Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya 2 – April 8
Nothing in 2023 held as much significance as the second MMA fight between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya did. Technically it was the fourth time the pair met, with the first two ending with wins for Pereira in the kickboxing ring.
Their first Octagon encounter saw Pereira finishing Adesanya in the final moments of their fight. The win dethroned Adesanya and scored 3-0 in Pereira’s favor. The fourth fight, a rematch was entirely different though.
Adesanya left no doubt this time finishing Pereira with a towering counter right knockout in the second round. Adesanya then quite literally danced on his grave with the middleweight title back firmly in his grasp.
Unfortunately, Adesanya would lose the title again to Sean Strickland just months later.
Raufeon Stots vs. Patchy Mix – April 23
When Raufeon Stots entered the Bellator cage with Patchy Mix he was the interim Bellator bantamweight champion and just one fight away from winning the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix.
But April 23 was not Stots’ night, in fact, his opponent not only won the grand prix and took his interim title, but he did it with one of the nastiest standing knee at just over one minute of the very first round.
People think I’m just a ground guy, Mix said after the win. I just knocked out 19-1 Raufeon Stots in a minute with my backside knee. I’ve been working that for months. I knew he dipped, and I knew I could catch him.
Josh Emmett vs. Bryce Mitchell – Dec. 16
Some might cry recency bias with this knockout, but we think otherwise. Josh Emmett delivered one of the scariest knockouts in recent memory when he landed a perfectly timed overhand right to drop short notice opponent Bryce Mitchell.
The KO was so brutal that while laying on the canvas Mitchell appeared unresponsive and even appeared to seize.
After the fight Emmett explained how scary the moment really was, I personally haven’t [seen that before]. I don’t know if he was having a seizure or what it was. It all worked out in the end, he said on The MMA Hour. I was just wishing him the best. When I saw that, I was like, ‘Damn, that’s bad.’ Because it was a brutal, brutal knockout, and all I could do was wish him the best and pray he was going to be OK, and he came back to shortly after.
Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje 2 – July 29
Tapology claimed this is the second-best knockout of the year and while we didn’t rank these, we’d say their assessment is pretty spot on. Neither Dustin Poirier or Justin Gaethje are easy to knock out and that’s exactly why they were the two picked to fight for the BMF title which Jorge Masvidal relinquished when he retired.
Fans had expected a five-round slugfest but that’s not what they got. Instead, Gaethje knocked out Poirier with a brutal head kick in the first minute of the second round.
The win was even more sweet since Gaethje was on te losing end of their first meeting.
“This is unlike any other sport on earth, because you barely get a chance at redemption,” Gaethje said after the fight. “We take a loss, we have to sit at home and let it eat away at us. We usually never get that chance. So, to come back and prove myself — I believed in myself the whole time.”
Jesus Pinedo vs. Brendan Loughnane – June 8
If you pay any attention to PFL, you know who Brendan Loughnane is and you probably knew how unbeatable he seemed. But that all changed on June 8 when Loughnane stood in front of PFL newcomer, Jesus Pinedo.
It took just 1:34 for Pinedo to land a knee to the head of Loughnane, knocking him out in the first. Loughnane was eliminated from the season after the loss and Pinedo would go on to win the title and the $1 million prize.
And now he’s the one people think is unbeatable.
