s not humanly possible to lose the amount of weight I’m losing and go out there and perform at my absolute best, but the only thing I have to say about all that is: I’m not a quitter, man,” Todhunter said. “You can beat my body, but you still gotta beat my mind.”
When the lights go down in Mexico and the Fight Pass preliminary portion of the card kicks off, Tumenov will have to rise up to that challenge. As Todhunter sees it, the fight can go one of two ways. Win or lose, the result will be earned.
“Either he’s [Tumenov’s] going to stay on the feet and keep this fight standing, which, if that happens, then God bless him, because I’ve got some awesome f–king takedowns,” Todhunter said. “If I can’t take you down in 15 minutes, then God bless you, because I’ve been taking people down for 20 years who have good takedowns and takedown defense. That’s how I feel about it.
“Or he gets taken down, and I win the fight. That’s how the fight’s going to go. That’s how I see it in my head.”
Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier wanted a fight in his home state of Louisiana, but he knew he’d have to earn it.
Heading into his UFC Fight Night 63 bout in April against Carlos Diego Ferreira, Poirier faced massive pressures because of this fact.&n…
Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier wanted a fight in his home state of Louisiana, but he knew he’d have to earn it.
Heading into his UFC Fight Night 63 bout in April against Carlos Diego Ferreira, Poirier faced massive pressures because of this fact.
Adding to the gravity of this matchup, the American Top Team product was coming off a loss to trash-talking Irishman Conor McGregor at UFC 178 the previous September. That fight was the most hyped bout of Poirier’s career, and he lost via first-round knockout.
After this defeat, Poirier announced he would move from featherweight back up to the lightweight division, where he spent the beginning of his career and found great success. The bout against Ferreira would mark Poirier’s first bout at 155 pounds in over four years, and questions lingered.
“Changing weight classes is a big move to do, especially in this sport and especially when I was in the Top 10 at featherweight,” Poirier told Bleacher Report.”There were second thoughts and stuff like that, but once it came down to fight week and I cut the weight to 155…I belong here. I’m a bigger guy, and ’45 was just crushing to make, man. I just feel more comfortable here.”
Then, there was the matter of that New Orleans card, UFC Fight Night 68, hanging in the not-so-distant future. Poirier fought Ferreira April 4, and the Louisiana card was booked for Saturday, June 6. He knew if he wanted a piece of the home-state action he’d not only have to win—he’d have to win quickly and emerge injury-free.
Four minutes into the fight, that’s exactly what Poirier did, and his ticket to Louisiana was punched.
“I knew if I went in and got the job done I’d for sure be on the Louisiana card, and, you know, I did it,” Poirier said. “And as soon I did it, [UFC Matchmaker] Joe Silva came in the cage and told me he had a spot for me on the Louisiana card. It really was just perfect. Everything went like clockwork, man.”
Now facing 27-year-old rising star Yancy Medeiros, Poirier feels more comfortable in his new weight class, and he’s certain he made the right choice to leave the featherweight division. In fact, Poirier feels he could serve as an example to other fighters who drain their bodies and minds to cut weight just days before a big fight.
“I think the huge weight cuts should be done with,” Poirier said. “It’s crazy. Why? We build our body up so much just to tear it down and have to go out there and perform drained. It’s just not the way to be an athlete and perform.”
In evaluating his upcoming clash with Medeiros, Poirier sees a bit of himself in his opponent. The Hawaiian-born fighter is rangy and aggressive, and he struggles to keep the pedal off the floor once the opening bell rings—just like Poirier.
The Louisiana native has become a fan favorite over his six-year professional MMA career because of this style, but he admits it’s something he works to suppress—just a touch—on fight night.
“It’s [staying relaxed and composed is] getting easier every fight,” Poirier said. “You’re growing and maturing in the sport, but when I was younger, I used to kind of get caught in the moment, just throwing punches and going crazy, just running on adrenaline. But now I’m starting to rely more on technique and my experience.”
While Poirier’s crystal ball couldn’t deliver a firm prediction for how his bout against Medeiros will shake out inside the UFC Octagon Saturday in New Orleans, he knew one thing to be certain: The fans will leave happy.
“It [the clash of aggressive styles] works in the fans’ advantage,” Poirier said. “They’re going to get an awesome fight, and these are the kinds of fights I like to be in. I’m excited.”
That said, Poirier has full confidence his hand will be raised by the bout’s end.
“I think I’m better everywhere, man,” Poirier said. “I think I’m a better kickboxer, and I think I’m a better grappler, and I’ll show it Saturday.”
Beyond Medeiros, the UFC’s lightweight division is stacked with talent. Whereas Poirier found himself in a relatively shallow pool of Top-10 fighters at featherweight, he’ll now have to get past some incredibly skilled and potent challengers just to crack the Top 15 at lightweight.
To him, though, that’s part of the fun. That’s part of the challenge, and he’s embracing it moving forward, setting himself a lofty goal that he aims to achieve by the end of 2015.
“I want to crack the Top 10, that’s the goal, so I’m going to get the win Saturday and look for some big names,” Poirier said. “That’s my goal for this year.”
And that devastating loss to McGregor? Poirier wouldn’t mind running that one back. The Irish superstar will challenge for UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo’s title at July 11’s UFC 189 event, and after that, he may just follow Poirier right up to lightweight.
If he chooses that route, Poirier will be ready.
“Oh, yeah, 100 percent, I’d like that fight [against McGregor],” Poirier said. “I’ll be here waiting. But right now, I don’t even want to say his name.”
It’s truly not cockiness. Lance Palmer is just being honest.
The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) featherweight champ talks about his upcoming tilt against longtime veteran Chris Horodecki with a tranquility more fit for a stroll around the n…
It’s truly not cockiness. Lance Palmer is just being honest.
The World Series of Fighting (WSOF) featherweight champ talks about his upcoming tilt against longtime veteran Chris Horodecki with a tranquility more fit for a stroll around the neighborhood than for a trip inside the steel cage.
Palmer is relaxed and prepared, and he sees nothing in Horodecki that makes him want to change his demeanor.
“I feel like I’m better everywhere,” Palmer told Bleacher Report. “He’s just been around for longer. I’m just going to go out there and perform. If I perform, I don’t think he can touch me, and that’s what I plan to do.”
Palmer’s confidence is rooted in reason. A four-time All-American wrestler at the Ohio State University, Palmer transitioned to MMA four years ago, shacking up with Sacramento’s esteemed Team Alpha Male to round out his game.
His rapid improvements led him to the WSOF featherweight title in short order, and now he looks to add a championship defense to his already cluttered mantle. Against Horodecki, Palmer doesn’t see a path of least resistance to achieve this goal.
He just plans on owning the Polish fighter everywhere.
“I know his main thing is striking, but his last few fights he’s won by taking guys down,” Palmer said. “Whatever he wants to do is fine with me, but I’m going to dictate the pace, dictate the pressure. Whether I take him out on the feet or on the ground, it doesn’t matter to me as long as I get the finish.”
Horodecki, who has been known as a striker with crafty submissions throughout his career, has recently begun to add a wrestle-heavy attack to his arsenal, notching his last two wins via unanimous decision through control and patience.
Against, Palmer, however, this will not work. The amateur wrestling stud embraces this grinding style as well as anyone in the sport today, and Horodecki will not be the man to best him at it.
“I’d like to see him try to take me down,” Palmer said. “I think if he wants to go there with me, that’s his mistake. But I’ve trained for everything. Just because you’re a wrestler doesn’t mean he won’t try to shoot in on you.
“If you’re getting tagged on the feet, most guys dive in or try to set up a takedown, so I train for the fight to go everywhere and trained for 25 minutes. I’m going to keep this belt and come away with the victory.”
After Horodecki, the WSOF featherweight roster is thin. Moving down to bantamweight to continue this title reign, Palmer notes, is definitely not an option.
“I think 145 is the lowest amount of weight I’ll ever make in my life,” Palmer said. “To make 135, I’d have to cut something off.”
Taking a trip up to lightweight is more reasonable, he said, but even then, he puts his faith in the promotion to bring new bodies into his own weight class. Moving around is possible—he just doesn’t want the situation to come to that.
“I could [go to 155], but as long as I go out and do well in this fight, I’m the champ at 145, so I think 145 is my home,” Palmer said. “I could fight at 155, I could fight at 170 and not cut any weight, but that’s not my weight class. I think 145 is where I feel comfortable. I’m sure they’ll sign some guys.”
For a fighter like Palmer—a standout collegiate athlete with world-class training partners and dedication to his craft—the cloud of the UFC looms large. Fans and critics will always compare the best fighters in the world to those competing under the UFC banner, a point Palmer recognizes.
The company’s recent partnership with Reebok has suddenly made the promotion less appealing in the eyes of some fighters, though—including fighters currently under UFC contract.
To Palmer, however, the UFC is still the big show. The Reebok deal isn’t perfect, and he’d make less sponsorship money to step inside the Octagon, but he still recognizes the promotion for what it is.
“The UFC is the biggest show there is, and it’s been around forever,” Palmer said. “I think they’re going to continue to be the big show for a long time, but it is what it is. I know a lot of the UFC guys aren’t happy with it. Even a lot of the champions have spoken out that they’re not happy with it.”
“Reebok’s had deals with the NFL and stuff like that, so I’m sure there’s going to be some sort of compensation,” he continued. “People try to compare the UFC deal to the NFL deal, but it doesn’t compare at all. It’s not the same, because you’re going out there and you’re playing a game of football. The UFC guys rely on that sponsorship money when they go in the cage. It’s nothing like the NFL. The NFL was never a sport where you could wear your own sponsors on your clothes when you went into a game. I think something will change, though. I think [UFC President] Dana [White] and [UFC CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta will figure out a way to keep the guys happy.”
For now, though, Palmer has a job to do. He likes the way the WSOF featherweight strap feels around his waist, and he intends to keep it there.
First Horodecki, then it’s open season in the featherweight division. He’s thinking about future title defenses, but he’s not looking past his opponent.
If the UFC matchmakers played baseball the way they arranged title fights, they’d be in the MLB Hall of Fame.
They strike out sometimes, as they did Wednesday when they announced, via UFC Tonight, that Daniel Cormier would likely face Alexan…
If the UFC matchmakers played baseball the way they arranged title fights, they’d be in the MLB Hall of Fame.
They strike out sometimes, as they did Wednesday when they announced, via UFC Tonight, that Daniel Cormier would likely face Alexander Gustafsson—not Ryan Bader—for his first title light heavyweight title defense.
But they also see a hanging curveball coming their way, load up and smash it out of the stadium when the opportunity presents itself. Such is the case with the home run matchup of UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and top contender Luke Rockhold, according to UFC Tonight.
That’s batting .500 with one homer in two at-bats. The strikeout was brutal and ugly, but overall, you have to be pleased with what they gave us.
Make no mistake, though: Cormier should be fighting Bader.
Besides the fact Gustafsson is coming off a knockout loss in his home country to Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, he’s not a massive draw.
This matchup would be excusable (but still a little questionable) if Gustafsson had the drawing power of a ChaelSonnen-type of fighter, but he doesn’t. UFC 165—a card Gustafsson and former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones headlined—only raked in an estimated 310,000 pay-per-view buys, the lowest of any of Jones’ main events.
If Cormier vs. Gustafsson was slated to go down in Sweden, maybe Gustafsson‘s following there and the UFC’s ability to hype a “hometown hero” would boost those numbers a bit, but right now, there’s no indication as to where the fight will take place.
Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter is speculating the fight will take place at UFC 192 in Houston, in close proximity to Cormier‘s home state of Louisiana. Cormier himself has confirmed the fight will not go down at UFC 191, making UFC 192 the logical choice.
Gustafsson‘s most recent fight, a brutal loss, is strike one. His failure to draw is strike two.
Strike three is the fact that Gustafsson‘s lofty stature in the 205-pound division is built upon a loss. He gave Jones one hell of a fight at UFC 165, barely losing a decision in the process. That boosted his stock to the stratosphere, and nobody has questioned his abilities since.
Gustafsson is a fine fighter, to be certain, but look past that Jones loss. His wins in the UFC leave a lot to be desired, particularly when trying to build a championship-worthy resume.
The Swede’s most recent victory came over the outmatched JimiManuwa in March 2014. Manuwa hits hard, but he does little else, and he’s never defeated a Top 10 fighter inside the Octagon. Still, in a shallow light heavyweight class, Manuwa is ranked No. 7, making this a decent victory over a dangerous dude.
Beyond Manuwa, though, we have the aging Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Thiago Silva, Vladimir Matyushenko and some other relics of light heavyweight days past. Which of those wins impresses you?
Bader, on the other hand, has won four straight. The former Arizona State wrestling standout has defeated Anthony Perosh, Rafael Cavalcante, Ovince St. Preux and Phil Davis consecutively. Two of those fighters—Cavalcante and St. Preux—are currently in the UFC’s Top 10 at 205.
A third—Davis—would be right there with them if he didn’t jump ship to BellatorMMA.
So going 4-of-4 with three wins over Top 10 competition made Bader somehow less worthy for the title than Gustafsson, who, since September 2013, is 1-of-3, with the one win coming over Manuwa.
Oh, and Bader already sold his fight with Cormier pretty damn well. The hype probably wouldn’t have reached Jones vs. Cormier levels, but it would’ve surpassed the silence Gustafsson vs. Cormier created.
All this considered, the UFC’s decision to look to Gustafsson and not Bader just doesn’t make sense.
Thankfully, the promotion made up for its disappointing at-bat in the light heavyweight division by finally confirming Weidman vs. Rockhold for the 185-pound title.
After Rockhold destroyed Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida at UFC on Fox 15, this matchup looked to be an easy pick, but top middleweight Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza also had a strong claim to the title, giving the UFC a bit to think about.
But Rockhold—a California boy through and through—versus Weidman—a 6’2″ caricature of New York—was too irresistible. Rockhold can fight, he can talk, and he can look good while doing it.
Jacare, on the other hand, can do only the first of those three well (and Jacare, if you’re reading this, please don’t hurt me, man).
Rockhold‘s level of competition—he’s won four straight, all against Top 15 fighters—and his ability to sell the fight eventually won out. This, and the fact Rockhold defeated Jacare in 2011, makes Weidman vs. Rockhold the right pick for the next middleweight championship fight.
That fight will have serious buzz, and rightly so.
Cormier vs. Gustafsson, however, will serve as yet another reminder of how badly we need Jones back.
Ronda Rousey has faith in Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal’s abilities inside the cage.
Speaking with TMZ Sports, Rousey responded positively to O’Neal’s claim that he could last 45 seconds against her in a full-on mixed martial arts bout.&nb…
Ronda Rousey has faith in Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal’s abilities inside the cage.
Speaking with TMZ Sports, Rousey responded positively to O’Neal’s claim that he could last 45 seconds against her in a full-on mixed martial arts bout.
“Yeah, you know, if a chick could last past 45 seconds, I don’t see why Shaq couldn’t,” Rousey said.
Lasting 45 seconds in the cage with Rousey—the undefeated and seemingly untouchable UFC women’s bantamweight champion—is no easy feat.
Her last two opponents, Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano, didn’t last that long—combined.
At UFC 175 in July 2014, Davis made it just 16 seconds with Rousey before the referee was forced to stop the contest. In that fight, Rousey immediately took the center of the Octagon, tossed Davis on her head and rained down punches until the man in charge waved the fight off.
In her quest to constantly one-up herself, however, Rousey had something even quicker in mind for her most recent challenger, Zingano. At UFC 184 in February, Zingano flew out of the gates with a flying knee, and the bout was essentially sealed.
Off balance from her attack, Zingano was forced into a scramble on the ground with Rousey, and the MMA savant snatched her arm in short order, ending the bout via armbar in just 14 seconds.
While Shaq may not have professional fighting experience, he does dabble in MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. On top of this, he is a large, large man.
At 7’1″ and somewhere around 350 pounds, Shaq weighs more than two-and-a-half times the bantamweight limit of 135 pounds under which Rousey holds her title.
He may not be as skilled as Davis or Zingano, but he’s massive, insanely strong and a world-class athlete.
For somebody like him, lasting 45 seconds with Rousey inside the UFC Octagon isn’t so far-fetched. For the rest of us, though, it’d be surprising to see the clock hit double digits.
Forgive undefeated UFC newcomer Andrew Todhunter if he doesn’t seem too giddy about his debut at