January of 2017 started out in excellent fashion when it comes to MMA. Just one month into the new year and we’ve seen some crazy knockouts already. But despite the number of knockouts, choosing the best was not hard at all.
On January 21 in the co-main event of Bellator 170 live in Inglewood, California we saw welterweight sluggers Paul Daley and Brennan Ward throw down. The fight was expected to be fireworks, as well as feature some sort of wild finish. But the finish exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward
Welterweight Title-Eliminator
The two had some solid exchanges early, hence why the fight itself got mention on our ‘Fight of the Month’ list. After the two exchanged some shots, as they typically would, Paul Daley exited from a clinch with a spinning back-elbow that landed on Ward. As a result of the elbow, Ward was sent stumbling backward.
Daley almost immediately reacted to stunning Ward by sprinting at him from across the cage before flying through the air with an absolutely devastating knee. The knee connected flush with the side of Ward’s head and he was unconscious before hitting the mat.
Daley is a devastating knockout artist and has always been know as such. But this knockout over Ward might just be the most brutal, as well as most important, of his entire career. This was the easy pick for ‘Knockout of the Month’, but could quite easily be ‘Knockout of the Year’ unless some more absolutely insane stuff happens this year!
The knee did quite the number on Ward’s face, as seen in this twitter photo from USA Today’s Mike Bohn.
Paul Daley's flying knee did a real number on Brennen Ward's face. I'm going to go cry now. pic.twitter.com/ejauEYb6Eg
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) January 22, 2017
Check out the Bellator 170 highlights in full, including the brutal finish to Paul Daley vs. Brennan Ward!
Honorable Mentions
- UFC Denver | Jorge Masvidal def. Donald Cerrone via TKO, punches
- UFC Denver | Francis N’gannou def. Andrei Arlovski via TKO, punches
- CES 41 | Matt Bessette def. Kevin Croom via TKO, knees & headkick
- CES 41 | Keith Bell def. Tyler King via KO, punches
- CES 41 | Kris Moutinho def. Jason Rine via KO, headkick
- Bellator 170 | Chinzo Machida def. Jamar Ocampo via KO, punch
- ACB 52 | Michal Andryszak def. Denis Smoldarev via KO, knees
- UFC Phoenix | Yair Rodriguez def. BJ Penn via TKO, headkick & punches
- UFC Phoenix | Walt Harris def. Chase Sherman via TKO, punches
- Invicta FC 21 | Megan Anderson def. Charmaine Tweet via TKO, headkick
- ACB 51 | Mike Kyle def. Dan Charles via KO, punches
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