Best Of The Best: The Top 12 MMA Knockouts Of 2016

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

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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….

Paige-VanZant-KO-Bec-Rawlings-e1472346267979-537x30012. 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.

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Graphic Pics: Cyborg’s Skull Before & After Surgery

It’s been two weeks now since Michael Page fought Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos at Bellator 158 in London. ‘Venom’ put on a top-notch show for his home town fans, ending the bout with a destructive flying knee. The sound of the second round knockout blow reverberated around the O2 Arena, with referee John McCarthy likening it

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It’s been two weeks now since Michael Page fought Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos at Bellator 158 in London. ‘Venom’ put on a top-notch show for his home town fans, ending the bout with a destructive flying knee. The sound of the second round knockout blow reverberated around the O2 Arena, with referee John McCarthy likening it to the sound of a home run baseball hit. The shock felt by Santos did not end on the night though.

As Page celebrated by rolling a ‘pokeball’ across the cage, Cyborg lay in agony on the canvas. Clutching his skull after taking one of the cleanest flying knees in MMA history, it became apparent that this was a very nasty injury. Images of Cyborg’s dented skull went viral, and we were once again reminded of the inherent dangers involved in combat sports.

Michael Page's crushing knee fractured Cyborg Santos' skull at Bellator 158...
Michael Page’s crushing knee fractured Cyborg Santos’ skull at Bellator 158…

Fans rallied to support Cyborg with a GoFundMe page raising well over the $20,000 target. Santos would later claim ‘he didn’t want’ the cash raised by concerned followers and fellow fighters. The latest set of images of Cyborg’s progress have now started circulating the web, and although he now has no dent left on his forehead, Cyborg has possibly the most grim scars imaginable.

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Although the potentially life threatening phase of this harrowing injury has passed, the long-term effects are clear. Although he is now permanently sporting the scars of possibly the nastiest knockout ever, Cyborg Santos recently stated he’d be back fighting again as soon as possible. At 38 years old with a 21-18 record and also coming off two straight knockout losses, would retirement be a more wise move for Cyborg?

We’ll keep you updated on Cyborg’s progress, so stay with LowKickMMA for this and more MMA, UFC, Bellator and fight news.

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“Cyborg” Santos Goes Through Seven-Hour Surgery For Fractured Skull

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Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos is now recovering after surgery for his fractured skull.

Santos told MMA Fighting that he went through a seven-hour surgery to fix the damage suffered during a knockout loss to Michael Page in England recently.

“I had surgery yesterday, and thank God everything went fine,” Santos said. “It lasted seven hours, and the hospital will give Bellator a full report later today. God guided the doctors in this surgery so everything went well.”

Santos, who was previously married to Cris “Cyborg” Justino, is 21-18 in his MMA career.

“They didn’t tell me anything about timetable for recovery yet,” he said. “I’ll be released from hospital today, and then they will tell me how long it will take. But it will be fast. I’ll be back soon.”

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Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos is now recovering after surgery for his fractured skull.

Santos told MMA Fighting that he went through a seven-hour surgery to fix the damage suffered during a knockout loss to Michael Page in England recently.

“I had surgery yesterday, and thank God everything went fine,” Santos said. “It lasted seven hours, and the hospital will give Bellator a full report later today. God guided the doctors in this surgery so everything went well.”

Santos, who was previously married to Cris “Cyborg” Justino, is 21-18 in his MMA career.

“They didn’t tell me anything about timetable for recovery yet,” he said. “I’ll be released from hospital today, and then they will tell me how long it will take. But it will be fast. I’ll be back soon.”

Cyborg Santos Says Michael Page ‘Showed To Be Douchebag’ With Celebration

The biggest story in MMA last weekend was undoubtedly Michael ‘Venom’ Page’s highlight reel flying knee knockout of longtime veteran Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos at Bellator 158 from London, England, a shocking maneuver that broke Santos’ skull and sent the fighting community into an upheaval to help pay for his medical costs after a social media

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The biggest story in MMA last weekend was undoubtedly Michael ‘Venom’ Page’s highlight reel flying knee knockout of longtime veteran Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos at Bellator 158 from London, England, a shocking maneuver that broke Santos’ skull and sent the fighting community into an upheaval to help pay for his medical costs after a social media post from his ex-wife Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino.

But even before all of that transpired, Page celebrated his exciting victory with a scene that went viral, as he put on a red hat and rolled a ‘Pokeball’ at his downed and injured opponent as he lay on the mat writhing in pain.

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While the ‘Pokemon Go’ reference got ‘MVP’ a lot of fame online, Santos obviously wasn’t as entertained by it. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz, Cyborg touched on his health before moving on to blast Page’s choice of celebration:

“It’s only a fracture, it didn’t hit my brain. I’m fine,” Santos said. “Actually, I didn’t even stay in the hospital. I was there for five or six hours, and then I came back to the hotel. I couldn’t fly back to the United States on Sunday, but I’ll have surgery in the United States. I’ll be back soon. Thank God I had no brain damage. I didn’t feel dizzy or anything like that. I wasn’t knocked out. I felt the pain due to the fracture. It was superficial, so it’s fine.”

Santos acknowledged that Page is no doubt a great fighter in the cage, but hasn’t acted professionally before or after his wins:

“Page proved he’s a great athlete, a skillful striker. He doesn’t have a good ground game, and that’s what I was planning on working on in the fight,” Santos said, “but he’s showing to be a douchebag because he doesn’t respect his opponents before or after the fight. He’s using bad people as influences.”

Acknowledging that Page has the ability to become a big star in MMA, Cyborg believes he’s going about it all wrong. He believes ‘MVP’ is taking a page out of Conor McGregor’s book, and throwing things at your opponent after a win is not how a champion behaves:

“He could become a celebrity with his talent and look up to other athletes, instead of acting like this. This generation looks up to (Conor) McGregor as an influence, and it’s not what being a competitor is about. Throwing things after the fight… Honestly, he’s a clown. The way he behaves is not how a champion should behave. He’s talented, yes. He’s skillful. And he fought a great fight.”

Moving on to discuss the inherent risks of the fight game and how that ties into fighter pay and treatment – one of the hottest topics in all of MMA right now – Santos built on Mark Hunt’s recent cry to organize fighters with a heartfelt take on the situation from his point of view:

“Fighters should be united,” “Cyborg” said. “We know it’s a risky sport and everybody goes in there to literally rip someone’s head off. You have to do everything you can to hurt your opponent. We should be an organized class to be safer. It’s an ungrateful sport sometimes. You see athletes fighting for decades, and still have needs when they retire. We have hundreds of examples.

“Everybody is making money with it, except the fighters. A minority really makes a lot of money and has enough for when they retire. It’s only the minority. People should look at it more and think about it, so you can provide to your family later. The sport has grown a lot in the past 10 years, but it can be better organized, split the money in a better way. Everybody can benefit.

“We have to get united,” he continued. “We have to think about the future. There are a lot of people making money, except the fighter. That’s why I encourage my students to read. They have to think for themselves. You will think things better. The majority of fighters are puppets of this system. Unfortunately, that’s what they are. Do ‘this, this and that.’ ‘Bark, sit and roll.’ That’s not how it should work.”

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‘Cyborg’ Santos Reveals Details On Horrific Skull Injury

Bellator 158 went down this past weekend (Sat., July 16, 2016) from the O2 Arena in London, England, and welterweight contender Michael “Venom” Page continued his rise through the ranks with a devastating flying knee knockout of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Unfortunately, the knockout has been plagued by a simply horrific and upsetting injury suffered by

The post ‘Cyborg’ Santos Reveals Details On Horrific Skull Injury appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Bellator 158 went down this past weekend (Sat., July 16, 2016) from the O2 Arena in London, England, and welterweight contender Michael “Venom” Page continued his rise through the ranks with a devastating flying knee knockout of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Unfortunately, the knockout has been plagued by a simply horrific and upsetting injury suffered by Santos, as he left the arena with a fractured skull.

Despite the seriousness of the injury, however, “Cyborg” appears to be in good spirits, as he recently said that ‘nothing happened’, and that MVP ‘only broke the eggshell’. The Brazilian also revealed that his brain is well:

“I’m all right. Nothing happened.” Santos told Combate. “Everyone is so worried about me. They’re making fundraisers, but I don’t need anything. I’m really fine. He only broke the eggshell, but nothing happened to my brain. Bellator didn’t deny me anything, they’re helping me with everything.”

“Cyborg” has yet to go under surgery as of this moment, but he’s actually left the hospital in London and will head back to the United States as he simply felt as if there was no reason to stay in England:

“I didn’t want to stay in the hospital because I didn’t feel anything. I had no reason to stay there. I left and I will wait a couple of days to return to the United States and I’ll have my surgery there. Nobody needs to worry. Everything is fine.”

Details on “Cyborg’s” upcoming surgery are currently unclear at this time, but we here at LowKickMMA wish him the best of luck and a full recovery.

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Video: Michael Page Knocks Out Cyborg Santos, Celebrates With Pokemon Go

Long billed as one of the most exciting up-and-coming prospects in all of mixed martial arts, Bellator welterweight Michael ‘Venom’ Page lived up to his storied reputation in a big way at today’s (Sat., July 16, 2016) Bellator 158 from the O2 World in London, England. Tasked with the toughest challenge of his wrong career

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Long billed as one of the most exciting up-and-coming prospects in all of mixed martial arts, Bellator welterweight Michael ‘Venom’ Page lived up to his storied reputation in a big way at today’s (Sat., July 16, 2016) Bellator 158 from the O2 World in London, England.

Tasked with the toughest challenge of his wrong career in Strikeforce vet Cyborg Santos, ‘Venom’ delivered yet another highlight reel knockout by catching Cyborg right on the chin with a picture-perfect flying knee.

Afterwards, he added a bit of flair that only ‘Venom’ could by taking advantage of the world’s ‘Pokemon Go’ craze and rolling a ‘Poke-Ball’ at his downed opponent. Watch the insane knockout and the shall we say, unique celebration here:

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