Top 10 Global Knockouts of 2014

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Tetsuo Ishitsuna vs. Takayuki Komazawa
Grandslam MMA “Way of the Cage”
July 13 | Tokyo
Mike Fridley: Step right up to this little known fact: Tetsuo Ishitsuna set a strength record on the High Striker at the 37th annual Nerima-ku Carnival Games. OK, I’m kidding you, but check out my man’s technique as he swings the giant hammer on a helpless Takayuki Komazawa.

Ian Robinson: As a self-confessed combat sports degenerate, I'll pretty much watch anything you put in front of me. When I was forwarded a link to something called Grandslam MMA at two in the morning, of course I was going to watch it. What followed one of the the most violent streaks of finishes I've observed in the sport: six of the next seven fights ended with a brutal knockout, including one punch KO's, knees, people falling off cages. It was a chaotic 60 minutes. Ishitsuna's horrific slam knockout was the first fight I saw on the broadcast, ensuring I wasn't going anywhere. Quinton Jackson would be proud.

Jordan Breen: Slam KO's of this magnitude and visual splendour are so rare in MMA. Most knockouts that results from slams and throws feature some sort of botched landing, where the defending (or in some cases, the attacking) fighter hits their head in an awkward way off of the mat, often not allowing their neck to recoil. However, the powerbomb knockout is something else entirely, straight out of a pro-wrestling script. Not unlike pro-wrestling, a crippling powerbomb slam needs a little help, too.

Unless you're Wes Sims picking up a dude half your size from a gutwrench and tossing him Kevin Nash-style as he did to Edwin Allseitz back in the day, your opponent needs to make a series of unfortunate mistakes to permit you to hit a death slam. First, they've got to throw up an armbar or triangle, something with their legs that you can actually use to support their weight. Secondly, they have to not hook through your leg, a common offensive measure to control and sweep the opponent, as well as prevent brain trauma like this. Third and most incredibly, they need to not let go when you go nuclear and elevate them into the rafters. Takayuki Komazawa made all of those mistakes, which is unfortunate for him, but a boon for us gross folks who love a knockout so over-the-top it's got more in common with “sports entertainment.”

Also, not to be the lamest dude on the block, but I'm not sure whether to be more amused that the victim's surname offers easy wordplay with “coma” or the fact that the year's most stupendous slam knockout was on a show promoted by “Grandslam MMA.” This sport will just put a smile on your sick face sometimes.

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