10 Best Knockout Artists Modern UFC Fans May Have Never Seen Before

While MMA fans have all kinds of reasons for watching their favorite athletes compete, it’s hard to ignore the fact that most people love an excellent knockout. Even plenty of submission specialists have managed to get some surprisingly brutal knockout victories throughout their storied careers.

The most proficient knockout artists haven’t all necessarily competed in the UFC, let alone MMA in general. There are plenty of knockout artists across the world of combat sports that UFC purists will no doubt thank themselves for searching out. While a good UFC knockout highlight reel can be entertaining, some of the best highlight reels actually come from fighters who spent much of their time with other companies or in other types of combat.

10 Gary Goodridge

The Trinidadian-Canadian kickboxer competed for the UFC in its infancy, but he really made his name in PRIDE. While kickboxing can be very different from typical UFC competition at times, MMA fans know that some of the best knockouts can come from kickboxing.

While he lost the last seven fights of his career, Goodridge finished 16 of his 23 wins across his entire MMA career via knockout. While Goodridge is a big man, he was always an agile and creative striker regardless of his opponent.

9 Melvin Guillard

For someone as skilled as Guillard, it’s puzzling how few UFC fans seem to talk about the American Fighter who spent time in multiple divisions. One may point to his less than desirable record as of late as to the reason why he’s not talked about.

In his prime, Guillard was a knockout machine. While he was more than capable of submitting an opponent, Guillard seemed to thrive when it came to taking his opponent down with heavy strikes. Oftentimes, it was rare for his fights to make it out of the first round.

8 Marvin Hagler

Modern UFC fans aren’t likely to have heard of Marvin Hagler since he competed as a boxer in the 1970s and '80s, but being a boxer doesn’t make him any less of a knockout artist. Across his 67 different fights, Hagler won 52 of them via knockout.

Hagler dominated the middleweight division in the boxing world for almost a decade with his incredible speed and striking prowess. With Hagler being able to take insane amounts of punishment, all of his opponents knew they were in for a boxing clinic when they faced off against him.

7 Ignacio Bahamondes

The young Chilean fighter has been looking to make a name for himself as a creative knockout artist in MMA. While he doesn’t have the most impressive record to date, that doesn’t mean there isn’t time to turn his record around.

UFC fans may have even seen a clip of Bahamondes fighting for the company as he picked up a win over Roosevelt Roberts with a beautiful wheel kick at a UFC Fight Night event. He seems to know exactly when to throw key kicks, and if he continues to improve he may go down as one of the best.

6 John Lineker

With 43 separate bouts in his career and three Fight of the Night performances for the UFC, many fight fans believe that John Lineker really should be a more widely talked about talent in MMA. While he is a creative and heavy striker, his seeming inability to win against top-level opponents may be what’s holding him back.

A man that enjoys ending his matches with plenty of quick strikes, Lineker has traded with plenty of heavy hitters. Though he hasn’t snagged any gold in his career, he still puts on an exciting show for fans of brawls.

5 James Thompson

While he nearly lost as much as he won, with the caliber of opponents he was constantly facing, James Thompson managed to put on plenty of excellent fights during his career. Many MMA fans may have forgotten about Bobby Lashley’s MMA run, but Thompson had two memorable bouts against the monster of a man.

Of his 20 wins, 13 of them came via knockout, and more often than not it came from a series of heavy strikes. Many of those wins didn’t even make it out of the first round either.

4 Takanori Gomi

While Takanori Gomi is one of the few Pride World Champions to compete for the UFC, he spent most of his career setting records in Pride Fighting Championships. It’s easy for UFC purists to not know what a legend Gomi is, but in the eyes of many MMA fans, ignoring the skill of Gomi is a travesty.

Gomi’s near-artistic combinations lead him to the most consecutive and most successful title defenses in the lightweight division of Pride. While many of his bouts went to the judge’s decision, when he knocked out his opponent it was always brutal.

3 Heath Herring

While Heath Herring isn’t a widely known name, UFC fans may recognize him from a bout with Brock Lesnar. Before he spent any time in the UFC, he shook up the worlds of Vale Tudo and PRIDE.

Herring actually has more victories from submission than he does knockouts, but that doesn’t make him any less of a knockout artist. A bit more brutal than technical, Herring would favor strong strikes and heavy knees in order to crumple his opponents. Oftentimes, the only route to victory for his opponents was to make it to the judges.

2 Igor Vovchanchyn

Arguably one of the greatest kickboxers of all time, Igor Vovchanchyn only lost two of his 63 kickboxing fights. Anyone winning more than 60 fights is already insanely impressive, but having the prowess to only lose twice makes Vovchanchyn really scary.

While his entire MMA career went a bit differently, his rhythmic striking from kickboxing allowed him to transition to other styles of competition. One look at any of his best knockouts is sure to leave MMA and especially kickboxing fans in complete awe. Plenty of Vovchanchyn’s matches were only ended when a doctor or an opponent’s corner stepped in.

1 Canelo Alvarez

The man who is arguably the greatest boxer of the modern era, Canelo Alvarez has had 60 fights in his career with only one official decision loss to none other than Floyd Mayweather. While MMA fans may have heard of Canelo in passing due to his popularity in the boxing world, it’s his skill that is unmatched by just about any fighter.

Canelo is capable of throwing rhythmic combinations while changing angles and avoiding his opponent’s strikes with expert-level head movement. A quick look at some of his best rounds would make even the greatest UFC strikers blush.