Yep.

When we last checked in on Drew Fickett, he had moved from Arizona to Florida to enter a rehabilitation facility, and celebrated his forty-two days of sobriety with a knockout loss to Jonatas Novaes at ShoFIGHT 20. Not to add insult to injury, but Fickett said before the fight that he was in very real danger danger of becoming homeless if he didn’t receive his win bonus as well. I wish I was here today to tell you that things have gotten better for him, but that’s not exactly the case.

Fickett met up with undefeated Grudge Training Center prospect Justin Gaethje at last weekend’s Rage in the Cage 163. I’d describe the fight for you, but that’d be a waste of time. Let’s just say that Gaethje is still undefeated, Fickett is now 1-6 in his last seven fights and I’m only writing about this fight because I have lost control of my life.

Video is after the jump.

Nick Newell‘s left arm ends at the elbow but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming a damned good MMA fighter. The lightweight has been fighting professionally since 2009 and on Friday he emphatically improved his perfect record to 8-0 with a vicious knee to the head KO win.

Newell took on and took out Adam David Mays at XFC 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Newell went for the kill in the first round with head kicks, upper cuts, hooks and, finally, knees to the head.

We’re sure it isn’t politically correct to call Newell a “crazy, one-armed bastard,” as television commentator Michael Schiavello did at the end of last night’s fight, but we have to agree. Nick Newell doesn’t need both arms to whoop you – not sure what’s more bad-ass than that.

Watch video of the finish after the jump.

Speaking of things that happened last night that were laughably predictable, Kimbo Slice is still earning his bread as a professional boxer. Well, perhaps “earning” is the wrong word. Earning implies that he is making it by winning competitive matches against reasonably credible opponents. Really, $kala is just giving Kimbo his bread at this point. Or, if you’re cheesy enough to go there, Shaw is just feeding the guy.

I will say this much: At least last night’s fight wasn’t the (potentially-worked) shitstorm that was his last fight against Brian Green. After watching Kimbo get saved by the bell against a fitness instructor making his professional boxing debut on one day’s notice followed by his aforementioned bout with Brian Green, Shaw was taking absolutely no chances when searching for an opponent this time around.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/

A word of advice: even if you’re the big dog in your gym, NEVER EVER accept the offer of a dude in a TapouT cowboy hat to spar, lest you might find yourself waking up with Donald Cerrone looking over you rubbing your chest and seeing if you’re okay.

Props: IronForgesIron.com

Brazilian Muay Thai specialist Munil Adriano hasn’t exactly fared well in his mixed martial arts career. After starting off 0-5, Adriano looked to pick up his first victory last night in Houston at Legacy Fighting Championship 10 against Strikeforce veteran Reynaldo Trujillo. Despite what you’d usually assume about a fighter wearing white grappling tights, Munil Adriano planned on overwhelming Reynaldo Trujillo with his Muay Thai prowess.

In hindsight, it’s pretty funny that a guy who many believed had the superior stand up attack got knocked out by a Superman punch in less than thirty seconds. You know, if you’re the type of jerk to laugh at the misfortunes of others and all. Which we all know you are, so feel free to point and laugh at the 1:04 mark of the video. Trujillo is now 10-6 in his MMA career, with seven victories coming by way of knockout.

Here at CP, we have covered damn near every type of knockout that has occurred in the MMA world, and in fact, we pride ourselves on our devotion to the topic. And although we’ve seen both the double KO and the even more rare no contest due to both fighters falling out of the cage, little did we know that over the weekend, these two would meet at a shady hotel, do the nasty, forget to wear protection, and give birth to the above knockout.

The event was Hardrock MMA 43, which went down on Saturday night. The place was Sheperdsville, Kentucky. In the co-main event of the evening, lightweight fighters Brandon Bishop and Braedon Ward squared off in what started as a relatively even match that saw both men struggle for superior position in the clinch. After Ward managed to toss Bishop to the mat but was unable to complete the takedown, he bull rushed ahead with a double leg, eventually slamming into to cage door, which burst open and sent both fighters crashing to the ground.

As team members rushed to their aid, it quickly became apparent that both parties had been knocked unconscious in the fall, and the bout was subsequently ruled a no contest. Fortunately, both men were able to walk away on their own power after a few minutes. According to Gary Thomas of ProMMAnow.com, who was in attendance for the entire event, a hinge in the cage had been damaged in an earlier fight, but was believed to have been fixed. However, when both fighters hit the door, the pin was knocked loose, causing one of the more bizarre fight endings we have seen in quite some time.

And as it turns out, this was not the only bit of controversy that went down at Hardrock MMA 43. Join us after the jump for an illegal KO from the same event that is as brutal as it is hilarious.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/DesireisDeath20XX)

This knockout from an unidentified and undated muay thai event video is as nasty as any we’ve seen.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/1stYoshi)

When I was a kid I used to dream about settling all of my conflicts Bruce Lee-style by knocking fools out with backfists and spinning roundhouses.

Now, there’s a pretty good chance that the video above is fake, considering the kick doesn’t seem to connect, but if it isn’t it’s one of the best incidences of poetic justice we’ve ever seen.

Dude insults rap battle opponent and gets shoved and called out by the poor sport before demonstrating some Ong Bak-esque Taekwondo on his ass. Cue walk-off KO.

Related after the jump: Check out an MMA rap battle between two crazy Canadians.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/DiggedyDrake)

Somewhere Steven Seagal is claiming he invented this knockout.

First, it was “Young Gun.” Then, it was “The Boss.” And now, its Adam “Adam” Lynn. It’s safe to say at this point that the elbow is having a better year than Justin Bieber, and it ain’t easy to top the Biebs. If you weren’t already convinced, the latest testament to the power of the elbow was demonstrated at Maximum Fighting Championships 31 this past weekend, at the same event that saw the birth of the half-point system and the triumph of our boy Ryan Jimmo.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/LastAppleProductions)

Unless you happened to be at Rage in the Ring 15 last weekend in Lethbridge, Alberta, chances are you haven’t seen this clip. But luckily for you we have a lot of readers around the world who send us highlights from obscure promotions such as this one for the Potato Nation’s viewing pleasure, so you get to watch this little gem while sipping your morning coffee.

Knockout videos are a dime a dozen, particularly in the unforgiving sport of Muay Thai. What makes this one stand out is the anomaly of a one armed man delivering the final blow. As it turns out, this is no anomaly; this is Baxter Humby.

Humby’s right arm was amputated following a complication at birth, and rather than accepting that he’d never play recreational sports he pushed himself to excel at the professional level. “The One Armed Bandit” competed internationally as a member of Canada’s National Track Team. Having trained in the martial arts as a youth, Humby made the questionable decision to embark on a career as a professional fighter and soundly answered those who doubted his resolve.

Baxter has won over 15 kickboxing and muay thai titles, including: Canadian Super Welterweight Kickboxing Champion, IMTC World Middleweight Champion, IKBA International Kickboxing Champion, and IKKC USA Kickboxing Champion. The above first round knockout over Zidov Domenik took place Friday night at the Muaythai Premier League “Stars and Stripes” event. Humby successfully defended his WMC Intercontinental Championship.

(Nothing strange about doing this in public. Image courtesy of WhataPlanker.com)

If you haven’t heard of this latest hipster craze, Planking (AKA The Lying Down Game) is when a person lays flat on their back or stomach and stiff as a board in a random location and someone snaps a photo of them. Ingenious, isn’t it?

Anyway, there have been several variations of where “Planking” originated, but really you need look no further than our beloved sport if you want to know the true roots of the fad.

Check out the gallery after the jump of MMA fighters planking, before there was a name for what they were doing.

(Video courtesy BREAK/SportScience)

If you watched Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu this weekend and read any of the ensuing commentary on MMA websites and messageboards, by now you have digested a lot of talk about the weak chins of fighters like Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Scott Smith, Mike Kyle and Matt Lindland.

Some writers and posters even went so far as to call for their retirement, as if they have any say in the matter.

If a fighter’s health is at risk, either long or short-term, then I’m all for them hanging up the gloves, but it isn’t up to anyone but them to decide when that time is.

As far as the uninformed opinions that a fighter’s "KO button" is easier to push or that his chin is weaker as a compound result of multiple knockouts incurred over the span of his career, both are fundamentally incorrect.

(Ready for her close-up. Image courtesy of gina-carano.org.)

According to Variety, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Oceans 11/12/13, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Out of Sight) has cast MMA starlet Gina Carano in the lead role of his next film. Here’s what we’re dealing with:

Knockout, which begins production in late January 2010, follows a very busy 2009 for Soderbergh, who released two movies this year: The Girlfriend Experience (which employed a similar bit of stunt-casting with porn-star Sasha Grey in the lead role as a high-end escort) and The Informant!, which comes out later this month.

Though Carano has previously appeared as "Crush" on American Gladiators and made a cameo in the low-budget action flick Blood and Bone, this will be her first role in a high-profile film production. Carano hasn’t yet revealed if she’ll be taking another fight in Strikeforce before the year’s end, so be warned — a long, Cung Le-esque layoff could be in Gina’s future.

(Props: Altofsky)

According to Mike Goldberg, Todd Duffee‘s seven-second pwnage of Tim Hague at UFC 102 was "officially the fastest knockout in UFC history." Previously, the company line was that James Irvin and Don Frye held the record jointly with their eight-second knockouts of Houston Alexander and Thomas Ramirez, respectively. But hardcore fans know the truth. Above is a gif of Duane "Bang" Ludwig‘s knockout of Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 3, in which Mario Yamasaki rushes in to save the starched Canadian at the four-second mark. So why don’t we ever hear about it? Well, the timekeeper effed up and reported the official time of the stoppage as 11 seconds. And that’s still how they have the time listed on UFC.com and Sherdog. Duffee may have given us one of the most fearsome Octagon debuts since Tank Abbott, but at the very least his "record" should have an asterisk next to it…

(Fight starts at the 0:58 mark. Props to NelsaoCB)

As the above video proves, Chris Clements and Steve Ramirez do not hold the record for fastest knockout in MMA history. At a Japanese event called "The Outsider 2" held last July, Ryohei Masuda caught Takahiro Kuroishi rushing in and knocked him into the land of wind and ghosts in two seconds flat. (Doesn’t that idiot know that the running start only works when Kid Yamamoto does it? Well, he does now.) Don’t ask us to explain the in-ring brawl that comes directly afterwards, though if there are any Japanese speakers in the house who can translate the narrator, please enlighten us.

After the jump: If you have 17 minutes free, check out this amazing timeline of the UFC’s lightweight title by our friend Koeikan. "Short People" FTW.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Not sure who these dudes are, but good Lord, check out the expression on the loser’s face after eating that kick. All he needs is some cartoon birds chirping around his head to complete the scene. Seriously, he’s lucky the winner didn’t run over and draw dicks on his face.

After the jump: Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson get a first look at the tricked-out Range Rovers they’ll be getting as rewards for coaching TUF 9. Both fighters say that they’re having great training camps in advance of their meeting at UFC 100, and are ready to get after it. Bisping actually feels like he could take on anyone in the world right now. He’ll need that confidence next month when Henderson is on top of him, covering his mouth and nose with one hand and punching him with the other.

(Props: youtube.com/BellatorMMA)

Bellator’s inaugural season came to a close on Friday night, with the finals of their middleweight and lightweight brackets. In the 185-pound title fight, Hector Lombard used his striking and ground-and-pound to open up some nasty cuts on the head of his opponent, Jared Hess; the fight was eventually stopped in the fourth round after Hess lost a few gallons of blood. Directly after, 155-pound favorite Eddie Alvarez completed his sweep of the lightweight tourney by knocking Toby Imada out of his jock with a big right hook early in the second round, then sinking in a rear-naked choke. Lombard and Alvarez collected $100,000 checks for their efforts.

In non-tournament action, Jorge Masvidal submitted Eric Reynolds via third-round rear-naked choke, Bodog/ShoXC vet Rosi Sexton submitted Valerie Coolbaugh via first-round armbar, and Stephanie Guimaraes became Bellator’s latest YouTube star with her 49-second knee-knockout of Yvonne Reis. The Guimaraes knockout is above; highlights from the Lombard/Hess and Alvarez/Imada fights are after the jump.

Nasty MMA Head-Kick Knockout – Watch more Funny Videos

Last Saturday, Nick Felix won the ALLSTARMMA welterweight title at an event in Springdale, Arkansas, by Cro Cop’ing the crap out of Jeffrey Escobar. Escobar had come into the fight with a 3-0 record, with all wins by first-round stoppage; unfortunately, he didn’t even last 10 seconds that night. Just as impressive as Felix’s head kick knockout was the diving tackle the ref made to get him to stop whaling on his unconscious opponent. One more performance like that and he’ll be able to break into the top 5. For more ALLSTARMMA fight videos, click here.

Brutal Flying Knee KO at Bellator XI – Watch more Funny Videos

Lyman Good became Bellator‘s first welterweight champion on Friday night, scoring a quick TKO victory over Omar De La Cruz at Bellator XI in Uncasille, Connecticut. The Tiger Schulmann MMA product needed just 1:23 to take De La Cruz down and slug his way to a referee stoppage, collecting a $100,000 check in the process.

But the event’s real star was Good’s rookie teammate Nick Pace, who KTFO’d Collin Tebo with a flying knee to the jaw, then knocked his mouthpiece out with a follow-up right hand; the video is above. Not sure how we feel about his weird hip-grinding at the end, but Pace could be a fighter to watch. Full results from the card are here. Video of the Good/De La Cruz stoppage is after the jump.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Jens was right — Ray Mercer still knows how to thump, and Tim Sylvia shouldn’t have messed with a real boxer. After weighing in at a worrisome 310.6 pounds for his boxing MMA match against Mercer at "Adrenaline III: Bragging Rights" in Birmingham, Alabama, Sylvia only had a chance to throw one leg kick before eating a massive overhand right and dropping like a felled redwood. (The video above doesn’t show the kick, but you can hear the cameraman’s buddy say "Aw see, they agreed to not do that.") After the fight, Mercer said “Wow, I didn’t get a chance to warm up," and called out Butterbean. Meanwhile, the Maine-iac’s career prospects just went from bad to worse. He’d better hope DREAM organizes another Super Hulk tournament — or maybe Strikeforce can set up a "Loser Has to Drink Ipecac" rematch between him and Andrei Arlovski.

Full results from the Adrenaline card are here.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

What up, guys? I just got back from shooting some footage at the Strikeforce press conference, which I’ll be sharing with you on Monday. The basic gist of the Q+A session was: Joe Riggs and Scott Smith had to go to the hospital after their fights, Andrei Arlovski just didn’t feel like sticking around, Jake Shields has made up his mind that he’s not going to give Joe Riggs the time of day, Nick Diaz doesn’t consider Cung Le to be an important opponent, and Brett Rogers is just gonna keep doin’ work. (Direct quote.) Plus, Brett Rogers told me the secret to his KO power, I chatted with Gilbert Melendez about his preparation for his rematch with Josh Thomson, and Nick Diaz provided me with an exclusive rant. In the meantime, video of the Rogers/Arlovski knockout is above, and video of the Diaz/Smith scrap is after the jump. Talk soon…
 

(Courtesy of YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

Though Hector Lombard drew most of the attention at Friday’s Bellator show, the night’s best stoppage belonged to Chad Leonhardt — great name for a fighter, by the way — who scored a YouTube-worthy first-round KO over Daniel Keenan. Watch as Leonhardt crushes Keenan with an overhand right, then puts him to sleep with a mouthpiece-ejecting knee to the face. Thanks, Chad. Bellator’s upcoming schedule is after the jump…

(Another Bellator show, another epic finish. Yahir Reyes FTW. Video courtesy of youtube.com/BellatorMMA.)

Bellator Fighting Championships‘ sixth installment went down Friday night in Robstown, Texas, featuring the two semi-final fights of their featherwight bracket — both of which produced shocking results. Undefeated tournament favorite Wilson Reis ate his first career loss in an upset against rising star Joe Soto, who stuffed Reis’ takedowns and kept the fight standing where he had the advantage. Soto outstruck Reis to a comfortable unanimous decision, earning the right to face the night’s other big winner, Yahir Reyes, in the tourney’s featherweight finals. Reyes withstood an aggressive showing early on by opponent Estevan Payan — who missed weight by over three pounds — before knocking him into last month with a brilliant spinning-backfist.

Full results from the event are after the jump…

All that hype, and it only came down to six minutes of utter domination. If you caught the light-welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton last night, you saw more proof that Pac-Man is one of the best boxers to have ever lived. The video is above; watch as Pacquiao opens with a 10-7 first round on the strength of two knockdowns, then delivers the finishing blow at the end of the second. Pac’s trainer Freddie Roach had predicted a third-round knockout via left hook, explaining later that Hatton tends to leave himself open when he throws his jab. Turns out, Pacquiao is even better than he thought. Could Money Mayweather be next?

In the wake of Shinya “The Man In Tights” Aoki’s TKO loss to “Mach” Sakurai at Dream.8, a lot of MMA pollsters are debating what this does to Aoki’s status in the lightweight division and his pound-for-pound ranking.  As we’ve said in the past, rankings are mostly useless speculation, but fun nonetheless, so we’ll entertain for the moment the idea that this is worth debating.  

When determining how Aoki deserves to fall in the rankings, you have to take a few different factors into consideration:

1) Quality of Opponent
The simple rule is, if you lose to a guy you were expected to lose to, you don’t suffer much from it.  It basically means you, like the Chicago Bears, are who we thought you were.  But if you lose to a guy you were expected to beat, like a Paulo Thiago, it can hurt you bad.  Sakurai is a solid fighter.  He’s been around forever, has beaten some good fighters and lost to some great fighters.  He consistently hangs around the perimeter of the welterweight top ten, so there’s no shame in dropping a fight to him, at least if you looked like you belonged in there with him.  Which leads us to our next variable…

Insane Capoeira Knockout – Watch more Funny Videos

Most evidence seems to suggest that Brazilian dance-fighting isn’t very effective in an actual MMA match. But the doubters were proved wrong on Saturday night, as a Capoeira practitioner named Marcus "Lelo" Aurelio (not to be confused with Maximus) scored one of the most epic knockout-kicks in history at a North American Challenge event in North Vancouver. Aurelio’s opponent Keegan Marshall was clearly unprepared for the whirling-dervish routine, and let his hands drop at juuuuuust the wrong moment; the devastation comes at the vid’s 0:31 mark. After checking to see if Marshall is still alive (he was), Aurelio commemorates the moment with a victory dance that lasts about as long as the fight itself. Enjoy it, buddy — these kinds of things don’t happen very often.

#0: Heath Herring vs. Yoshihiro Nakao @ K-1 Premium 2005 Dynamite!! (12/31/05), 0 seconds

Who the hell knows what Yoshihiro Nakao was thinking when he planted a surprise smooch on Heath Herring before their fight at K-1’s 2005 New Year’s Eve show. (Maybe that the Texas Crazy Horse would become blinded by lust, leaving him unable to intelligently defend himself?) Unfortunately, not only is Herring “not gay,” but he resents the implication, and responds by punching Nakao right across his sweet, pillowy lips. Even if the match was ruled a no-contest, it’s still a KO at the 0:00 mark of round 1, earning it an honorary spot on our list of Fast & Furious knockouts. Not since the epic Gracie vs. Howard battle at UFC 3 had there been such a dramatic finish to a fight before it had even technically started. And the nickname “Kiss” still haunts Nakao to this day…

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

#1: Chris Clements vs. Lautaro Tucas @ TKO 25 (5/5/06), 3 seconds

Just two days after Norifumi Yamamoto thrilled a Tokyo crowd with his four-second flying-knee KO against Kazuyuki Miyata, an eerily similar knockout took place in Montreal. Except this time, it was the dude sprinting across the ring who got himself KTFO — and in only three seconds, making this the fastest MMA knockout ever. We can only assume that Lautaro Tucas watched the Yamamoto/Miyata fight and thought, “Hey, I bet I could do that too.” But Chris Clements saw it coming, and stepped in with a sledgehammer right hook just as Tucas was leaving the ground. Tucas’s lifeless body flopped into the ropes, upon which Clements slugged him in the head three times. Awesome. Fun fact: Tucas never fought again after that night. We’re not sure if that’s because he switched to a less painful profession, or because he committed seppuku to make up for the shame he caused his family, but either way, it had to be done.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO…