(Props: YouTube.com/MMAInsideTheCageTV)

As always, if you’ve got 22 minutes to spare, we highly recommend watching the latest episode of MMA: Inside the Cage in its entirety. But for those of you who are in a rush, we’ll direct your attention to the following…

- Not since Francisco Bueno or Ricardo Morais have we seen a fighter take so many shots to the head during a falling-tree knockout as the husky white dude featured in this week’s installment of the “Hit Parade.” (Just hit the play button and enjoy.) The first time I watched it, I thought the guy was taunting his opponent at the 6:38-6:40 mark, like, “here’s my chin, go for it homie,” but now that I re-watch it, it’s obvious that the poor sap simply forgot where he was. After a few more punches, it’s timber-time.

- Also of note, Casey Oxendine shares footage from his training with Marco Ruas circa 1999. Ruas trained his students by beating the shit out of them with bare fists and kneeing them in the head on the mat. Skip to the 9:46 mark to see how real men used to roll in those glorious NHB days. Builds character, I’m sure.

(Skip to the 2:20 mark if you want to watch your dad get his ass kicked.)

Good afternoon, Potato Nation. How’s your Monday going? Well, it’s about to get even worse, because everyone’s favorite kilt-wearing former UFC welterweight, Marcus Davis, nearly met his maker this past weekend, and since we had to sit through it, so shall you. After opting out of his Zuffa contract the hard way at UFC 125, “The Irish Hand Grenade” would go 3-1 in various promotions before facing off against Mark Casserly in a kickboxing match.

Now, Davis has suffered some of the most brutal knockouts in the history of the sport (*cough* Ben Saunders *cough*), but this may be the cherry on the blood flavored ice cream sundae. We can’t remember the last time that a kick turned its recipient into a human rocking chair, but we’ll remember this KO for years to come, that’s for sure. Seriously, it’s like that scene in Bad Santa when the midget from Me, Myself, and Irene gets punched in the nuts and falls head over heels, except not nearly as hilarious.

We’re not doctors, but we think this might be the fight that prompts Davis to call it a career. As you can see, it took him more than a few minutes before he was able to regain his composure, and sometimes that is all it takes for a fighter to reconsider his line of work, especially at Davis’ age. Regardless of the decision he may or not make within the next couple weeks, we’d like to take a moment here at CP to thank Davis for his contributions to the sport…

…Alrighty then, now join us after the jump to watch another ferocious head-kick KO from this past weekend, courtesy of our friends over at MiddleEasy. Don’t blink, because it happens just over five seconds into the fight.

On May 5th, 2006, Canadian welterweight Chris Clements (1-1 at the time) met a first-time fighter named Lautaro Tucas at TKO 25 in Montreal. Putting his lack of experience on full display, Tucas opened the fight by skipping madly across the ring at Clements, his arms draped at his sides. Clements loaded up a right straight and immediately knocked Tucas out cold.

The stoppage was recorded at 0:03 of round 1 — the first three-second knockout in MMA history, establishing a record that has yet to be broken in professional competition. (In case you’re wondering, Kid Yamamoto’s famous flying knee was officially marked as four seconds, and the Harris/Fuller fake-tap backfire KO was recorded as five seconds, even though they both seemed to end just as immediately as Clements vs. Tucas.)

Tucas never fought again, but Clements — now 10-4 with all of his wins by KO/TKO — continued to compete in Canada, and is finally making his Octagon debut this Saturday at UFC 145 in Atlanta. Currently riding a four-fight win streak that includes stoppages of UFC vets Rich Clementi and Jonathan Goulet, Clements will be part of UFC 145′s Facebook prelims broadcast, facing off against Keith Wisniewski (28-13-1, 0-2 UFC), the Indiana-based journeyman who’s perhaps most famous for getting his arm snapped by Shinya Aoki.

After the jump: Two more examples of Clements’s freaky power.

(Taking a page out of Aleksander Emelianenko’s book, Cremeans opted for the pre-fight nose pick to ensure a quick and brutal finish.) 

Meet Kyle “Big Nasty” Cremeans, a 2-1 heavyweight out of Ohio who looks about as intimidating as your average sack of laundry, with a physique that is equally as impressive. He fights out of “Team Destruction,” which should tell you right away that he is not to be taken lightly (as if it were even possible, amirite?!). At first glance, you would expect Cremeans to be the kind of fighter that employs a Greg Stott, R.I.P style of fighting, or maybe the Larry Watts “just throw heat until I am completely unconscious” stratagem. Surely this fat sack of lard would not be able to lift his hands above his waist, let alone deliver a devastating, first punch, walk-off knockout over his slightly less obese opponent, right?

Mike Russow laughs at your ignorant assumptions.

Check out the brilliant one-punch KO, courtesy of IronForgesIron, after the jump.

You read that correctly. Russia…has water parks. Not only do they get to have Sambo, awesome sweaters, and The Dude’s favorite beverage, but now they have waterparks as well. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAND OF SNOW AND SORROW GOD DAMN IT.

We have no clue where this video came from, or what the true purpose of it is, but we’d be lying if we said that Piterland doesn’t look like the bees knees, and apparently former PRIDE Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and his daughter Masha agree. We are still waiting to hear who “The Last Emperor’s” next opponent will be, but rumors have ranged everywhere from Bobby Lashley in a MMA match to Brock Lesnar in a pro wrestling bout, so who the hell knows? What we do know is that the next man to fight Fedor might want to reconsider if he values his health whatsoever. Poor Ishii.

What’s that you say? You want to see a MMA fighter humiliate and dance around his opponent ala Silva/Leites/Maia/anyone before brutally kicking them in the face? Well we’ve got just the video awaiting your viewership after the jump.

(Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Francisco Bueno @ PRIDE 8, 11/21/99. Josh Barnett makes the tree-analogy at the 0:41 mark.)

Edson Barboza‘s spinning heel-kick knockout of Terry Etim at UFC 142 wasn’t just an instant-classic because of the technique itself — it was also unforgettable because of the devastating effect it had on Etim, who stiffened up and toppled straight to the mat in slow motion like a felled spruce. The “falling tree” knockout is a rare, brutal moment in combat sports that always gets a rise out of fans. Here are nine of our favorite examples from MMA fights, in no particular order.

(Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim @ UFC 142, 1/14/12)

(Props: rachelmm3096)

Friday night’s Prestige FC 3 event in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, was headlined by portly slugger Eric “Butterbean” Esch (14-10-1) against Sandy Bowman (3-0), a 40-year-old local fighter who Sherdog identifies as a former lightweight who swelled up to 223 pounds for the opportunity. Esch held a 150-pound weight advantage in the cage, but it wouldn’t be of any help that night.

Ten seconds after the bell, Bowman lands a head-kick that topples ‘Bean like a defective Weeble. After some elbows from Bowman from the top, Esch realizes that he ain’t getting up without assistance, and taps due to strikes at 0:54 of round 1.

(Video via HDNetFights. Props to Fightlinker for the tip.)

New Jersey-based journeyman Chris Liguori scored the most devastating knockout of his career last month at Ring of Combat 37, blasting local jobber John Salgado with a sledgehammer straight right in the closing minute of round three. Salgado had come into the fight on a four-fight losing streak — with one of those losses coming against Liguori himself — so the matchup didn’t make a whole lot of sense in the first place. But the fans certainly got their money’s worth at the end. Give it a look.

You asked for it, and now you got it.  Cage Potato presents the 8 most impressive striking displays we’ve ever witnessed in MMA.  Please note that "impressive" doesn’t necessarily mean the best technical displays or most dominant victories.  Naw son, there’s a range.  Some are brutal, some are smoove, and some are just nice all-around displays.  All are impressive for one reason or another, and our hats go off to the purveyors of beatdowns featured below.  Enjoy…

#8: Takanori Gomi vs. Jens Pulver: Pride Shockwave, 12/31/04

Going into this fight, the conventional wisdom was that Pulver would want to stand and bang and Gomi would look to get things to the mat.  As you see, that ain’t how it happened.  Instead they traded a pleasing mix of low kicks, body shots, and power punches in a contest to see who would fall down first.  Turns out that someone was Pulver, who couldn’t stand up to Gomi’s deceptive power quite as well as he thought.  Really makes you wonder what happened to that Gomi.  He sure was something to watch once upon a time.

#7: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Gary Goodridge: Pride Total Elimination, 8/10/03

Fedor Emelianenko vs Gary Goodridge – Watch more Funny Videos

While several of Fedor’s fights could arguably make this list, his one-minute destruction of “Big Daddy” gets the nod simply because it’s one of the best examples out there of Emelianenko’s nothing-but-power-punches approach to striking.  From the moment he first unleashes his offense, Fedor hardly throws anything that isn’t a cannonball with evil intentions.  Just listen to the sound of the punches hammering Goodridge in the opening seconds and see if it doesn’t remind you of a Gallagher show.  Sure, he’s beaten better opponents in his time, and thrown more devastating one-punch KO’s, but this one really gives you a glimpse of how terrifying it must be to find yourself on the business end of a Fedor assault.

#6: Wanderlei Silva vs. “Rampage” Jackson II: Pride 28, 10/31/04