5. Vitor Belfort: 7 T(KO)s In 26 UFC Fights
In an MMA career spanning two decades, Belfort produced more knockout victories than any other fighter in the UFC. But he also suffered many defeats due to strikes as well. Belfort instantly made a name for himself by winning UFC 12’s heavyweight tournament in 1997. But the following year, he’d taste defeat by TKO for the first time at the hands of Randy Couture.
After a spell fighting in Japan, Belfort returned and won the 205-pound title in 2004 by avenging his loss to Couture. He was then TKO’d again by ‘The Natural’ in their trilogy fight. After another long period away from the UFC, Belfort made a comeback. In 2011, he had a blockbuster 185-pound title fight with Anderson Silva, who would famously KO him with a front kick. It would be four years later until ‘The Phenom’ again lost to strikes, this time being TKO’d by Chris Weidman in the first round of their title fight.
All his wars were now catching up to the aging Belfort. Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza and Gegard Mousasi both TKO’d him in successive fights. It’s worth noting that we’re not including another TKO loss to Kelvin Gastelum due to that being later amended to a no-contest. But Belfort’s career would come to an end a year later when Lyoto Machida knocked him out with another front kick.
