Top 10 Global Knockouts of 2014

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Timofey Nastyukhin vs. Eduard Folayang
One FC 23 “Warrior's Way”
Dec. 5 | Manila, Philippines
C.J. Tuttle: One Fighting Championship allows soccer kicks, which makes for some of the nastiest knockouts in MMA. This was the case when Timofey Nastyukhin and Eduard Folayang faced each other at One FC 23: “Warriors Way,” with Nastyukhin nastily finishing Folayang in the first-round.

Coming into the fight, Folayang was the favorite by a “Landslide,” but seemingly out of nowhere, Nastyukhin struck with a flying-knee that dropped his opponent. The Russian followed up immediately with a hammerfist, then added an exclamation point via soccer kick, forcing referee Yuji Shimada to stop the proceedings. With the win, Nastyukhin won his fifth fight in 2014, his eighth consecutive overall.

James Goyder: While the Russian was riding an impressive seven-fight win streak, he hadn’t really beaten anyone of note and the Filipino is one of One FC’s most established lightweights, who was fighting in his homeland. The stage was set for Folayang to register a win which would have taken him to the cusp of a title shot, but Nastyukhin hadn’t read the script. After more than matching the former Universal Reality Combat Championship welterweight king for three minutes he landed a strike which absolutely stunned and silenced the Filipino crowd.

Nastyukhin threw a flying switch knee -- not a technique I find myself describing too often -- which connected clean with the chin of Folayang and dropped him like a stone. A brutal hammerfist and soccer kick finished the job, but it was the knee that did the damage and in a decade of watching MMA, kickboxing and muay Thai, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fighter execute this particular technique so successfully as this one instance. It’s worth noting that Nastyukhin fights from an orthodox stance, he’s not a southpaw, but with the slightest of shuffles he was somehow able to generate enough power to launch his front left knee towards Folayang’s chin with enough power to knock the Filipino flat on his back.

Ian Robinson: This has to be one of the more violent knockouts I've ever seen in the sport. Timofey Nastyukhin lived up to his surname by delivering a nasty, perfectly timed flying knee to Folayang's jaw with a sickening grunt. It's also impressive that the Russian immediately put One FC’s unique rule set so easily, following up the beautiful flying knee with a pair of vicious soccer kicks, rendering the Folayang unconscious in front of his hometown crowd. If savage knockouts are your thing, it doesn't get much better than this, this year or any year.

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