2016 is coming to a close, and another year of mixed martial arts (MMA) competition will soon be in the books. This year has given us some great memories in fighting; some historic, some spectacular, and some just plain amazing. One of the most exciting parts of MMA are the vicious knockouts fans tune in to
2016 is coming to a close, and another year of mixed martial arts (MMA) competition will soon be in the books. This year has given us some great memories in fighting; some historic, some spectacular, and some just plain amazing.
One of the most exciting parts of MMA are the vicious knockouts fans tune in to see every week, and 2016 has presented plenty highlight reel KOs that we’ll never forget.
To commemorate those bouts, we’ve compiled a list of the best knockouts that we’ve seen this year, so let’s dive into LowKick’s top 10 MMA knockouts of 2016….
12. Paige VanZant vs. Bec Rawlings
Following her fifth-round submission loss to Rose Namajunas in December of last year, Paige VanZant took a little break from mixed martial arts (MMA) competition to compete in the 22nd season of Dancing With The Stars.
After finishing the competition as the runner-up, VanZant made her return to fighting action against Bec Rawlings, who was coming in off of a two-fight win streak that included a submission win over Lisa Ellis.
VanZant opened up the second round of her bout with Rawlings with a flashy maneuver that would land and send the Vancouver crowed into a frenzy, as the Team Alpha Male star landed a flush jumping head kick on Rawlings and finished her off with a few punches.
The jaw-dropping knockout earned VanZant her seventh professional win of her MMA career, and No. 12 on our list of top knockouts of 2016.
The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) has faced quite a bit of scrutiny over the years as quite a bit of their fighters seem to have a habit of pulling out of fights due to injury during training camp. Most recently former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was forced out of his highly-anticipated rematch with Ronaldo
The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) has faced quite a bit of scrutiny over the years as quite a bit of their fighters seem to have a habit of pulling out of fights due to injury during training camp.
Most recently former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was forced out of his highly-anticipated rematch with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza that was supposed to go down at this past Saturday’s (November 26, 2016) UFC Melbourne event, however, Rockhold was forced to pull out of the fight due to a knee injury. Now Rockhold’s teammate and current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has been forced off of his 205-pound title defense against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson at UFC 206, as ‘DC’ tore a groin muscle during training camp.
Along with Rockhold and Cormier, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and No. 1-ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov have also shown struggles with maintaining their health throughout the progression of a fight camp. Cormier is the latest on that long list, and news broke on UFC Tonight last night that he requires surgery that will keep until next March at the earliest.
However, Cormier recently spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, courtesy of MMA Fighting, to fire back at those who criticize him and his camp’s methods of preparation:
“How can you train if you’re constantly worried about getting injured?” Cormier said. “Guys play basketball and get hurt and that’s probably the easiest sport on the planet. We’re actually fighting every day. We’re wrestling, we’re grappling.”
When it all comes down to it Cormier stands firmly behind his head-coach Javier Mendez and insists that people should not point the finger at him to blame for AKA’s injury riddled past, because when it all comes down to it ‘DC’ is a grown man who makes his own decisions in the gym:
“It’s not Javier’s fault,” Cormier said. “This isn’t college. We’re not high-school athletes. Javier can tell me not to spar and I’ll be like, ‘Yeah sure, Jav.’ And then I’ll go spar. People always get confused. They talk about coaches. The reality is, these coaches and managers that everybody thinks are in so much control, they work for us. They’re our employees.”
“The decisions are mine,” he said. “If I got hurt, it was my fault.”
Cormier is currently eying a February return-table to give Johnson his rematch at the 205-pound crown, and hopefully a quick turnaround to take on challenger Ryan Bader before July. When Cormier does return to the Octagon, however, he has quite the challenge ahead of him when it comes to ‘Rumble’.
Earlier today (Wednesday November 9, 2016) UFC President Dana White announced that he stripped Jon Jones of the 205-pound interim championship he won back in April. Jones won the interim strap when he defeated Ovince Saint Preux in the main event of UFC 197, taking home a lopsided unanimous decision win after returning to the Octagon he
Earlier today (Wednesday November 9, 2016) UFC President Dana White announced that he stripped Jon Jones of the 205-pound interim championship he won back in April.
Jones won the interim strap when he defeated Ovince Saint Preux in the main event of UFC 197, taking home a lopsided unanimous decision win after returning to the Octagon he had been held out of for over a year due to legal troubles. ‘Bones’ was scheduled to unify his title with division champ Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 200 in July, however, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) flagged Jones for a violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test, pulling him off the card on two days notice.
Now Jones has been officially handed a one year suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) and won’t be eligible to compete until Summer of 2017.
While Jones was dealing with the sting of losing a huge payday after being pulled from the main event of UFC 200, former longtime UFC middleweight champ Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva would step in to face Cormier in a three round non-title bout two slots down from the card’s main event, in which Silva would lose via unanimous decision.
Earlier today on the Dan LeBatard show, courtesy of MMA Mania, White stated that it’s hard not to consider Silva the greatest of all time (GOAT) after Jones’ recent troubles that have held him out of the cage in the prime of his fighting career.
“Yeah, he’s definitely one of the guy’s who could have gone down as one of the greatest ever. If you look at all the time he’s been out, he probably would have defended the title a few times. He might be fighting at heavyweight right now, who knows, but, hey man…when you do what this guy has done, you’ve got to pay the price. Who knows what fights we missed or what could have been because of all this madness. It’s tough to not give that to Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva was doing things at the time that other people couldn’t do. He was so dominant and made it look so easy. There was a point in time when he made that 185-pound division look weak.”
While Jones will have to sit on the sidelines for the time being until he is able to compete again next year, Cormier will now defend the sole light heavyweight title in the division against feared knockout artist Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson in the main event of UFC 207 later this year.
Despite being on the sidelines due to a potential anti-doping violation, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones put two top light heavyweight contenders on notice via Twitter. Jones went on a rant and targeted current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier as well as Anthony Johnson, who are both set to headline UFC 206 on
Despite being on the sidelines due to a potential anti-doping violation, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones put two top light heavyweight contenders on notice via Twitter.
Jones went on a rant and targeted current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier as well as Anthony Johnson, who are both set to headline UFC 206 on December 10.
“Can’t wait to get back and slap one of these light heavyweights,” Jones tweeted on Wednesday night. “even on the sidelines I’m more relevant than anyone in that division. You boys know when we all retire you will just be known as one of my contenders,” he wrote. “Easy for y’all to talk that shit when daddy ain’t home”
Jones didn’t stop there as then he sent numerous tweets about the two fighters.
Jones was pulled out of UFC 200 because of a potential anti-doping violation. Jones was supposed to fight Cormier for the light heavyweight title at the event. The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed that Jones tested positive for hydroxy-clomiphene, “an anti-estrogenic agent” and “letrozole metabolite,” an “aromatase inhibitor.” Estrogen blockers can potentially act in tandem with performance-enhancers by helping to mitigate their side effects. It will be interesting to see when Jones can return to the world famous octagon.
When Daniel Cormier and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson collide for the second time in their mixed martial arts (MMA) careers in the main event of UFC 206 this December, the former Olympian will be defending his title against a rejuvenated Johnson who has yet to take a loss since he and Cormier’s initial meeting. Cormier and
When Daniel Cormier and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson collide for the second time in their mixed martial arts (MMA) careers in the main event of UFC 206 this December, the former Olympian will be defending his title against a rejuvenated Johnson who has yet to take a loss since he and Cormier’s initial meeting.
Cormier and Johnson last met in the main event of UFC 187 for the then vacant light heavyweight title after Jon Jones was stripped of the belt, to which Johnson submitted to a rear-naked choke in the third round. In the first round, however, Johnson came as close as anyone to becoming the first man to finish Cormier in his MMA career, sending ‘DC’ flying across the Octagon with a single strike.
Now Johnson has a shot at redemption to avenge his only loss since making the jump up to 205 pounds, recently speaking to MMA Junkie about his second shot at 205-pound gold:
“I’m hungry,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t as hungry the first time because the opponent got changed up at the last minute, so it kind of threw me for a loop. This time I just plan on going out there and fighting. Why worry about who it is? Why worry about the crowd? Why worry about all the hype? I just want to fight.”
‘Rumble’ initially pushed for the throw-down between he and Cormier to be on the massive UFC 205 card from New York, but with no such help from Cormier, he settled for his date this December in Toronto:
“Daniel wasn’t pushing for the New York card either, so I kind of knew it wasn’t going to happen,” Johnson said. “He kept talking about Dec. 30, so I was down for fighting whenever after New York. It really didn’t matter. At this point, I just want to fight for the title – it doesn’t matter if it’s in somebody’s backyard.”
Despite the fact that the two elite light heavyweights have to punch each other in the face come fight night in Toronto, Johnson says it’s ‘all love and respect’ when interacting with Cormier outside the Octagon:
“We talk a lot,” Johnson said. “He’s a talker. I’m not much of a talker, but I can talk it. It was fun. It’s all love and respect, but Dec. 10 I have to hate him. I have to beat him up. I have to take what he has.”
Upon the bout’s announcement Cormier has promised to stand and bang with the heavy handed ‘Rumble’ in the center of the Octagon, after having submitted Johnson the first time around last year:
“I believe he is a man of his word; I believe he’s going to try and trade with me, but at the end of the day he is a wrestler,” Johnson said. “I’m going to make him have to wrestle me. Because if I hit him with a better shot than I hit him with last time, he’s in for a long night.
“I look forward to seeing what Daniel can do. I look forward to seeing what I can do against Daniel. It’ll be very interesting. We’ll see what happens,” Johnson said. “Daniel’s smart. If he stays out of the way of my fists and my feet, he might live.”
Cormier and Johnson will collide in the main event of UFC 206 for the light heavyweight title live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 10, 2016.
Decorated former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has been rumored to finally be making his UFC return at December 10’s UFC 206 from Toronto in his native Canada, and tonight (Fri., October 7, 2016) another potential opponent for that proposed fight has surfaced. And this time, it’s one MMA fans have wanted to see “Rush”
Decorated former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has been rumored to finally be making his UFC return at December 10’s UFC 206 from Toronto in his native Canada, and tonight (Fri., October 7, 2016) another potential opponent for that proposed fight has surfaced.
And this time, it’s one MMA fans have wanted to see “Rush” meet in the Octagon for many years.
Welterweight Patrick Cote tweeted he heard the rumor about St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva at UFC 206, comparing the fight to last year’s boxing ‘Fight of the Century’ between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao that most believe happened far too late:
Rumor GSP vs Silva UFC206. .. this is just 7 years to late …. #MayweatherVsPAC
It’s hard to argue with Cote’s statement there, as the formerly dominant Silva has certainly seen better days. The MMA great has lost his last four official bouts to Daniel Cormier, Michael Bisping, and Chris Weidman, while having his only win, a UFC 183 decision over Nick Diaz, overturned due to multiple failed drug tests for anabolic steroids and other banned substances.
Still, the once-revered Silva nearly knocked out Bisping back in February, and he almost did the same to Cormier when he rocked him with a body kick at the end of their UFC 200 meeting, a fight “The Spider” filled in for Jon Jones on an incredible three days’ notice.
St-Pierre, meanwhile, as been out of fighting for almost three years, vacating his long-held title after beating Johny Hendricks with a controversial split decision at UFC 167 in November 2013. The nine-time defending champion had been rumored to be returning to face Bisping at UFC 206, and was even linked to a possible bout with Conor McGregor. “Rush” reportedly asked for the hefty price tag of $10 million for the bout, however, and was balked at by UFC brass.
But St-Pierre vs. Silva is a champion vs. champion bout that MMA fans have wanted to see for years, and even though Cote was right in saying it’s taking place years out of both men’s respective primes, there would be no bigger splash (other than a fight against McGregor) for St-Pierre to return to in his backyard.
A blockbuster light heavyweight title bout between Daniel Cormier and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson was scheduled for the event this week, but the card was still left without a big-name main event to bring mainstream MMA back to Canada in a big way. Obviously St-Pierre was and still is by far the top name to fit the bill.
Will the UFC finally be able to put together the fight that has evaded them for years?
12. Paige VanZant vs. Bec Rawlings
12. Paige VanZant vs. Bec Rawlings
When it all comes down to it Cormier stands firmly behind his head-coach Javier Mendez and insists that people should not point the finger at him to blame for AKA’s injury riddled past, because when it all comes down to it ‘DC’ is a grown man who makes his own decisions in the gym:
