Over the years, fans have seen many crazy knockouts in the UFC. Jorge Masvidal’s flying knee to Ben Askren, Francis Ngannou’s KO over Alistair Overeem, Edson Barboza’s spinning heel kick KO, and the list goes on. However, UFC Fight Island 5 saw arguably the scariest knockout ever when Joaquin Buckley took on Impa Kasanganay in a middleweight showdown.
This fight was competitive as long as it lasted. Both Impa Kasanganay and Joaquin Buckley looked good on the feet. However, none of that was important as the fight did not go to the judges’ card.
Joaquin Buckley threw a leg kick in the second round and Impa Kasanganay caught the kick. That allowed Buckley to throw a spinning kick to the face of his opponent. Impa Kasanganay was knocked out while he was standing after the spinning kick. It was indeed one of the scariest knockouts we have seen in recent times and it’s without a doubt the best knockout of this year.
Many UFC fighters and personalities reacted to this spectacular finish including Daniel Cormier, Joe Rogan, Francis Ngannou, Justin Gaethje, and many more.
The KO of Joaquin Buckley creates history
In the post-fight interview breaking down the knockout, Buckley stated:
“Yeah, I was conscious of it because he caught my foot the first time, you know what I mean. But I was just hesitant then to throw it. The second time I said why not. When I threw it I connected and I didn’t know I knocked him out until I’d seen his body go stiff. I was like ‘Yeah, that’s game over, that’s match’.”
This fight has become the biggest KO in UFC’s history as it has 3.2 million views on Twitter and more than 58k retweets.
UFC FIght Island 5 has given the fans many impressive finishes. UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall and Chris Daukaus, UFC middleweight Dricus Du Plesis also secured dominant finishes. However, the vicious knockout from Joaquin Buckley does stand out from the rest and deserves 50k bonus.