The Best MMA Knockouts and Submissions From 2016 to 2025

Mixed martial arts has never been shy about brutality, but the sheer volume of finishes across the last decade deserves more than a quick scroll through mma highlights reels. According to FightMatrix, the UFC alone produced 153 knockouts or technical knockouts in 2016, followed by 145 in 2017, 151 in 2018, and 152 in 2019. For fans who track everything about betting in Netherlands, those finishing rates carry real weight when it comes to predicting how fights end. The numbers dipped slightly to 142 in 2020, a year compressed by the pandemic, then climbed again, reaching 170 in 2021, 180 in 2022, and 169 in 2023. The 2025 full-year figure landed at 181 knockouts or TKOs alongside 96 submissions, making it one of the most violent and spectacular years in ufc core history.

The volume tells one story. The specific moments tell another entirely.

The 2025 Knockout Conversation

Ilia Topuria's knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 was the kind of finish that splits the mma fight center community clean in half: those who saw it live and those who wish they had. Charles oliveira, one of the most decorated submission artists the sport has ever produced, was stopped on the feet, which says something about Topuria's power at lightweight. That finish earned a knockout of the year nomination from the MMA Fighting awards panel.

Killen Salkeld's head kick knockout of Nazareno Haqparast at UFC 321 in October also made that top-five list. Head kicks that land flush carry a specific horror, and this one apparently delivered. Lerone Murphy's knockout of Aaron Pico at UFC 319 was another nominee, as was Mauricio Rua's finish of King Green at UFC 313. Rua, a veteran who once defined the era of pride fc fighters in terms of ferocity and forward pressure, still finding ways to end fights cleanly is a story by itself.

Mauricio Hufi's knockout of Bobby Green was described by one panel member simply as "knockout of the year," no qualifications attached. Walter Arculeta's flying knee finish of Dennis Linton at Barroca 3 in June was tied by the same panel with Jiri Prochazka's knockout of Cleo Rountree at UFC 320 as the most visually striking finish of the year's second half. Elijah Smith's slam knockout of Toshi Kazama, meanwhile, was called one of the most horrifying knockouts in recent memory. Slam KOs belong in a separate category of awful, and this one apparently earned that description.

Sergio Pettis's spinning elbow knockout of Magomed Magomedov at PFL Dubai rounded out the nominee field. A spinning elbow landing clean at the highest level of full mma fights competition is rare enough that it almost feels fictional when it happens.

Submissions That Rewrote the Record Books

Cageside Press named Jean Silva's ninja choke on Bryce Mitchell as its MMA Submission of the Year for 2025. The write-up described it as "a chaotic scramble turned into an instant, lights-out finish with a level of precision only a handful of fighters in the world can replicate." That is not overstatement. A ninja choke, applied with that kind of speed out of scrambling chaos, is the sort of technique that makes mma versus wrestling debates seem quaint.

Merab Dvalishvili's submission of Sean O'Malley at UFC 316 carried historical weight on top of the technical achievement. According to Cageside Press, Dvalishvili became the first fighter to submit O'Malley in the UFC, ending their rivalry in what the outlet called emphatic fashion. That kind of milestone belongs in the permanent record.

Costello Van Steenis submitted Johnny Eblen with nine seconds remaining in round five of a fight he was losing on the cards. There is no clean way to frame that finish except as one of the most dramatic reversals in recent memory. The MMA Fighting panel called it their submission of the year. Sean Brady's submission win over Leon Edwards at UFC London and Kayla Harrison's submission of Julianna Peña at UFC 316 added further depth to what was a stacked year for ground finishes. Valter Walker's run of three consecutive heel hook submission victories across 2025 was also singled out by the MMA Fighting panel as a technical highlight worth tracking.

The Fights That Defined the Year Beyond Finishes

Not every fight that mattered in 2025 ended early. UFC.com ranked Joshua Van versus Brandon Royval at UFC 317 as its fight of the year, calling it the clear favorite in that category. Jack Della Maddalena versus Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 was described as a thrilling contest that crowned a new welterweight champion. The bout at UFC 323 described informally as "Iwo and Ibo Go Wild" was characterized by UFC.com as possibly "the most exhilarating 90-second fight in UFC history." That framing alone, regardless of the outcome, puts it in a separate drawer from anything resembling a normal mma core highlight.

Fights like strickland vs chimaev, which generated enormous attention in the lead-up to 2025's busiest stretch of cards, remind you that the promotional machinery and the actual violence inside the cage operate on completely different frequencies. The numbers are enormous, the moments are singular, and 2025 delivered both in unusual concentration.