Tag: Manny Akpan

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.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqvpne7c1q486dvv player_id=01eqvpqbw4ymnv0rjh image=https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Cage Warriors 120: Kent Kauppinen claims first decision win, becomes instant contender

After a career spent winning his fights inside the distance, Kent Kauppinen marked his Cage Warriors debut with a first: A decision win.

[autotag]Kent Kauppinen[/autotag] marked his debut as a Cage Warriors fighter with a first: A decision win.

Former Bellator campaigner Kauppinen (13-6) had claimed each of his previous victories inside the distance, but was forced to battle all the way to the scorecards against former middleweight title challenger [autotag]Jamie Richardson[/autotag] at Cage Warriors 120 in London as he positioned himself as a serious title contender at 185 pounds.

The first round saw Kauppinen immediately take the center of the cage as he walked down Richardson (9-7), who seemed happy to work off the back foot and frustrate the veteran. Despite his aggressive positioning, Kauppinen was economical with his output through the opening five minutes as he spent much of the round trying to draw shots from Richardson to open his man up for counter punches.

Round 2 saw Richardson give Kauppinen what he wanted by upping his work rate and giving the former Bellator man opportunities to counter. A solid lead uppercut reminded Kauppinen that he had to be wary, however, as both men started to load up in the middle round.

Richardson worked the jab well and followed up with some decent straight shots, while Kauppinen, after finding his man’s chin a little hard to locate with his counters, switched up his attack and connected with a thumping body shot.

Kauppinen came out of his corner for the final round and immediately looked to connect with big shots, while Richardson stayed elusive on the back foot. After a clinch battle against the cage, Kauppinen again tried to walk down Richardson, and fended off a takedown attempt from the former title challenger.

Then, with 35 seconds remaining in the fight, Kauppinen made the crucial breakthrough. He dropped his man with a huge right hand but, rather than follow him to the mat in search of a ground and pound finish, he called for Richardson to get back to his feet. He then connected with a big body kick and, even though he was subsequently taken down, Kauppinen connected with a succession of elbows off his back to put the seal on his most decisive round of the fight.

After the final horn had sounded, all three judges were in agreement as Kauppinen earned scores of 29-28 across the board to seal a debut victory and push him right into the title mix at 185 pounds.