Welcome to this week’s edition of MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes of the week! Every week there’s highlight-reel finishes all across the MMA world, and we’ve found some of the absolute best ones to showcase. The majority of January seemed to provide a fairly…
Welcome to this week’s edition of MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes of the week! Every week there’s highlight-reel finishes all across the MMA world, and we’ve found some of the absolute best ones to showcase. The majority of January seemed to provide a fairly slow start to the year’s MMA calendar, but things are definitely…
UFC Vegas 68 was a fairly low-profile Fight Night offering from the UFC, with the main highlights prior to the event being the final bouts for the Road to UFC tournament and the main event between top heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac. Thos…
UFC Vegas 68 was a fairly low-profile Fight Night offering from the UFC, with the main highlights prior to the event being the final bouts for the Road to UFC tournament and the main event between top heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac. Those fights did end up providing a few of the event’s most…
Welcome to this week’s edition of MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes of the week! Every week there’s highlight-reel finishes all across the MMA world, and we’ve found some of the absolute best ones to showcase. Last week was a busy one, as the UFC debuted their series of Road to the UFC cards in the…
Welcome to this week’s edition of MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes of the week! Every week there’s highlight-reel finishes all across the MMA world, and we’ve found some of the absolute best ones to showcase.
Last week was a busy one, as the UFC debuted their series of Road to the UFC cards in the lead-up to UFC 275. Those four events had enough finishes to fill out a separate Top 10, but they ended up only being a warm-up for the weekend’s action. UFC 275 provided a number of impressive finishes and was arguably the best event of the year, but a pair of big knockouts from LFA and Cage Warriors also made the cut for this week’s list.
#10: Muin Gafurov Arrives In LFA
First up this week is the main event from LFA 134, where Muin Gafurov competed in his first bout since a split-decision loss on Contender Series 2021.
The 26-year-old proved he may well get another chance at the UFC after landing a right hand that turned Herbeth Sousa around as he landed on the mat.
#9: Chasen Blair’s Hometown Walk-Off
Cage Warriors 139 was held outdoors under the beautiful San Diego sunshine, and welterweight Chasen Blair made the most of the spotlight against Kona Oliveira.
The San Diego-born fighter sent his hometown crowd into a frenzy with a huge right hand off a clinch break that put Oliveira down and had Blair raising his arms in victory.
#8: Jeong Yeong Lee Grabs An Arm
The Road to the UFC cards provided a number of impressive finishes, including this submission from Jeong Yeong Lee in the featured bout of Road to the UFC 3.
Lee looked like he might put Contender Series veteran Bin Xie out with elbows while defending a takedown, but once he hit the ground the South Korean quickly locked up an armbar just over 30 seconds into the fight.
#7: Jack Della Madellana Goes To The Body
Jack Della Madellana looked in serious danger of being submitted by Ramazan Emeev before showcasing the striking that has made him one of the UFC’s hottest prospects.
The Australian caught Emeev swinging wildly and started to pour on volume, eventually landing a body shot that brought the Russian to his knees for Madallana’s second first-round stoppage in as many UFC bouts.
#6: Zhang Mingyang Beats The Odds
The very first bout of Road to the UFC featured some of the most lopsided betting odds of the series, which set the stage for Zhang Mingyang to kick things off with an upset.
The Chinese light heavyweight applied pressure to heavily-favored George Tokkos early, eventually landing a right hand and some vicious follow up shots to get the victory with just over a minute left in the first round.
#5: Silvana Gómez Juárez Gets Her First UFC Win
Silvana Gómez Juárez lost her first two UFC bouts via armbar, and a loss to Na Liang at UFC 275 could very well have ended her run with the promotion.
The 37-year-old strawweight rose to the occasion, rocking Liang with a right hand before landing a follow-up combination that had her opponent slumping to the canvas.
#4: Hayishaer Maheshate’s Explosive Debut
Of all the notable performances at UFC 275, the debut of 22-year-old Hayishaer Maheshate against Steve Garcia may have been the most impressive.
Maheshate landed a perfectly-timed counter shot that floored Garcia and gave Maheshate a moment to admire his work before jumping onto the cage to celebrate his first UFC win.
#3: Jeka Saragih Makes His Case To The UFC
Road to the UFC showcased a number of fighters hoping to make a lasting impression, and arguably no one did that more successfully than Jeka Saragih.
Not satisfied with what looked to be an impending decision win, the Indonesian lightweight dropped Pawan Maan Singh with a spinning back fist in the third round to make sure everyone remembered his performance.
#2: Ji?í Procházka Claims The Title
Are there more violent and technically impressive finishes ranked lower on this list? Absolutely. Did any of those fights carry the same stakes and end as dramatically as this one? Absolutely not.
After possibly the greatest fight in the history of the UFC’s light heavyweight division, challenger Ji?í Procházka handed Glover Teixiera the first submission loss of his career and won the light heavyweight title with less than 30 seconds left in the final round.
#1: Weili Zhang Sends Joanna Into Retirement
Even with two title fight headlining the card, the rematch between former strawweight champions Weili Zhang and Joanna J?drzejczyk was arguably the most anticipated fight at UFC 275.
After a whirlwind first round where both women seemed determined to top the action from their original fight, Zhang ended their rivalry with a spinning back fist that left J?drzejczyk facedown on the canvas.
What do you think of this week’s list? Are there any finishes you think should have made the cut that didn’t? What about ones you think should have been ranked higher or lower?
The first bout of the UFC’s series of Road to UFC cards opened with a massive upset by light heavyweight Zhang Mingyang. Competing in the very first bout of Road to UFC 1, Zhang faced heavily favored Fury FC light heavyweight champion George Tokkos. Zhang was listed as nearly a 5-1 underdog in some places,…
The first bout of the UFC’s series of Road to UFC cards opened with a massive upset by light heavyweight Zhang Mingyang.
Competing in the very first bout of Road to UFC 1, Zhang faced heavily favored Fury FC light heavyweight champion George Tokkos. Zhang was listed as nearly a 5-1 underdog in some places, but the Chinese fighter clearly didn’t bother checking the odds before the fight.
After the two men slugged it out for the first 4 minutes of the bout, Zhang landed a huge right hand that floored Tokkos. The 23-year-old followed up with punches until the ref stepped in, but the fight was likely over the moment Zhang landed that first right hand.
This was Zhang’s ninth win in a row, and he improved his pro record to 16-6 overall. His was only the first of a number of highlight-reel finishes from this series of cards leading up to UFC 275.
What’s your reaction to this upset victory from Zhang Mingyang at Road to the UFC 1?