Top 5 knockouts of 2021

Fighters across the UFC, Bellator, and beyond treated MMA fans to many knockouts throughout 2021. A few stood out from the rest.

Here are theScore's top five knockouts of the year:

5. Jiri Prochazka def. Dominick Reyes

Event: UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka
Date: May 1

Prochazka delivered one of the most violent knockouts of 2020 against Volkan Oezdemir, but he somehow topped that one in his pivotal light heavyweight bout with Reyes.

Through the first nine minutes, it was clear the fight wasn't going the distance - they traded big shots and Prochazka hurt Reyes multiple times. The rising contender finally got the finish he wanted toward the end of the second round with a spinning back elbow, scoring the third such knockout in UFC history.

4. Ignacio Bahamondes def. Roosevelt Roberts

Event: UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Gastelum
Date: Aug. 21

Bahamondes and Roberts were seconds away from embracing at the end of their hard-fought, three-round fight. But then all of a sudden, Roberts was out cold on the canvas.

Bahamondes, a native of Chile, landed a spinning wheel kick to shut out his opponent's lights, officially recording the stoppage at 4:55 of Round 3. The finish was as clean as you can get.

3. Kamaru Usman def. Jorge Masvidal

Event: UFC 261
Date: April 24

Usman, the UFC welterweight champion, wanted to make a statement in his rematch with Masvidal after the challenger expressed confidence he'd beat Usman on a full camp.

Well, statement made.

In the second round, "The Nigerian Nightmare" put Masvidal down with a devastating right cross. Masvidal's head tilted sideways, and his sweat in midair was a sight to behold. Usman's finish left no room for "Gamebred" to make excuses this time, and it was especially impressive considering Masvidal had only been knocked out once before in his 50-bout career, back in 2008.

2. Cory Sandhagen def. Frankie Edgar

Event: UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov
Date: Feb. 6

Stiff as a board.

That's one way you could describe Edgar at the end of his bantamweight fight against Sandhagen.

Less than 30 seconds into the contest, Sandhagen landed a picture-perfect flying knee that crumpled the former UFC lightweight champion. This finish will be shown at the beginning of Sandhagen's highlight reel for years to come, and it proved that he's one of the most dangerous fighters in the 135-pound division.

1. Sergio Pettis def. Kyoji Horiguchi

Event: Bellator 272
Date: Dec. 3

Pettis was down three rounds to none against Horiguchi in his first defense of the Bellator bantamweight belt. And he was en route to losing the fourth round, too.

It wasn't looking good for "The Phenom," to say the least. But then the unthinkable happened.

Pettis missed on a head kick as he clinched Horiguchi and moved toward the fence. He used the momentum from the unsuccessful strike to attempt a spinning back fist, and it landed flush on Horiguchi's jaw. The former champion went down, the commentators freaked out, and the referee had no choice but to step in.

There's an argument to be made that Sandhagen's flying knee over Edgar was the more visually appealing knockout. But when you consider that Pettis was losing every minute of the fight before the finish, that this wild of a comeback happened in a title bout, and that he hadn't won by knockout or TKO since 2013, Pettis' spinning back fist over Horiguchi has to be the "Knockout of the Year."

Honorable mentions: Rose Namajunas def. Zhang Weili 1, Emily Ducote def. Danielle Taylor, Lerone Murphy def. Makwan Amirkhani