Tag: Cage Warriors 136

MMA Junkie’s 2022 Knockout of the Year: Leon Edwards def. Kamaru Usman

“Pound-for-pound. Headshot. Dead.” Leon Edwards’ stunning finish of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 is MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Year for 2022.

With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best knockouts from January to December 2022.

As voted on by our entire staff, here are the top 10 and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Year.

Honorable mentions

‘Knockout of the Year’ contender: Watch Manny Akpan smoke opponent with spinning hook kick

Was it luck? Was it impeccable timing? Who cares. Manny Akpan just landed one of the best knockout blows of 2022.

Over and over again, rising MMA fighters are informed of the importance of differentiating themselves from the pack. Sometimes, it’s difficult and fighters act a fool to supplement substantial interest.

But for [autotag]Manny Akpan[/autotag], he will not need to do such things – all because of his Cage Warriors 136 knockout against [autotag]Connor Hitchens[/autotag]. If he does nothing else in the near future, he will always be known as “the guy who hit that ridiculous roundhouse kick,” because that’s exactly what he did.

Was it luck? Was it a perfect analysis of timing? Was it a combination?

None of those questions really matter in the end. The bottom line is Akpan (4-1) wrecked Hitchens (6-2) with a violent, face-plant-inducing roundhouse kick that ended their featherweight bout at the 4:36 mark of Round 2.

After Akpan stuffed a takedown from Hitchens, the two fighters bounded upward. As he looked to back off and reset, Hitchens dashed away – but directly toward Akpan’s power side. Akpan made him pay as he spun and landed the knockout blow, which you can watch below.

Cage Warriors 136 took place Saturday at BEC Arena in Manchester, England, as the second of a two-day doubleheader for the promotion.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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