Fight Hub TV’s Top 5 MMA Knockout’s of 2012

Growing up in Queens, NY with James Todd Smith must have been rough if you were a kid who got on his bad side, because we all know what his mama would tell him to do. Looking back at MMA this year, it seems like some of the men on this list must have gone to Mrs. Smith’s daycare and were all instructed to do the same thing if another human got in front of them. The knockout is a gloriously violent occurrence that every fan, whether hardcore or casual wants to see when you watch a fight, and this year we were given many memorable knockouts to yell at the screen for and talk about for many days to follow. Here are the top five (according to me, feel free to gripe here) knockouts in MMA for the year 2012, Anno Domini.

5. Ryan Jimmo ties record for fastest knockout @ UFC 149 against a man they call, “The Hippo”

Fighting the local scene in Canada for all of his career, former MFC light heavyweight champion finally got to grace an Octagon outside of the TUF house in June of 2012. Debuting against Australian veteran, Anthony Perosh, Jimmo needed less than :08 seconds to put the Aussie on the mat, collected a KOTN bonus and spent more time pop locking and doing the splits than what he actually spent eight weeks training for. Having your first fight in the UFC gain a post fight bonus is amazing enough, but tying the record with Jung Chan-Sung for fastest knockout ever (:07) is downright phenomenal.


Anthony Perosh Vs Ryan Jimmo UFC 149 by pitacosdoblogueiro

4. Cung Le walks into CotaiArena on a losing streak, leaves Rich Franklin unconscious as he cashes a bonus check @ UFC: China

Being a company man like he is, former UFC champion Rich Franklin has never backed down from a fight and has only faced former champions since 2009. Although he has flip flopped in victories and weight classes, a move back down to middleweight against the former Strikeforce middleweight king, Cung Le could put things back on track, right? Wrong. Wrong unless the track was to be dropped face down and lay there for awhile. Le was estatic in his first UFC win. Not taking anything away from the AKA standout, who has had many years of success in and outside of fighting, it was a very emotional and well deserved way to end an emotional year for the man known as, Bronze Lion – member of the Lion Clan.

3. Promised a title shot he has not yet received, Anthony Pettis reminded us all what he can do at UFC 144 with Joe Lauzon’s head being the example.

The last WEC lightweight champion, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis entered the UFC on a promise of an “immediate title shot” against the winner of Edgar/Maynard 2…which ended in a draw…which had a rematch drawn out longer than it should…and Pettis said, I’m cool – let me bang bro! Well, he did and lost to Clay Guida. After winning a decision against Jeremy Stephens in Oct 2011, he flew over to the Land of the Rising Sun to face a dangerous and unpredictable lightweight, Joe Lauzon. Pettis wasted no time, less than ninety seconds even to show Dana White, UFC lightweights and the world that his name is still relevant for title contention when his shin met a Boston temple, sending Lauzon crumpling and earning the Rufusport standout extra spending yen with a KOTN bonus in tow.

2. Cub Swanson makes sure that mouthpieces can indeed fly @ UFC on FOX: Evans vs. Davis

I can remember at the gym one night getting hit so hard in the liver, that I thought I would defecate myself – true story. I have never wanted that to happen but it almost did. I also never wanted to see if I could be hit hard enough, in the face, that my mouthpiece became dislodged and thought it was a sparrow. Thank goodness I live far away from Jackson’s MMA because I have a feeling if paired against Cub Swanson for a session, he would let me and my mouthpiece know it could happen.

Meeting George Roop in Chicago this past January, Swanson took his time and waited to engage the nuclear weapon on his arm (his fist) against his target (Roop’s face) and we saw the awesome event of Swanson landing a shot that propelled Roop’s mouthpiece, Swanson ducks from letting the saliva holder hit him and continues to make sure Roop is tucked in. After all, everybody goes nite nite!

1. Edson Barboza does what every taekwondo student has ever dreamed of doing at UFC 142

For those of you who have been to one karate class, regardless of the style, we have all thought of ourselves of Bruce Lee after the first session. Even if your belt is lily white, in your mind, you can do all the amazing kicks and techniques movie stars and legitimate sensei’s have been practicing forever. Only difference is, we think we can, but they know they can.

Edson Barboza knows he can do awesome things, even if he lost for the first time in his career this year, he is still pretty amazing. So much in fact, he threw the most beautiful spinning heel kick a lot of us have ever been blessed to see. Perfect timing of the kick, placement of Etim’s face and attention of the world had the crowd in Rio going bananas as he collected two bonuses, one for KOTN and another for FOTN. We will see how he faces next month against Justin Salas at UFC on FX 7 after his first loss, but maybe this time he will pull off a cartwheel kick or a Liu Kang bicycle kick just because he can!

Honorable mentions:

– Johny Hendricks (KO) over Martin Kampmann (UFC 154; 11/17/2012)

– Jacare Souza (KO) over Derek Brunson (Rousey vs. Kaufman; 08/18/2012)

– Eddie Alvarez (KO) over Patricky Freire (Bellator 76; 10/12/2012)

– Michael Chandler (TKO) over Akihiro Gono (Bellator 67; 05/04/2012)