Watch the 15 Most Brutal Knockouts of 2016

Get punchy with the best MMA and boxing brain-rattlers of the year.

Adam K. Raymond

Dec 23, 2016

In MMA there are three ways a fight can end. In boxing there are two. In both, the knockout is king.

It’s hard to say why. Maybe it’s the sheer dominance on display when one warrior puts another to sleep with his fists or feet. Maybe it’s the violent surprise of a lights-out strike that, in an instant, brings everything to a halt. Or maybe we just like to see people get hurt.

In truth, it doesn’t matter why we like knockouts, only that we do. And that at the end of the year we can look back and watch all of our favorites over again.

So with that, here’s this: 15 knockouts from 2016 that hurt just to watch.

1. Canelo Alvaez KOs Amir Kahn