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“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.
The 2022 Comeback of the Year award goes to Leon Edwards for his stunning head kick knockout of then-champ Kamaru Usman at UFC 278.
On Aug. 20, 2022 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] shook up the MMA universe when he pulled a beautiful head kick out of his back pocket to crumple then pound-for-pound king [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag].
It was an upset. It was a massive moment. A new champion was crowned in front of a raucous crowd, who seemed to be on delay as their brains processed what just unfolded. The UFC 278 main event knockout was as lot of things, but regardless of which word comes to mind first “comeback” is certainly at the top of most lists.
After a successful first round, the wheels quite frankly fell off the wagon for Edwards, as Usman methodically picked him apart in Round 2, then Round 3, then Round 4, and most of Round 5 – until the improbable happened.
Only Edwards himself knows what exactly sparked the one-strike come back, but coach Dave Lovell likely played a big part. In between Round 4 and 5, Lovell gave one of the most memorable pump-up speeches in UFC history.
As the fifth round progressed, many viewers slipped into the fog of the monotonous and somewhat mundane flow of the fight. It looked like the round would coast and Usman would win. That’s particularly what commentator Daniel Cormier indicated, until his partner Jon Anik talked him down, an almost on-queue reprimand proven correct.
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A left jab pump fake was followed by a textbook left high kick. Usman brought his hands down when they should’ve gone up. Edwards’ shin clattered off the then-champion’s noggin and Usman sat down before his upper body flopped over backward due to a mix of gravity and unconsciousness.
As fans tried to wrap their heads around what just transpired, Edwards celebrated upon the cage and gave his best rendition of the billy-strut. Usman, meanwhile, was tended by medical professionals, somewhat clueless to what had just transpired.
The moment will go down in history as one of the biggest and most prolific comebacks in UFC history. That’s why it’s MMA Junkie’s 2022 Comeback of the Year.
We’d be remiss not to mention a comeback, that in likely any other year would be the winner of this award.
What [autotag]Matt Schnell[/autotag] did at UFC on ABC 3 in July was one of the most improbable “from the brink of defeat” sort of rallies in major promotional MMA history. He was pummeled, rocked, on the ropes, whatever you want to call it. Schnell was in trouble. Referee Jacob Montalvo may have initially been in the minority to let the fight continue, but he proved to right in the end.
After an absolute whooping by Su Mudaerji at USB Arena in Elmont, N.Y., Schnell slowly but surely flipped the script. The punches piled up and eventually Schnell got the fight down to the canvas. When Mudaerji briefly reversed position, Schnell locked a triangle choke and choked his opponent unconscious from the bottom.
The image of an out-cold Mudaerji covered in blood as he laid on top of Schnell’s leg is one of the best MMA Junkie captured in 2022.
With the victory, Schnell etched himself in UFC history and gained a lot of street credit as a perhaps unwarrantedly overlooked flyweight fighter.
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The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 knockout candidates down to a four-KO shortlist of super highlight-reel finishes.
The UFC has narrowed its list of top 2022 knockout candidates down to a four-KO shortlist.
The promotion this week unveiled the four finalists on its list for Knockout of the Year. Fans can vote for their favorite of the four through the UFC’s YouTube channel or social media platforms.
Two women and two men make up the final four, and more than they were brutal – and they all were – all the candidates seemed to come out of nowhere, making them nearly impossible to defend against.
Check out the four finalists on the UFC’s list below, as well as looks back at their aftermaths. In addition, you can see a recap of all four highlight-reel finishes in the video above.
Chael Sonnen lauds Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira for their title-winning finishes, but they’re not his 2022 Comeback of the Year.
[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] lauds [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] for their title-winning finishes, but they’re not his 2022 Comeback of the Year.
Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) came from behind to land a stunning head kick knockout of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 to capture the welterweight title. Edwards was down 3-1 heading into Round 5 before he blasted Usman with a perfect head shot. The finish came with 56 seconds remaining in the fight.
Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) also was down 3-1 before he rallied to finish and dethrone middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in Round 5 at UFC 281.
But for Sonnen, it’s [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag]’s submission of Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 that gets his pick. After a back-and-forth fight, Prochazka submitted Teixeira with 28 seconds left in the fight. He was down 3-1 on two of the three judges’ scorecards.
“It was Prochazka over Glover,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I just thought for how great that fight was, for how many times it looked like that fight was going to be stopped, and then the fact that we get the mathematical equation at the end of the night, which is that Glover was 30 seconds away from remaining world champion.
“He did not have to beat Prochazka. He didn’t have to win the round. He didn’t have to win another sequence. He didn’t have to land another punch. He just had to run out the clock. I thought that Prochazka should have got more credit.”
Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Teixeira’s fight had various momentum swings in which each fighter looked like he was about to get finished. But ultimately, Prochazka was able to outlast the Brazilian.
The pair was booked for a title-fight rematch at UFC 282, but Prochazka vacated his belt after a severe shoulder injury that required surgery put him on the sidelines indefinitely.
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Only a handful of championship bouts in UFC history have ended in the fifth round, and 2022 provided perhaps the most memorable of them all.
There were a number of UFC title changes over the past year, but three stood out from the bunch as the most dramatic.
Only a handful of championship bouts in UFC history have ended in the fifth round, and 2022 provided perhaps the most memorable of them all as [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag], [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] all staged incredible come-from-behind wins to put gold around their waists.
At UFC 274 in June, Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) went tooth-and-nail with Glover Teixeira (33-8 MMA, 16-6 UFC) in one of the top Fight of the Year contenders. After coming close to being finished on multiple occasions, Prochazka dug deep in the final round and choked Teixeira into submission to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion.
Just two months later at UFC 278 in August, Edwards (19-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) was less than two minutes away from losing a clear-cut decision to Kamaru Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) in their welterweight title rematch. But then the head kick heard ’round the world unfolded, because Edwards landed the perfect combination to end Usman’s incredible winning streak inside the octagon and become just the second British titleholder in company history.
And lastly, at UFC 282 in November, Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) improved his career combat sports record to 3-0 against Israel Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) when he rallied from being down on the scorecards to rock his rival and get the fifth-round TKO to become UFC middleweight champion.
They were three of the all-time moments of perseverance we’ve ever seen at the highest level of the sport, and as 2022 comes to a close, the UFC has put together a highlight reel looking back at these moments that left the audience in shock and awe.
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Conor McGregor thinks Leon Edwards’ knockout of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 should win all the awards.
[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag]’ knockout of Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 should win all the awards.
Edwards came from behind to land a stunning head kick knockout of Usman in their title fight in August. Edwards was down on the scorecards and was being written off by the commentary before he landed the stunning blow in with less than a minute remaining in Round 5 to capture the welterweight title.
The UFC nominated Edwards (19-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) for Comeback of the Year, but McGregor says Edwards’ incredible finish is worth a lot more.
“Stop the nonsense “comeback” of the year , this is EVERYTHING of the year! Bar none. The timing of commentary. The timing of the fight. The shot itself. The KO. The ramifications. The post speech. Pound for pound head shot. Dead! This lives on! Team @ParadigmSports!
“
Stop the nonsense “comeback” of the year , this is EVERYTHING of the year! Bar none. The timing of commentary. The timing of the fight. The shot itself. The KO. The ramifications. The post speech. Pound for pound head shot. Dead! This lives on!
Team @ParadigmSports! 👑 https://t.co/2mTbruXPmV— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 21, 2022
Edwards is managed by the same management as McGregor, Paradigm Sports, which McGregor partially owns. Edwards honored McGregor after the knockout by celebrating with his “Billi Strut” across the octagon.
“Rocky” became the first man to defeat Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) in the octagon, stopping him from tying Anderson Silva’s 16-0 record start in the UFC. He also became the second British titleholder in UFC history after Michael Bisping.
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Robert Whittaker wasn’t too impressed with Paulo Costa’s win over Luke Rockhold and thinks he has the edge when they fight at UFC 284.
[autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] wasn’t too impressed with [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag]’s win over [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag].
Although Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) swept the judges’ scorecards for a unanimous decision win over Rockhold at UFC 278 in August, Rockhold had his moments. An emotional Rockhold retired after the fight and detailed his struggles with injuries and his personal life.
Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC), who meets Costa at UFC 284 on Feb. 12, expected more out of the Brazilian against Rockhold.
“Luke landing effective shots on Costa is no surprise,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “He’s going to land shots no matter who he fights, really. But in saying that, Luke himself said it as well: He didn’t want to be there. Like, his will to fight was just not there. He was kind of just like, ‘Oh man, let’s just get through this.’
“And Costa still struggled with a Rockhold that did not want to be there. And he was getting tagged and hit. He had a lot of openings, he had a lot of holes. So as for what do I think of his performance in that fight? I don’t know. … It’s not great. Not great. Not bad, but not great.”
Whittaker is looking to reestablish himself as the No. 1 contender after falling short to middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for a second time at UFC 271. He sees Costa as a stern test, but is confident he’s the better fighter overall.
“I think he’s a tough guy, and I’m taking this fight with all the respect that I do every other fight,” Whittaker said. “I’m going to go in there in February the best version of myself, and I think the best version of myself is better than everybody else in the division. I think skill-wise, I’m better than Paulo across the board. He probably benches more than me. But my bench isn’t crazy anyway.
“He’s very well-rounded. He’s a very, very well-rounded fighter, and obviously he’s an athlete – a specimen. He’s got a lot of power, torque and explosiveness. But I’d like to think I’m all of those things, as well – and better.”
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Luke Rockhold can feel proud about his last fight at UFC 278, even it wasn’t exactly how he wanted to go out.
[autotag]Luke Rockhold [/autotag]can feel proud about his last fight at UFC 278, even it wasn’t exactly how he wanted to go out.
Rockhold, a former UFC middleweight champion, lost a bloody war to Paulo Costa, who claimed a unanimous decision win this past August in Salt Lake City. Afterward, an emotional Rockhold signaled it would be his final fight, although he never used the word “retirement.” Since then, Rockhold has backtracked and remains open to competing in MMA or another combat sport.
In his first fight in three years, Rockhold showed a lot of heart and resilience against Costa – and gave us a memorable blood-thirsty moment – which was set off by the fact that he broke his nose “on the first punch of the fight.”
“That wasn’t exactly my ideal performance,” Rockhold told MMA Junkie Radio. “First, we were supposed to fight in Vegas, then we were supposed to fight in Dallas, kept pushing it back. I didn’t really take into account Utah and the altitude and how bad it would be. Not only that, breaking my nose on the first punch of the fight, too. Breathing blood wasn’t exactly helping the situation. …
“He kept breaking my nose. I was like, ‘F*cking c*nt.’ He broke my nose on the first punch then he took me down right after he broke my nose, so I was like, my equilibrium was all off. I was like, ‘What is going on right now?’ I was trying to find myself. I was like, ‘Why am I not working right now? What’s wrong with my body?’ As soon as I got up, it started to hit me a little bit. Then he kept f*cking punching me in the nose, kept breaking my nose. Every time he’d hit me, my nose would shift. Like, f*ck!”
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The hard-fought battle was the culmination of what had to be a mentally and emotionally exhausting fight week in which Rockhold aired his grievances about fighter pay and overall perceived disrespect from Dana White and the UFC brass.
“It feels right. You live your truth, and the truth comes out,” Rockhold said. “When you live for other people’s truths … in this game, the truth is gonna come to surface. You can’t hide who you are. If you do it for the wrong reasons, it’s gonna show. If you do it for the right reasons and you do everything you can in your power to be there mentally, even physically, it’s gonna come. It should show. I just stay true to form, stay true to myself.
“I had to check myself, because I kind of lost myself. Once I won the title (in December 2015), it’s not about winning anymore. It’s about making money and what everybody else wants you to be. I kind of fell into that, I guess, trying to make money and play the role that society wanted for me, and I came out looking like a b*tch.”
Despite that sentiment, Rockhold, 37, said he doesn’t regret how his career unfolded. Even though he lost to Costa at UFC 278, he can hang his hat on the performance.
“It’s been a long journey, and that’s what comes out at the end of it, especially when you’ve been kind of mistreated, I guess,” Rockhold said. “All those years off were part of that – a lot of injuries and different things where I felt I was disrespected. So it was like coming back with a purpose, coming back for myself and doing it right.”
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Less than a month after becoming UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards has been awarded his black belt in jiu-jitsu.
[autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] has had quite a few weeks.
Less than a month after dethroning pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman to become welterweight champion at UFC 278, Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) has been awarded his black belt in jiu-jitsu.
The native of Birmingham, England, posted on Instagram to share the news, posing with both belts.
“Last night I finally got my black belt in jujitsu what a month it has been thanks again @tombjj @victorestimagb and @graciebarra the journey continues. #OSS #beltsonbelts“
https://www.instagram.com/p/CifOKHlsg_c/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Although he was taken down multiple times against elite wrestler Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) in their fight, Edwards was able to show off some of his ground game in his title win. He became the first man to officially take Usman down in the UFC when he dragged him to the mat, got full mount position and transitioned to the back to threaten with a rear-naked choke in the first round.
He wasn’t able to submit Usman on the ground, but got a spectacular crowning moment nonetheless when he landed a stunning head kick knockout with less than a minute left in the fight.
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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Leon Edwards is not buying the way Kamaru Usman is handling his UFC welterweight title loss.
[autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] is not buying the way [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] is handling his UFC title loss.
Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) was knocked out in brutal fashion by Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in their title fight at UFC 278 in August. He lost the welterweight belt with less than a minute left.
Edwards caught Usman with a perfect head kick and handed him his first octagon loss. The former champion said he was relieved to lose his title and even laughed with Joe Rogan about the loss. But Edwards doesn’t think his reaction is genuine.
“It’s weird, right? Because to go from that cocky guy to now, ‘I’m happy to get knocked out and it’s a relief,’ I just don’t believe it,” Edwards told BT Sport. “For me, I hope, like I said, I never get to a stage where I’m happy for a loss, you know? It’s weird. The way he’s handling it is the only way he could handle it, right? He couldn’t come out and be, like, salty. So we’ll see. I don’t know.
“It’s weird the way he’s going along with it. I feel like he’s overdoing it. It is what it is. He was the champion. He thought he couldn’t be beat. He’d been beat. That’s just the game.”
With their series tied 1-1, Edwards is expecting a rubber match with Usman for his first title defense, but admits a grudge match with Jorge Masvidal is still on his mind.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Edwards said. “I believe Usman 3 next year is probably the frontrunner unless something dramatic happened in the next however months that are left this year. I love the Masvidal one. I know he hasn’t earned it, but I would love for him to go out there, fight somebody in October or something like a (Gilbert) Burns or something. Just get one in – one good win.
“Go in there, smoke Burns – I can’t see him beating Burns, but let’s say he does go out there and smoke Burns … imagine the scenes in the U.K. I truly believe that would be a bigger fight in the U.K. than Usman. I know Usman is a tough guy, but for the U.K. casual fans, I think that’s the fight for the U.K. But like I said, it doesn’t matter to me. Whoever comes first comes first.”
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