Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History

In the sport of MMA, not too many triumphs were grabbed through more impressive ways than the head-kick knockouts, therefore they are assumed to be the most enthralling aspects of this sport.

Out of nowhere, just one minute in the blink of an eye, a twist of the hips and the swing of the leg are enough to leave a warrior unconscious on the ground. But what has made head kicks so emphatic that they have turned into the easiest way to knock someone out.

In fact, in as much as the legs carry on the weight of fighters all days long, they are a lot more potent than their arms, thereby kicks are immensely more powerful than punches while they are more energy consuming too.

As a result, it is no wonder to see that these jaw-dropping head-kick knockouts would never occur in abundance despite their impressiveness.

Be that as it may, in honour of the MMA legend's breathtaking feats who have managed to throw the head kicks in the most exquisite ways, we have compiled a list of Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History.

Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History

Here we would delve into a spectacular list of the Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History, so without further ado, let's see what has made these kicks so jaw-breaking.

Pete Williams vs Mark Coleman

The heavyweight matchup of UFC 17 that occurred on May 15, 1998, at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama, amazingly provided one of the All Time Greatest Head Kick Knockouts.

Initially, Coleman was set to cope with Randy Couture, yet eventually, Couture was forced to withdraw because of his injury, so Williams was replaced by him. In case you are interested to know more about Randy Couture, you can probe into

.

That is to say when fighters were still enabled to wear wrestling boots, and exactly after the time that headbutts had become illegal, Coleman was looking for redemption but he failed to do so.

It was actually the biggest upset of 1998 and the finish is one of the most terrific knockouts in UFC history, taking a place among the best MMA head kick knockouts.

Following an entertaining row to row battle, Coleman became exhausted and was easy pickings for Williams, who smashed him devastatingly in the face with a competently timed leg kick, sending his opponent crashing to the floor, becoming the new superstar of the UFC.

This is while it was the first time that Williams had entered the octagon, and still, he managed to leave enough in the tank, to deliver one of the most brutal 

MMA head kick knockouts

in a three-minute overtime period.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes II

In the first fight of Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes, Hughes handed him his first defeat of his professional MMA career.

Back then Hughes, who was one of the most dominant champions in the history of the UFC’s welterweight category, managed to defend his title by catching the Canadian in an armbar at UFC 50.

After all, it was GSP's third fight under the UFC banner since after only two fights, he was offered a title fight by the UFC, and for this reason fear had overcome him, being mentally unprepared to successfully cope with the scariest man on the planet.

Be that as it may, GSP who is

, analysed the video of his defeat days and nights to not let that mental fear descend on him in neither of his next fights.

Especially when in their rematch at UFC 65, he avenged his previous loss to Hughes, as he impressively shook off a few takedowns efforts until he delivered a perfect switch kick on Hughes’ head in the second round.

Then he continued with some academic shots so as to become the first Canadian UFC champion and earned the Knockout of the Night award as well, while this knockout went down as one of the Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt

The encounter between Junior Dos Santos and Mark Hunt, took place at UFC 160 on May 25, 2013, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos (16-2) coped with veteran slugger Mark Hunt (9-8) in the night's featured co-main event, while both of them were considered to be the best strikers in the history of the heavyweight category.

Therefore the fans anticipated seeing a knockout at the end of the fight, but by no means a spinning hook kick; in as much as heavyweights are not known for being particularly nimble.

However, as the fight approached its end, in the third round, Dos Santos landed a blink-and-miss-it spin kick that touched the top of Hunt’s head, as it sent his opponent crashing to the canvas in an unconscious heap in what was called one of the Best Head kicks in MMA.

Moreover, aside from cementing his place among the fighters who landed

Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History

, this fight also saw Dos Santos earn a rubber fight with then heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

It is notable to suggest that Dos Santos is also a member of Sportmob's list of

too.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Igor Vovchanchyn 

One of the other All Time Greatest Head Kick Knockouts was delivered by Mirko Cro Cop in 2003, which stunned the MMA community since his opponent was the Ukrainian legend Igor Vovchanchyn.

Back then Vovchanchyn was widely revered as one of the best strikers in the heavyweight division who had already 59 professional fights under his belt holding an incredible 37-fight win streak in MMA with the second most KO’s (41) of any MMA fighter while most warriors have not even anchored 41 fights to their name.

Not to mention that even nowadays he is still considered to be among

.

Despite this, Cro Cop, who had just 8 fights under his belt (apart from his 26 kickboxing matches across the globe) easily dispatched Vovchanchyn in under two minutes with an insane head kick.

To be specific, in the first round, Vovchanchyn opened the action with a high kick which partially landed, and then at 1:25, Cro Cop stroke a double jab with both punches missing, but he used them as a distance measure.

Afterwards, he eventually landed a horrible left, high kick that made the audience hear the ‘snap’ of Vovchanchyn’s head, leaving him unconscious just under 90 seconds, of the first round.

So one more time, Cro Cop lived up to the ‘Right Leg Hospital, Left Leg Cemetery’ claim, when he discharged his signature, crippling left high kick so as to give Pride fans the Knockout of the Year (2003) which then went down as one of the

Best Head Kicks in MMA

.

Uriah Hall vs. Adam Cella

Hall toppled Andy Enz to get into the TUF House with his excellent performance that made him the favourite to win the show, therefore he was considered to be the scariest striker on the 17th installment of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV series roster of middleweights.

At the beginning of the first round, Hall picked Cella apart efficiently from the outside yet he became slowed down late in the round as Cella was pressing forward. However, Cella was never able to deliver much of an offence during their battle.

While just a few seconds were remaining in the first round, Hall mounted a spinning heel kick that landed flush on Cella’s jaw and knocked him out cold instantly to the point that Cella’s head smacked into the canvas, leaving his body unconscious falling to the ground.

With this devastating kick to Cella’s face, all the arena became silent, wondering whether he was safe or not, owing to the severeness of the kick landed.

This finish went down as one of the

Top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History

as it saw Hall earn Knockout of the Season. However, he failed to take home the TUF crown and lost a split decision to Kelvin Gastelum at the show's finale.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

In the Cro Cop's second fight in the UFC which occurred at UFC 67 two months later than his victory knockout over Eddie Sanchez, he confronted Gabriel Gonzaga in what was the heavyweight title eliminator and was the closest when Cro Cop ever came to UFC gold.

Brazilian heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga who has made a name for himself inside the octagon with his tricky submission skills, would be always remembered for his spectacular feat he made against Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 70.

Much to the fans' chagrin, his head kick finish was desperately vicious, but even if it was not the most technically sound kick ever thrown, it did blow everyone’s mind away owing to the fact that he successfully launched Cro Cop's own trademarked move against him.

Although many had expected this decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, to exercise a grappling-heavy gameplan, he made his mind to beat Cro Cop at his own game, so as to send 

to the canvas with a head kick.

Therefore the fight was ended exactly as it was expected but this time the winner was Gonzaga, but not Cro Cop through what was carved in history books as one of the

All Time Greatest Head Kick Knockouts.

Lyoto Machida vs. Randy Couture

While Machida had compiled a decent amount of head kick finishes over the years, he entered the bout of UFC 128 as he was required to avoid a three-fight losing streak.

Likewise, while Couture had declared that this would be his last fight in MMA, the result of the fight was not a matter of much importance for him, since as one of the most accomplished MMA warriors of all time, he was already a UFC Hall of Famer.

After that a number of strikes were exchanged between the fighters in the first round, Couture went back to feinting and nearly got clipped in round 2.

Then Machida rushed in with punches, distracting Couture with his hands so as to land a jumping front kick that put his rival to sleep.

What has made this front kick so remarkable to be enlisted among the

top 10 Head Kick Knockouts in MMA History

, is Machida's signature Shotokan karate style.

That is to say, he apparently channelled his inner Karate Kid for making this feat of jumping front kick on Couture's face.

Even some speculated that this was even more impressive than one of the other outstanding MMA head kick knockouts landed by Anderson Silva against Vitor Belfort.

Yves Edwards vs. Josh Thomson

One of the other incredible head kick knockouts occurred on Aug. 21, 2004, at UFC 49 in MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the encounter between the best 155-pound competitors in the world, Thomson who had been unbeaten back then, experienced his first defeat of his career through one of the sport's first true highlight-reel knockouts.

To be specific, late in the first round, Edwards worked his way to standing back control and used it to throw Thomson on the floor.

In other words, when Thomson carelessly through a scramble let Edwards take his back briefly from a standing position, Edwards managed to separate his opponent's hands to free himself from danger, and therefore became able to throw a wild spinning back fist.

The sport of MMA had not withstood such a flying head kick until that moment in history in what was called one of the most devastating head kick knockout triumphs in UFC history.

Then The Punk crumbled to the mat after mounting the blow, and launched seven more unnecessary shots on the ground until the referee Steve Mazzagatti mercifully called off the bout.

Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim

Edson Barboza who is considered to be among the best strikers the UFC has ever observed, could manage to make a spectacular feat in his fourth UFC appearance and tenth pro MMA fight.

It is to be said that he is also one of the most underrated fighters in MMA, in spite of his terrific kickboxing skills. How he knocked out Terry Etim with an impressive spinning head kick, provides tangible evidence for his being held in the highest esteem by hardcore MMA fans.

Precisely as saying, after that two minutes were elapsed in the final round of UFC 142, Barboza discharged one of the cleanest spinning heel kicks ever mounted in MMA history. It was so quick and clean that Etim had not even a chance to react to the strike, as he was sent to the canvas.

This victory saw Brazilian lightweight Edson Barboza, achieve Knockout of the Night, Fight of the Night, as well as the Knockout of the Year honours so as to rack up a career record of 10-0 with this finish.

Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort

At UFC 126 in Las Vegas Nevada, the reigning middleweight champion Anderson Silva successfully defended his title against a very familiar opponent and probably a friend of him, called Vitor Belfort.

Although Vitor Belfort had compiled a raft of impressive knockouts under his belt, in this fight he ended up to be on the wrong side of a head kick.

Exactly as the MMA fans had expected to see an epic showdown between the two legends, Silva closed the show too early with a picture-perfect front kick to Belfort’s face.

That is to say, the middleweight king Anderson Silva mounted one of the most devastating front kicks in MMA history when the ball of his foot grazed Belfort's chin at UFC 126.

While this kick is considered to be among one of the best Head Kicks in MMA, it also resulted in his grabbing Knockout of the Night honours, and this moment ended up becoming the cover photo for the UFC 3 Undisputed game.

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