When it comes to walk away knockouts there is perhaps no one better at delivering them in the cage than the “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt. Hunt has seven knockout wins in his career with his most recent walk away knockout coming against Roy “Big Country” Nelson.
Hunt is set to take on heavy hitting Stipe Miocic in the headline bout of this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 65 in Adelaide. With both men coming off of a loss (Hunt to Werdum and Miocic to Junior dos Santos) both men will be looking to rebound into the win column and set themselves back on track towards a future title shot.
While Samoan, Hunt is renowned for his walk away knockouts there have been a number of memorable ones throughout the MMA scene. We take a look back at some of the other memorable walk out knockouts throughout the years;
Luis Santos Vs Alfredo Morales XFCI International 3 March 2014
Whilst Luis Santos may be more famous in recent times for his controversial no contest bout with Ben Askren, he caused a storm across the MMA world in March 2014. Santos took on Alfredo Morales at Brazilian promotion XFCI and scored a huge walk away KO over Alfredo Morales. “Sapo” landed a front kick to his opponent and then calmly walked away knowing that there was not a chance in hell of Morales recovering.
Fedor Emelianenko Vs Andrei Arlovski Affliction: Day of Reckoning January 2009
A prime Fedor Vs a prime Arlovski was only ever going to end in one way and unfortunately for the “Pitbull” he ended up on the receiving end of a brutal knockout. The fight was Fedor’s first defence of his title and for the first few minutes of the bout things were looking good for Arlovski. But one decision switched things in the favour of Fedor as Arlovski went for a high knee which then opened up the opportunity for Fedor to land a devastating right hand sending Arlovski crashing to the mat and Fedor walking away with another win in the column.
Paul Daley Vs Scott Smith Strikeforce: Henderson Vs Babalu 2 December 2010
Daley is notorious for his heavy hands and made stake to being one of the best knockout artists at 170lbs when he took on Scott Smith in December 2010. With two guys known for letting their hands go the fans were almost guaranteed an exciting fight and these two delivered on all aspects of that in the two minutes that the fight ran for. The end came when Daley was able to land three left hands to the chin of Smith which sent Smith careering towards the mat face first and Daley calmly walking away.
Cheick Kongo Vs Pat Barry UFC Live: Kongo Vs Barry June 2011
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. It has to be one of the most bizarre knockouts ever but equally a very cool walk away from Kongo at the end. A little kicking feeling out process between the two started the bout but then Barry landed a big right hand which sent Kongo crashing to the floor. Barry swarmed his downed opponent and even with Kongo looking more than worse for wear referee Dan Miragliotta allowed the bout to resume. Kongo was able to weather the storm and return to his feet and landed two superb uppercuts which dropped Barry and left him unconscious on the mat and Kongo confidently walking away the victor. You have to watch this fight just to appreciate the shift in momentum and the craziness that took place in the two minutes thirty nine seconds it was allowed to run.
Spencer Fisher Vs Matt Wiman UFC 60 May 2006
For me flying knee KO’s are a thing of beauty and perhaps no better example of this than in the Lightweight Fight at UFC 60 between Spencer Fisher and Matt Wiman. The first round was largely won by Wiman’s grappling and ground game but Fisher was able to rebound in the most spectacular of fashions in the second round. Spencer “The King” Fisher knocked out “Handsome” Matt Wiman with a flying knee against the cage which sent Wiman crumpling to the canvas and Fisher walking away like the baddest dude on the planet.
Mark Hunt Vs Roy Nelson UFC Fight Night: Hunt Vs Nelson September 2014
No walk away KO list would be complete without a mention of the “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt. While he has a number of these on his record the most impressive for me was his most recent against “Big Country” Roy Nelson. I think the fact that it took place in the Saitama Super Arena made the knockout even more special. But perhaps more impressive was the fact that Roy Nelson is notoriously difficult to finish and Hunt, in classic Hunt style just walked away as cool as a cucumber after landing a huge uppercut which sent Nelson face planting to the canvas. With the knockout Hunt became the first man in the UFC to knockout Nelson.