30 of the best MMA knockouts of all time [UPDATED AUGUST 2023]
By Amy Kaplan
23. Dan Henderson snipes Wanderlei Silva
From Pride 33 – Second Coming
The weight of the world was on the shoulders of these two fighters, particularly for Dan Henderson.
Henderson had an opportunity to leave Pride Fighting Championships with both the middleweight and welterweight belts wrapped around his waist. Not only that, it was the second-to-last show that Pride would ever put on. To add on top of that, it was just the second time in the promotion’s history that they would hold a fight in the United States.
The former U.S. Olympic wrestler knew he had to bring it coming into his rematch with Wanderlei Silva. Silva had topped him in seven years prior in 2000 by way of a unanimous decision.
Just as any Henderson or Silva fight, chaos ensued for a majority of the fight. But around the third round, Hendo clipped Silva on the chin with a lightning-quick left hook.
Silva appears as if he was hit by a perfectly placed bullet on the end of his chin, and goes down like a ton of bricks. Henderson jumped on him to finish the job, but there wasn’t any work that needed to be done.
These are obviously two of the toughest dudes to ever grace an MMA arena, whether it’s the ring of Pride or the UFC octagon.