On June 6, 2020, UFC bantamweight contender, Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt, 12W 3L, delivered the most exciting knockout this year, at UFC 250 against a very durable opponent in Raphael Assunção, 27W 8L. Garbrandt was coming off a 3 fight losing streak, however this time, when ‘No Love’ showed up, he made sure to leave his feelings behind. Stayed calm, composed from round to round, looking faster and sharper than ever before. Assunção was a step behind the entire fight until a few seconds before the end of the 2nd round. Garbrandt had his back towards the cage with Assunção standing right in front of him. As Assunção started to measure, Garbrandt hunched down, winded his power hand behind his body, and waited. Garbrandt then swings that same hand torqued with a “waited wind-up”; such a powerful swing that landed clean on Assunçãohis chin forcing him to fall over on his face. I yelled in shock and disturbed my neighbors after seeing such a collision. The sound of Garbrandt’s fist connecting echoed across the arena. It was one of the most devastating knockouts because no one saw it coming especially Assunção! Cody’s movement was fluid like water as it made contact to Assunção face like the Big Bang Theory . It was a beautiful martial arts display, the way he swung his fist from behind his body swinging at the hip. The technique was similar to something I’ve seen practitioners doing in the Chinese martial art Sanda (散打) a/k/a Chinese Boxing. We still have ways to go, however I won’t be surprised if this is the winning candidate for knockout of the year, 2020.
MMA Frequency 