No.1: Yair Rodriguez vs. Korean Zombie
This fight not only had the most spectacular finish of the year, but was also arguably as good of a fight as was seen in the Octagon in 2018 too.
For virtually 25 minutes Rodriguez and Jung did everything they could to relieve their opponent of their senses, and both were rocked at times by big shots and had to dig deep to stay in the fight.
By the fifth round lesser fighters would have long-since thrown in the towel, but not these two warriors, as even though their weary limbs, battered bodies and pounding hearts begged for mercy, that was overridden by their instinctual urge to fight on until the bitter end in search of a finish.
However, as the final 10 seconds of the fight approached it seemed as if the fight was destined to go to the judges scorecards after all, but just then The Korean Zombie stole himself for one final assault and charged forward firing heavy leather.
In response, Rodriguez then did something remarkable, ducking down to avoid an incoming bomb and then launching an upward elbow toward the ceiling that with incredible accuracy and timing connected cleanly to his opponent’s chin, brutally knocking him out and leaving him face down on the floor with just a single second remaining.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, up there with the best knockouts of all-time, and as such it was fitting that it closed out the UFC’s 25th anniversary show in Denver, Colorado where their first ever event took place back in November of 1993.
