Let’s be honest with each other for a moment: we all love seeing a stunning knockout. It’s honestly the best way a fight could play out in terms of sheer, unilateral satisfaction amongst the fan base. Sure, a competitive scrap is outstanding and a slick submission like the ones we recognized yesterday is terrific, but there is nothing that sends a lightning bolt of excitement through your being than the moment when a finishing blow lands true and the fight you were watching just instantly ends.
Like Leon Edwards said, “Headshot: dead.”
2025 DOTCOM AWARDS: The Newcomers | The Submissions
Here are the ones we liked the most from the past year.
1 – Lerone Murphy spins on Aaron Pico (UFC 319)
If there was one thing Murphy was missing from his case as a top contender in the featherweight division, it was a signature finish that could serve as the focus of his sizzle reel for the promotional video hyping his championship opportunity.
And then he went out and manufactured that highlight, doing it in the biggest spot of his career, against an opponent that came into the fight commanding the lion’s share of the attention.
(Watch Full Fight on UFC Fight Pass)
Pico was a blue-chip prospect as a teenager and after some early struggles as a pro, he’d put together a quality run under the Bellator MMA banner before signing with the UFC. He was instantly being discussed as a potential title challenger for 2-time champ Alexander Volkanovski. Murphy, despite entering their UFC 319 clash on an 8-fight winning streak and with an unbeaten 8-0-1 mark in the Octagon — not to mention a 17-0-1 record overall — was viewed as a great technical fighter who too-often won solid, but unspectacular decisions.
Through the first three minutes of the contest, it was a competitive fight with both men staying true to who they are. Murphy utilizing technically sound striking, solid footwork and good defensive skills to keep himself upright, and Pico mixing his clean boxing with forward pressure and peaks at getting the fight to the canvas. But as Pico offered a little shake step and came forward, Murphy spun and put his right elbow in the center of his forehead, ending the fight in the blink of an eye.
WHAT A KNOCKOUT 🤯@LeroneMurphy just delivered a crazy spinning elbow KO! #UFC319 pic.twitter.com/bMQe5bMTrB
— UFC (@ufc) August 17, 2025
Here’s a little peak behind the voting curtain for you: this knockout didn’t receive the most first-place votes amongst this group; it was one of four fights that earned a single first-place nod, while the silver medalist scored three votes for top spot. Five folks had it as the second-best knockout of the year though, which then carried it to the top of the heap.
2 – Mauricio Ruffy drops King Green by channeling Edson Barboza (UFC 313)
Ruffy’s finish of Green garnered the most first-place votes but landed further down the ballot for a few others, resulting in the Brazilian having to settle for the second-best knockout of 2025.
What makes this finish so phenomenal is the sequence that led to the finish. Through the first minute of the contest, Ruffy and Green just pawed at one another; hand low, shots fired, but few really getting home. A couple seconds later, Ruffy connected with a right hand down the pipe that prompted the veteran to straighten up and lock in a little more.
(Watch Full Fight on UFC Fight Pass)
But the little touch that really makes this spinning wheel kick exquisite is the subtle feint of a left hook Ruffy puts out there that got a slight reaction from Green and opened the door for him to spin and connect, felling the divisional stalwart.
This was the prettiest spinning wheel kick knockout since Edson Barboza’s famous starching of Terry Etim at UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro, which lives on in the “Baba O’Reilly” montage and countless knockout compilations. Ruffy landed perfectly and Green went down in a heap, face-first, leaving everyone on the broadcast shouting in amazement.
3 – Carlos Prates bounces back by blasting Geoff Neal (UFC 319)
In the immediate wake of Murphy flattening Pico in Chicago, Daniel Cormier marvels on the broadcast, “Two spinning back elbows in one night… WOW!” This was the other first of that pair.
Prates entered this one in an interesting place having suffered his first loss in the UFC in his previous appearance against Ian Machado Garry, but he closed out that contest taking it to the brash Irishman. Each of his previous four UFC bouts ended in the first round, and now there was a little “well how good is he really?” swirling around in the air. Neal was a great dance partner for the situation: a durable and dangerous veteran who had fought both Machado Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov tough while carving out a residency in the Top 10 of the welterweight division.
(Watch Full Fight on UFC Fight Pass)
It was competitive for the first four minutes. Prates attacked with low kicks and his typically varied striking, while Neal countered with boxing before the Fighting Nerds representative started to build momentum in the final minute. Neal clinched, and Prates started jawing at him about looking to wrestle, hitting him with a clean 2-piece when they broke into space with 20 seconds left in the round.
As Neal came forward, Prates banged his lead leg again. The next time in, it was a lead left elbow that caught the forearms. As Neal reset and began to step forward one last time, Prates spun and hit him straight in temple with a back elbow that put “The Nightmare” back in the win column and left the Fortis MMA man leaking on the canvas.
4 – Ilia Topuria claims lightweight gold (UFC 317)
This was just too clean.
Topuria might genuinely be the most skilled fighter on the planet at the moment, and the wild thing is that we very seldom see his grappling abilities because “El Matador” has such brilliant hands and crushing power. As is the case any time a fighter ventures up in weight, people rightfully wondered how his weapons would translate moving from featherweight to lightweight, where he faced Charles Oliveira for the vacant title in the main event of UFC 317.
The answer: they transferred quite well, thank you very much
The duo traded shots right out of the gates, with Topuria cutting Oliveira almost immediately, prompting the Brazilian to clinch and look to grapple. Topuria ended up on top when the two fell to the canvas, where he quickly worked to a mounted crucifix position without any real struggle. He didn’t stay there long and was quick to wriggle free when Oliveira started hunting for a leg, eventually allowing “Do Bronxs” to return to his feet.
(Watch Full Fight on UFC Fight Pass)
Topuria continued to land hard and Oliveira continued to try to close the distance and clinch, clearly not a fan of the power coming his way and keen to make this more of a close-quarters affair. But Topuria wasn’t having any of it, and as Oliveira stepped towards him just prior to the midway point of the opening round, a combination of hooks landed so quick, so clean, that the second blow wasn’t even really needed; the Brazilian was out on the first shot.
“How good is that dude?” Joe Rogan asked on the broadcast, answering the question in unison with DC, both rightfully singing the 2-division champion’s praises. In a different year, this takes home top honors, but this year, it didn’t even make the podium.
What a year it has been!
5 – Quillan Salkilld turns out the lights on Nasrat Haqparast (UFC 321)
When putting together our look at the newcomers that stole the show in 2025 earlier this awards season, I mentioned that what carried Salkilld from outside of the Top 5 at the midway point of the year to the top of the heap was his performance against Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi. Well, that performance also landed the Perth man a place in the Top 5 knockouts of the year too.
Not bad, rook!
(Watch Full Fight on UFC Fight Pass)
We’ve seen a few of these finishes in the last couple years — and saw a couple more down the stretch of this year too — but what makes Salkilld’s finish stand out is that it was so clean and so unexpected. Half-a-round in, the lightweights were still just starting to get a sense of each other, neither man really seizing control of the fight and then BLAMMO!
Shin. Temple. Goodnight.
While he had thrown kicks throughout the fight, they were front kicks or rear-leg round kicks to the body and lead leg. And then, without any setup or any tell, Salkilld went high and Haqparast went down like someone had just flipped off his power switch, which, you know, is pretty much what happened.
Three wins, two finishes, top newcomer and a Top 5 Knockout of the Year? Quill had quite the debut campaign, and like everyone else, I can’t wait to see what he does for an encore in 2026.
Others Receiving Votes: Elijah Smith, JooSang Yoo, Bo Nickal, Nazim Sadykhov, Kevin Vallejos
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