Yair Rodríguez owns the ultimate Hail Mary finish (Video)

The UFC returns to Denver, Colorado for the eighth time on July 13, but it will be hard to live up to the last time the Octagon was in the Mile High City. Fans in the Pepsi Center on the night of November 10, 2018, were in attendance for one of the most startling finishes in UFC history. We've all seen the clip of Yair Rodriguez's no-look buzzer-beater elbow knockout of "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung, here is the story behind that incredible highlight.

After amassing a 5-1 record on the Mexican regional MMA scene, Rodríguez made his way to the UFC by winning The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America. He quickly established himself as a featherweight to watch. Not only was he defeating fighters the caliber of Dan Hooker, Andre Fili, Alex Caceres, and former two-division champion B.J. Penn, but he was doing so in spectacular fashion. Rodríguez earned performance bonuses in four of his first five fights in the UFC. All of his momentum came to a screeching halt when he met former champion Frankie Edgar.

Rodríguez had showcased a kick-heavy striking game and slick jiu-jitsu up until that point in his career. To counter that, Edgar used his trademark pace and wrestling to drag Rodríguez into deep waters. Once there, he drowned him. Rodríguez was exhausted, his left eye swollen completely shut, when the cage side physician mercifully called a stop to the action in between the second and third rounds. Had Edgar exposed a flaw in Rodríguez's game? Was relentless pressure and smothering grappling the blueprint to victory for his opponents? How would the young prospect respond after being overwhelmed in the biggest fight of his career? These were the questions that Rodríguez would need to answer the next time he stepped into the Octagon.

Jung, or more so his nickname, became a household name when he had a fight for the ages with Leonard Garcia on Spike TV as part of the undercard of WEC 48. Soon after, the WEC and its fighters were absorbed into the UFC. In his first three fights under the UFC banner, Jung earned four performance bonuses. Needless to say, he was an instant fan favorite. After back-to-back victories over Mark Hominick and Dustin Poirier, Jung earned a title shot against José Aldo. After losing the fight to Aldo, Jung would put his career on hold to fulfill his mandatory military service in his home country of South Korea.

Watch Yair Rodríguez's finish of The Korean Zombie at UFC Denver

After returning from the more than three-year hiatus and earning a knockout of Dennis Bermudez, Jung was scheduled to fight Edgar in the main event for the UFC's 25th anniversary event, a return to Denver. Edgar was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury and in a twist of fate, Rodríguez was announced as his replacement. He would get a chance to answer the questions that had lingered since that loss to Edgar.

Rodríguez immediately started attacking the lead calf of Jung. Just under two minutes into the opening round, Jung scored his first significant shots of the fight with a flurry of uppercuts from the clinch. The round continued with Jung standing in front of Rodríguez and the fight taking place at a boxing range. Round two started similar to the first with both fighters attacking the other's legs. Around a minute into the round, Jung initiated the clinch to start wearing on the gas tank of his opponent. An errant knee to the groin brought a pause to the action.

When the fight resumed, Jung rushed Rodríguez and in a bit of foreshadowing, Rodríguez caught Jung with an elbow. As the round continued, Rodríguez started to find his rhythm, unleashing some of the flashy techniques that he was known for. Throughout round three, Jung pressed forward, finding his range with a crisp jab and powerful right hand. By the end of the round, Rodríguez's nose was bloodied.

Rodríguez was moving noticeably slower as the fourth round began and it seemed that the pressure of Jung was starting to wear on his opponent. Just passed the halfway point of the round, Jung connected with a clean right hand that wobbled Rodríguez. The momentum of the fight was firmly on Jung's side. In between rounds, it appeared that Jung was the far fresher fighter. MMA fans were wondering would Rodríguez succumb to Jung's pressure as he had against Edgar.

Rodríguez answered that question early in the round, attacking Jung with a variety of kicks and even attempting a takedown of his own. With just under two and a half minutes left in the fight, both men took a quick breather before continuing the slugfest that the fight had turned into. In the final minute of the fight, both men moved forward unleashing a barrage of punches.

At the 12-second mark, both men collected themselves once more, hands in the air with the fans showing their full appreciation for the fight they were witnessing. The story was already written, Rodríguez and Jung had engaged in an all-time great fight as the main event of the UFC's 25th anniversary in the city where the organization had begun. Both fighters had their moments and regardless of how the judges saw the fight either man had a claim to victory. Then, in the blink of an eye, those judges were no longer needed.

Jung rushed forward throwing punches, Rodríguez ducked and as the final horn sounded, Jung collapsed motionless to the canvas. Most watching live had no idea what happened. Paul Felder, who was on commentary, thought that Rodríguez had inadvertently headbutted Jung. Replay would show that as Rodríguez ducked he fired a backwards elbow that knocked Jung unconscious.

Officially, the knockout occurred at the 4:59 second mark of the fifth round, the latest a knockout had occurred in the history of the UFC, a mark that Max Holloway would later tie at UFC 300. Remember the judges who Rodríguez rendered unnecessary? It was later disclosed that two of the three had Jung winning the fight. It truly was the ultimate Hail Mary victory for Rodríguez, a literal last-second knockout in a fight that he would lose if just one more second ticked off the clock.

Anything can happen in mixed martial arts. A fight can go from being a hard-fought war that leaves the difficult task of deciding a winner to the judges to an improbable come-from-behind knockout in the blink of an eye. Fights like these and the stories behind them are the reason MMA is the best sport on Earth.