(Props: pedrommabjj via Fightlinker)

If you have a morbid interest in seeing how James Irvin’s last fight against Mamed Khalidov went, well, here you go. I’m not going to throw around the word “work,” but check out how wide and telegraphed Irvin’s punches are, starting at the 0:21 mark — it’s the universal non-verbal sign for “please armbar me so I can collect my paycheck and head to the airport.” And that’s pretty much what happens. Happy now?

After the jump: The brutal finish of Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vs. Georgi Karakhanyan from Saturday’s Bellator show, Junior Dos Santos pulls off a pretty damn respectable “Showtime Kick,” and the gif of Shogun tapping against Jon Jones at the end of their fight at UFC 128, in case you haven’t seen it yet.

Sometimes a fighter connects with his opponent so perfectly that he can confidently peace out to collect his check before the ref even stops the fight. It’s called a walk-off knockout, and it’s what all other knockouts aspire to be. Here, presented with limited commentary, are our favorites.

#8: Brad Kohler vs. Steve Judson @ UFC 22 (9/24/99)

(Props: The TrainWreck)

If you thought Benson Henderson’s performance against Donald Cerrone was the craziest display of submission defense/pain tolerance in recent MMA history, you need to watch the above video, which shows the second and final round of Bogdan Cristea‘s decision loss to Daisuke Nakamura at M-1 Challenge 5 (7/17/08). Nakamura, God bless him, does everything he can to finish this fight. He bends Cristea’s leg in a kneebar, then transitions to an equally nasty-looking heel-hook. He tries one armbar, then another, then a kimura. Cristea shakes them off, and when the fight goes back to the feet, he actually puts Nakamura in trouble with strikes.

At the 3:31 mark, Nakamura tries a flying armbar to get the fight back to the ground. Cristea escapes (obviously), so Nakamura transitions into a straight armbar that would have finished any other opponent. Cristea shakes his finger "no." As the fight ends, we learn that Cristea was previously hit by a car and left for dead, and nearly had his arm amputated. And if he didn’t let a car rip off his arm, he certainly isn’t going to let some little punk in a black Speedo do it. Bogdan Cristea’s enormous balls: We salute you.

(Props: YouTube.com/K1 via MMA Fighting)

K-1 recently uploaded some choice highlights from their MMA library onto their YouTube page, featuring early fights from current superstars like Brock Lesnar, BJ Penn, and Lyoto Machida. Above is Lesnar’s pro MMA debut against Min Soo Kim, which went down at Dynamite!! USA in June ’07. Odds are, you’ve watched this fight before — though it’s still worth a look if you’ve never seen the head-clashing faceoff and the fight’s aftermath, in which Lesnar triumphantly stalked around the cage while Kim was slowly brought back to life.

After the jump: Kazushi Sakuraba‘s rematch with Royce Gracie at Dynamite!! USA, BJ Penn’s grudge match with Renzo Gracie at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii, and Lyoto Machida’s fourth pro fight against Michael McDonald at K-1 Beast 2004.

IF YOU MISSED KNOCKOUTS #25-13, CLICK HERE.

#12: Fedor Emelianenko adds Brett Rogers to his vast collection of scalps at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers (11/7/09).

#11: Brian Bowles shocks the world, earns the WEC’s bantamweight title, and breaks Miguel Torres‘s 17-fight win streak at WEC 42 (8/9/09).

#10: Lyoto Machida makes Rashad Evans do the stanky leg at UFC 98. (5/23/09)

#9: Dan Hornbuckle starches Akihiro Gono with a kick to the face at Sengoku 9 — then takes a moment to think about what he’s done (8/2/09).

#8: Scott Smith pulls off the greatest comeback knockout of the year against Cung Le at Strikeforce: Evolution (12/19/09).

#7: Dan Henderson shuts Michael Bisping‘s big spotted-dick-eating mouth at UFC 100 (7/11/09).

#6 (tie): Marius Zaromskis high-kicks Hayato Sakurai into a living death at the DREAM welterweight GP semi-finals; later that same night, Marius Zaromskis does the same exact thing to Jason High (7/20/09). Congrats, Jason, you’re on the wrong end of this list twice.

#5: Yahir Reyes cracks Estevan Payan with what might be the nastiest spinning-backfist in MMA history at Bellator 6. (5/8/09)

#4: Jose Aldo needs just 8 seconds and a well-timed flying knee to wreck Cub Swanson — and earn a title shot — at WEC 41 (6/7/09).

#3: Anderson Silva shows Forrest Griffin the true power of a Jedi at UFC 101 (8/8/09).

#2: Fedor Emelianenko shoots Andrei Arlovski out of the air at Affliction: Day of Reckoning (1/24/09).

Fedor vs. Arlovski – Watch more Funny Videos

#1: Marcus "Lelo" Aurelio proves that Capoeira is MMA’s most effective style — at least for one night — against Keegan Marshall at North American Challenge 24 (4/4/09).

(Del Rosario vs. Cash. Props: mixedmartialartvideos.com. More fights after the jump.)

From last night’s show at the SaveMart Center in Fresno, California…

MAIN CARD
- Billy Evangelista def. Jorge Gurgel via unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28)
- Shane del Rosario def. Brandon Cash via submission (omoplata), 2:57 of round 1
- Luke Rockhold def. Jesse Taylor via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:42 of round 1
- Merrit Warren def. Ousmane Thomas Diagne via submission (heel hook), 3:49 of round 1
- Zoila Frausto def. Elisha Helsper via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

PRELIMINARY CARD
- Ben Holscher def. Johnny Goh via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
- Casey Olson def. Chris Culley via TKO, 2:32 of round 1
- Cole Escovedo def. Maurice Eazel via TKO, 1:47 of round 1
- Rico Altamirano def. Alex Trevino via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

One of things we didn’t see in Dana White’s most recent video blog from the lovely Casablanca hotel and casino in Mesquite, Nevada was him sitting down for a conversation with Raw Vegas‘ Dave Farra.  Not that we blame DW for cutting that portion out.  I mean, talking to Dave isn’t going to be the highlight of anyone’s night, trust me.  But it is interesting to hear how White characterizes his negotiations with Dan Henderson, and just how different that characterization is from the way Hendo sees things.  According to White, they couldn’t come to terms with Henderson because he "was looking for an obscene amount of money."  Now there’s an interesting use of the past tense.  Chances are that if you asked Henderson, he’d tell you that he continues to want that same amount of money in the present.

(Props: antiherolt)

The cameraman got a nice souvenir during this June 2005 scrap between Leonard Wilson and TUF 9 hopeful Ray Elbe. Watch as Wilson lands a ferocious spinning back kick at the 0:56 mark, then starts jackhammering until Elbe’s contact lens is blasted into the first row. Suck it, Teila Tuli’s tooth…

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Here’s some "Before They Were MMA Stars" footage of Kenny Florian, kicking ass in his second pro fight against Bobby McAndrews. This went down at Mass Destruction 15 (2/21/04, Boston), where Joe Lauzon and Alex Karalexis also picked up wins. Florian would only have one more match — a decision loss to Drew Fickett — before he joined the cast of TUF 1, which would drastically alter the course of his career. For more Ken-Flo, check out this extended interview with SportsCenter.

Gash of the year, right there; props to Bloody Elbow for the tip. Video of the Jose Aldo flying knee that gave him that cut is below, and some more WEC 41 fights are after the jump in case you missed the show on Sunday.

(Mizuto Hirota vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida; props to MMA Scraps)

Shooto’s "Final Tradition" event, held yesterday in Tokyo, produced an action-packed card that was highlighted by Takanori Gomi snapping his two-fight losing streak. The Fireball Kid looked fit and focused in his non-title-fight against Shooto welterweight champ Takashi Nakakura, getting the better of Nakakura in striking exchanges en route to a knockout victory at the end of the second round. In the night’s main event, Rumina Sato pushed the pace against Shooto lightweight champ Takeshi Inoue with a creative arsenal of striking, rocking Inoue with punches near the end of the first round, but Inoue hung on and managed to stop Sato in a shocking turnaround.

Elsewhere on the card, Mitsuhiro Ishida suffered a surprising loss against Mizuto Hirota, who flattened Ishida with a left hook just 90 seconds into their bout and threw down more punches until he scored the victory; it was arguably an early stoppage, as Ishida was trying to tie up Hirota’s legs and get to his feet when the ref stopped the fight. In the night’s sole women’s feature, undefeated submission buzzsaw Megumi Fujii tore through kickboxer Won Bu Chu in less than a minute.

Full results and videos of the Gomi, Inoue, and Fujii fights (courtesy of NelsaoCB) after the jump…