To be the greatest, you have to take chances. To be remembered, you have to risk it all. Unfortunately, just as in life, in the sport of mixed martial arts things do not always go as one planned.

Mixed martial arts is a unique sport, with a set of rules that puts so few restrictions on the techniques that the competitors involved are allowed to innovate. Many times a fighter will be inclined to make a high risk, high reward maneuver. Taking such a risk can sometimes lead to highlight reel immortality in the form of a once in a lifetime knockout. Sometimes the knockout fails to materialize and a fighter is able to recover from his or her momentary lapse. Other times it may put that same fighter on the wrong side of the highlight reel, waking up trying to remember what just happened.

One such high risk strike is the flying knee. Who could forget a confident Andrei Arlovski outboxing The Last Emperor Fedor Emelianenko for three minutes, before taking a chance on a flying knee that would leave him open to a crushing overhand right hand that would end his night?

There is also incredible risk involved to a fighter who chooses to throw what Nick Diaz has so eloquently dubbed spinning $#!^. Emanuel Newton has found success multiple times with his spinning back fist. And Denis Siver was able to put his spinning back kick in the belly of many a foe. But for every one of them, there are many fighters like Chael Sonnen, who threw a poorly times spinning back fist that would spell the beginning of the end in his match against Anderson The Spider Silva.

Despite the inherent risks of some high impact strikes, many fighters are more than willing to take that risk for their chance at glory, even if it means their failure lands them on a low-light reel such as this one.