Ten Best – The Top Knockouts of 2007

Nothing ignites a crowd like a spectacular knockout, and 2007 had its share of great ones. Of course, nothing that happened can touch the KO that

checks in at number one for the year, but the rest of the top ten was pretty impressive in its own right.

10 - UFC 75 – September 8 – Houston Alexander TKO1 Alessio Sakara
As a former pro boxer, you would have expected that Sakara was going to test Alexander’s standup in his second UFC bout. But as soon as Sakara ate some of the Nebraskan’s thunder, the Italian shot for a takedown. Alexander threw him off like a ragdoll and moments later he effectively ended the fight with a knee to the head.

9 - UFC 77 – October 20 – Anderson Silva TKO2 Rich Franklin
It wasn’t one blow that ended Silva’ rematch with Franklin, but the wide array of techniques displayed by the UFC middleweight champion were a thing of beauty, and left Franklin not only defenseless, but with a look on his face wondering what the best pound for pound fighter in the world was going to unleash on him next.

8 – UFC Fight Night – September 19 - Nate Quarry KO3 Pete Sell
If Nate Quarry thought his return to the Octagon after close to two years was going to be easy, the first few bombs he took from Pete Sell erased that notion. But over the course of the next two-plus rounds, both fighters gave as good as they got, with Quarry finally ending the brutal slugfest with a huge right hand in the third.

7 - TUF6 finale – December 8 – Jon Koppenhaver TKO3 Jared Rollins
TUF 6 castmates and buddies Koppenhaver and Rollins tore at each other with a savage ferocity in their welterweight bout, but when one fighter seemed to be on his way out, the other would roar back. And that’s how the fight ended, as Koppenhaver survived what looked to be a finishing flurry from his foe, reversed position, and landed a series of punches that halted the bout and left the

6 – UFC Fight Night – September 19 - Chris Leben KO3 Terry Martin
It wasn’t the fight of the year that everyone expected going in, but in the third round, Leben and Martin let the bombs go. When Martin scored with a right hand, Leben staggered back to the fence in serious trouble. Martin raised his hands, apparently sure of victory, and moved in for the kill. Leben, knowing no other way to fight, waded in with haymakers of his own, and a single left hook laid Martin out in a spectacular turnaround.

5 – UFC 69 – April 7 – Matt Serra TKO1 Georges St-Pierre
As far as aesthetically pleasing knockouts go, there are better choices, but you can’t help but give a nod to a knockout that belongs strictly for its historic and shock value, and Matt Serra’s upset of the seemingly unstoppable GSP definitely applies. A hard right hand that clipped a ducking St-Pierre took the champion’s equilibrium, and as he tried to get his legs under him, Serra was calm, cool, collected, and sending bombs down the pipe that were keeping the Canadian from getting back into the fight. Finally, a series of unanswered shots on the ground forced a halt to the bout, and the MMA world had a new champion in the charismatic New Yorker, Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra.

4 – UFC Fight Night – January 25 – Rashad Evans KO2 Sean Salmon
In the lead-up to his main event bout with Sean Salmon, Rashad Evans started going by the moniker ‘Sugar’. Well, the former MSU Spartan showed a little spice in this fight, battling through a sluggish first round to put an emphatic end to Salmon’s UFC debut in the second with a picture perfect right kick to the head. Salmon was out on impact, and he hit the head with a thud as the fans in attendance gasped. Thankfully, Salmon was all right, but if you needed any reminders that this is a contact sport, Evans’ spectacular knockout win provided all the proof you needed.

3 – UFC 71 - May 26 – Houston Alexander TKO1 Keith Jardine
At around 4:30am on Sunday, May 27, the morning after he took out Keith Jardine in just 48 seconds, Houston Alexander was getting the rock star treatment, signing autographs, taking pictures and shaking hands with well-wishers while waiting for his ride to the airport. It’s what you get when you enter the Octagon for the first time and knock out a contender who was a couple wins away from a likely title shot. And that’s what Nebraska’s Alexander did, actually stunning Jardine with repeated right hands at close range and then unleashing the finisher with a couple vicious right uppercuts that put ‘The Dean of Mean’ down and out in under a minute. It was a spectacular debut to say the least, one of the most memorable in some time.

2 – UFC 71 – May 26 – Quinton Jackson TKO1 Chuck Liddell
In a case of ‘he shoulda known better’, UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell threw a lead to the body from five feet away at UFC 71 and paid for it, getting stopped in 1:53 of the first round by Rampage Jackson, who made it 2-0 against ‘The Iceman’ in the biggest UFC event of the year. Jackson’s right to the jaw of Liddell was a thing of beauty, dropping the soon to be ex-champion hard to the mat. The follow-up barrage by Jackson was just a formality, and a new 205-pound king was crowned at the MGM Grand.

1 - UFC 70 – April 21 – Gabriel Gonzaga KO1 Mirko Cro Cop
Many felt that Gonzaga’s ground game was good enough that if he could take Cro Cop to the mat, he had a chance to win. Well, Gonzaga followed that plan and grounded and pounded Cro Cop for much of the opening round. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, his efforts seemed for naught when the fight was stood up with 35 seconds left in the round. Suddenly, Gonzaga was going to face the wrath of the most feared striker in the game. But then a funny thing happened, and Gonzaga whipped a right kick to Cro Cop’s head, and the Croatian fell like he was shot, grotesquely twisting his knee and ankle in the process. Not only was it shocking, it was spectacular, and even though it happened in April, the rest of 2007 couldn’t possibly come up with a knockout to top this one.

Honorable Mention - Terry Martin KO1 Jorge Rivera, Drew McFedries KO1 Jordan Radev, Anthony Johnson KO1 Chad Reiner, Patrick Cote TKO1 Kendall Grove, Grey Maynard KO1 Joe Veres, Ed Herman KO3 Joe Doerksen.