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Welcome to the latest of many MMATorch Awards for 2018. MMATorch staff have voted in a wide array of categories, with the top vote-getters receiving the awards. Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments or Tweet us @MMATorch. Be sure to check out our other awards thus far.
Knockout of the Year
The Knockout of the Year award goes to the most memorable or devastating knockout in 2018. One KO was so unique and out of nowhere that it ran away with the voting this year. It was a one in a million shot, but it landed, making it KO that could win in almost any year.
Winner: Yair Rodriguez KOs Korean Zombie at 4:59 of the fifth round at UFC Denver
In a fight that was on its way to being a fight of the year contender just by going the distance, Yair Rodriguez and Korean Zombie decided to put on a show for the fans in the final seconds of their main event at UFC’s 25th Anniversary show from Denver. During a wild exchange, Rodriguez was bent over facing the ground and he threw up an elbow and it caught Korean Zombie cleanly and put him out cold. He couldn’t see Zombie, but his instinct told him to throw that elbow and it won him a fight he was likely about to lose on the scorecards. It was a finish that we are likely never to see again due to the rarity of a strike like that coupled with the last-second timing. Yair Rodriguez, after a tumultuous year with UFC, earned this KO of the Year honor.
Honorable Mention
-Daniel Cormier’s first-round knockout of Stipe Miocic at UFC 226
Editor’s Note: Voting for the awards was done before UFC 232. It is this editor’s opinion that Amanda Nunes’ knockout of Cris Cyborg at UFC 232 is deserving of an honorable mention at the very least and could have challenged for KO of the Year if it had occurred before voting closed.
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