Bloody Elbow 2016 Half-Year Awards – Best Knockout

Over the next few days, Bloody Elbow is going to ask for your opinion on some of the best things that have happened in the MMA world over the first half of 2016. With these being half-year awards, there will be an abbreviated number of categories – five to be exact.

For the sake of simplicity we’re going to stick with high-level and relevant MMA stuff in these posts. While I’m sure there was a ludicrous knockout in an unscheduled MMA event at The Lumberyard strip club in Des Moines, or an insane pancreas lock submission on an obscure ZST! card in Japan, let’s just stick to stuff a lot of us have seen, okay? (If that spiel looked familiar, it’s because I’ve used the same one for six years in a row. Originality? What originality?)

It’s pretty simple. I’ll post 5 options in a category, you vote for what you think was the best. If you think I left something really important off my list, post it in the comments and we can add it to the poll if it’s deemed worthy. I can almost guarantee you won’t like all my suggestions, but narrowing down these lists is tough.

Our second category will be best knockout. The first half of the year saw some sick shots that left guys and gals on dream street, and here are some of the best to choose from.

Remember, you can still vote on best submission here.

Post the gifs in the comments if you want.

Stephen Thompson stops Johny Hendricks with a spinning back kick and punches, UFN 82 – I can’t even remember Hendricks ever being seriously hurt in a fight before, but Thompson’s mastery of distance had the former champ thoroughly confused. When Thompson opened up against the cage, Hendricks had no answer. A spinning back kick and follow-up punches gave Wonderboy the biggest win of his career (at that time).

Diego Rivas destroys Noad Lahat with a flying knee, UFN 82 – The perfect flying knee KO. Not much else to say.

Michael Chandler stops Patricky Pitbull with one punch, Bellator 157 – The perfect straight right. And I can link to a video!

Alistair Overeem ends Andrei Arlovski with a front kick and punches, UFC 87 – A jumping front kick landed right underneath Arlovski’s jaw, and the follow-up left put him to sleep. Super pretty KO that earned Overeem a title shot.

Yair Rodriguez ends Andre Fili with a head kick, UFC 197 – We’ve got some Karate Kid stuff in aisle 3. Karate Kid, aisle 3. El Pantera earned a headliner spot with this sick KO of a Team Alpha Male prospect.

Dan Henderson stuns Hector Lombard with a back elbow and punches, UFC 199 – Knockouts don’t get much cooler than that, especially when you’re a senior citizen. You get your leg scooped after you hurt a guy? Who cares, just club him with a back elbow. When he goes down, drop a Bisping Bomb on him. End of story.

Michael Bisping stops Luke Rockhold with punches, UFC 199 – The ultimate underdog knockout. Bisping dropped Rockhold with a left, and when he got up, he went back to the well with it. Guess what? Rockhold went down again, and The Count was one of the most unlikely champs in UFC history.

Stipe Miocic takes the title from Fabricio Werdum with one punch, UFC 198 – Speaking of unlikely KOs, Miocic caught Werdum fighting with his hands down and his chin up. As a heavyweight, that’s never a good idea. It was enough to make Miocic the new heavyweight champ.