You would be surprised how many knockouts happen a mere minute into the fight, let alone even just 30 seconds into the first round. That is what led me to this challenge – to create a countdown list of the true fastest knockouts in MMA, the kind that end in under 15 seconds. I did not just want fast, I wanted so quick that if you blink or turn away, you completely missed it. That is what led me to make this list of the best knockouts that happened in less than fifteen seconds!

Sure, I could have done a top ten fastest knockouts, but let’s get real. Every MMA site out there has one of those these days, and that is all well and good, but I wanted a challenge. I wanted to find the real fastest knockouts that were legit and convincing, and not flash KO’s! These are the kind that makes heads spin, both literally and figuratively.

This list is not ordered by awesomeness, but by overall time of the bout. In other words, as the rankings get lower, so too do the times in the fights. Enough explanatory text, let’s get started on this journey of ten of the best knockouts to happen in under 15 seconds!

10. Igor Vovchanchyn VS Nick Nutter – 14 seconds

Igor Vovchanchyn was truly a knockout artist in the golden days of international MMA. Despite his squat, doughy appearance, the kickboxer from Ukraine has won multiple bare-knuckle one-night tournaments in Europe, and 29 of his 54 wins are by knockout (46 of those 54 wins were all finishes). At the World Vale Tudo Championship 5, Igor once again made it into the finals, this time meeting Nick Nutter in a rematch from another event they had both competed in. The first time they met, it took an exhausting 24:42 to finally put down Nick. This time, a mere 14 seconds was all Vovchanchyn needed.

Three months earlier to this tournament in 1998, Igor won the Absolute Fighting Championship III Tournament Title (where Igor and Nick fought before), and a few months before that won the AFC Russian Open Cup 3 tournament, so the dude is pretty hardcore to say the least having spent the majority of his early career in one-night tournaments. Igor also has a five second knockout (via uppercut) credited to his name against Oleg Tischenko at DNRF: Ukrainian Octagon in 1996, which was an eight-man, one-night tournament that Igor won as well (but could find no video of sadly).

9. Gary Goodridge VS Paul Herrera – 13 seconds

Pre-Zuffa UFC gave us many quick finishes, be they knockouts or submissions. Guys like Jens Pulver, Mark Weir, Tank Abbott and Frank Shamrock cracked skulls back in those days with the efficiency of an assembly line, but before they all made their octagon debuts, one man left an indelible mark on the sport with a knockout so fast and brutal that no one has really matched it.

At the UFC’s debut in Puerto Rico for UFC 8 (the David VS Goliath tournament), Goodridge stepped into the cage wearing his black kuk sool won gi, and it took him more time to tie his belt than it did to destroy his opponent. The victim was wrestler Paul Herrera, and the endgame was a torrent of elbows that Herrera’s trapped arms could not defend. Not to be outdone, Don Frye also made his UFC debut here with an eight-second knockout over Thomas Ramirez, but it was nowhere near as devastating as Goodridge’s KO.

8. Kimbo Slice VS Seth Petruzelli – 11 seconds

Ah, Elite XC! I look back fondly on you. You gave us an alternative product to watch, it was just unfortunate that it focused on “the face of women’s MMA” and “The Youtube Sensation”, and the latter is who we will talk about here.

In what would become Elite XC’s final show ever in 2008, Ken Shamrock was getting ready to meet Kimbo Slice in the main event. However, in a bizarre twist of fate, Shamrock got a cut during his warm-up and had to back out at the very last minute. The company scrambled to find a replacement, and decided to promote one of the undercard fighters, Seth Petruzelli, into the spotlight. Kimbo was none too happy, but coped with it much better once he gained an increase in his fight purse.

The show was saved, Kimbo got another knockout, fans continued to throw their bras and TapouT shirts at him, and Elite XC overtook the UFC as the leading MMA promotion… oh wait, that didn’t happen. Petruzelli decided to write his own chapter in the history books, and knocked out Kimbo in eleven seconds of the first round, ruining all of Elite XC’s hard work and essentially putting the nail in the coffin of the organization. Not many fighters on this list, and in MMA as a whole, can say they killed a company, but Petruzelli can proudly tell his grand kids he did.

7. BJ Penn VS Caol Uno – 11 seconds

This one is classic and definitely one of the best knockouts ever. At UFC 34: High Voltage, Penn met Uno in a match to determine the number one contender for Jens Pulver’s lightweight title. Most fans expected to see a back and forth grappling show between two evenly matched competitors. Penn threw caution to the wind and instead laid the smack down on Uno, unleashing a barrage of punches that sent Uno into a long sleep.

The real craziness happened after as Penn fled the octagon, running backstage and freaking out. It took Maurice Smith to drag him back out to have his hand raised as the winner. Penn got his shot at the belt, but did not win it on his first time around but would finally claim it in 2004, while Uno has yet to taste gold in his storied career.

6. Tim Sylvia VS Ray Mercer – 10 seconds

After his departure from the UFC, Tim Sylvia took fights wherever he could, for better or for worse. Deciding to expand his trade, the former UFC champ challenged former boxing champion Ray Mercer to a straight-up boxing match. On last minute notice, the local commission decided against regulating them in a boxing match, and Mercer agreed to fight Sylvia under MMA rules (since this the commission was okay with).

The show went on as planned with the two heavyweight facing each other in an MMA match, but everything else fell apart as Mercer lived up to his reputation and collapsed the gigantic Sylvia in a paltry 10 seconds. The last laugh goes to Tim, who has continued to have a career while Mercer ducked Ron Sparks (by duck, I mean went missing) at King of The Cage last year and has since retired.

5. Jose Aldo VS Cub Swanson – 8 seconds

WEC 41 saw Mike Brown defeat Urijah Faber for a second time to defend his featherweight championship, and Jens Pulver continue his horrible losing streak against Josh Grispi. Most fans forgot about those matches, as they were instead blown away by another phenomenal performance from Jose Aldo.

Going into this match, Swanson was 13-2, his losses coming from his 2004 debut and again three years later to Jens Pulver, who was actually still doing pretty good (oddly enough, that would be Pulver’s last win until 2011). Aldo was undefeated thus far in the WEC, and knew this fight would lead him into the title scene. I don’t need to tell you what happened next in this fight, but you should watch it anyway just to enjoy how spectacular it was.

This knockout could have actually been six seconds except that referee Steve Mazzigatti hesitated, which Aldo also spotted and continued to pound Swanson until Mazzigatti was totally sure he was suffering from brain damage.

4. Takanori Gomi VS Ralph Gracie – 6 seconds

Takanori Gomi vs Ralph Gracie by nunoda

Ralph Gracie earned his nickname “The Pitbull” due to his aggressive nature and mastery of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It might have also been because he resembled one. Whatever it was, Gracie made his Japanese MMA debut at Pride Bushido 3 against Takanori Gomi in 2004.

The pair had an intense staredown that would make Wanderlei Silva uncomfortable, as Gracie paced back and forth in his fighting stance and refusing to touch gloves with his opponent. Gracie rushed in to look for a takedown in the opeining seconds, but all he ended up with was a well-timed knee to the face that dropped him to the mat. After a few knees to the head on the ground (Pride, how I miss thee), the ref stepped in to end this massacre and give Gomi one of his best highlight reel moments.
This knockout is also the fastest in the history of Pride FC, which brings us to another record setter in MMA… well, sort of.

3. Duane Ludwig VS Jonathan Goulet – 4 seconds

It’s story time, so grab a Hot Pocket and put your pants back on. At UFC Fight Night 3 in 2006, Jonathan Goulet made his UFC debut after going on a ten-fight win-streak in Canada’s TKO promotion. His opponent was Duane Ludwig, who had not been in the octagon since his UFC debut in 2003, a dominant win over Genki Sudo. What happened next as these two strikers collided was nothing short of magical, if I may quote Bjorn Rebney for a moment.

Ludwig ended Goulet’s streak with a pair of straights, but referee Mario Yamasaki seemed a bit confused by it as he runs over to stop the fight and hesitates. Due to that wee pause, the NSAC ruled that the fight took 11 seconds to finish, even though the original time was four seconds.

Todd Duffee later took the official knockout record with his seven second win over Tim Hauge, but in the eyes of hardcore fans, Ludwig and Goulet still hold the proper record.

2. Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto VS Kazuyuki Miyata – 4 seconds

That one being the record for fastest knockout in K-1 Heroes, which belongs to “KID” Yamamoto. Unlike Gomi’s fight, this time it is the man who wins that rushes in blindly, only this time he nails it and ends the fight before his opponent is even out of his corner. From the look of how this turned out, I would say the referee did not even realize this was over yet!

You would assume that Yamamoto’s amazing four second knockout would be the fastest ever in the history of the sport. Well, he was close… but he missed it by one second.

1. Chris Clements vs Lautaro Tucas – 3 seconds

From TKO 25 in 2006, I present to you the destruction of Lautaro Tucas. Tucas never fought again after this decapitation, while Clements has continued claiming knockouts throughout his career. Fatality? I would say a big fat yes. There have been a few other knockouts in this short time span, but none looked as rough as this one!

Honorable Mention: Hector Lombard VS Jay Silva – 6 seconds

Hector Lombard is not human. The man has 32 wins and 2 losses, and is currently riding a 21-fight win streak that began in 2007. Lombard won the first Bellator middleweight title and returned a year later at Bellator 18, but not to defend his belt.
Instead, he met Jay Silva, who had just gone 0-2 in the UFC, in a catchweight bout of 190 lbs., despite both fighting at middleweight. For whatever reason, the two fought out of their weight classes, and showed us what could happen if Lombard ever decided to move up to light heavyweight. Lombard currently holds the fastest knockout in the short history of Bellator FC, and I wish all of their fighter’s good luck in trying to top that.

And lastly, another honorable mention goes to Ben Syers over Bob Ascolillo from Evolution Fighting Championship . Syers stopped this fight with a single punch that left his opponent so dazed that he attacked the ref after the match was halted, thinking it was Syers! The reason I did not include it in the countdown was because this was contested under amateur rules, but it is still sick and I fear for the day that Syers turns pro and uses those wrecking balls of fists for his ground and pound!

There are a ton of other fights that ended in this short time span, and they are all equally impressive, so excuse me if I missed some of your favorites. To make up for it, here is a highlight video with most of them to placate even the most volatile troll! Enjoy and happy headhunting!

Matthew Kaplowitz is the editor of TheFightNerd.com and a featured columnist for MMA Worldwide and TapouT Magazine.

Let me just say that I love Butterbean! I am not just saying that because he could easily overpower me, roll me into a ball, dribble me on the floor and throw me through a basketball hoop like a Warner Bros. cartoon, I say it because I genuinely like the man, and there is nothing to not like about his larger than life personality. Also, I hugged him once and it was like squeezing one of those bean bag chairs. With that introduction, it’s time to contradict myself and give you the top ten saddest Butterbean moments!

So what qualifies as a sad Butterbean moment? Is it just losing an MMA fight? No, not entirely. All fighters eventually lose, so it comes down to how you play the game. However, this list is not just MMA fights. Oh no, there is more to the life of Eric Esch than just fighting. Now that I got your attention (and if not, screw you), let’s take a look at the first one atop this lofty countdown.

10. National Anthem Fail

This is the one of the more recent of the saddest moments on this list and is easily the most well-known, which is why it’s number ten. Back at KSW 14 in Lodz, Poland, Butterbean clashed with “The World’s Strongest Man”, Mariusz Pudzianowski ( a name you will see a few more times on this list, and who I blame him for the decline of Butterbean). Bean did not do too well in the fight but the real kicker was this failed attempt to sing the American national anthem.

We all know Butterbean is a very patriotic combatant (his American flag shorts tell the whole story), so when the Polish singer attempts to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”, he quickly remember that he only knows the first few lyrics. He tries to save himself by mumbling the previous lines and hitting some very nice sounding but erroneous high notes, before just giving up and quietly retreating to the backstage, never to be seen again. Butterbean’s face says it all in this one. “What the heck am I doing here? Ah, screw it, I got my paycheck.”

Hit the jump for nine more of the saddest moments involving the enormous man nicknamed Butterbean!

9. The Bean goes sumo against Bob Sapp

Entering to “Sweet Home Alabama”, Butterbean does his best job to look comfortable in his mawashi on top of ill-fitting bike shorts. Most of the match is really just the entrance, as Bob “The Beast” Sapp tosses The Bean right out of the ring, not even able to gain any leverage when he hits the giant foam post. Not much to say here except enjoy the freak show? Speaking of Sapp, he will be getting his own list too, but man, that guy has way too many sad moments for just one list! It’s Sapp time!

8. Butterbean KO’s Bart Gunn at Wrestlemania

This is actually not a sad moment for Butterbean per se, but more for WWE (who at the time was still WWF). For months, WWE had been hyping their “Brawl for All” tournament, a bizarre attempt to cash in on the popularity of the budding UFC. Originally a toughman competition with punches, kicks and takedowns allowed (but nothing else), the stunt was quickly headed for failure as these matches were actually for real in the beginning, with many wrestlers being injured along the way. To make it worse, fans hated the matches and booed during most of them. UFC veteran Dan Severn competed in the first round of this tournament, quitting after his victory due to confusion over the rules and how generally stupid the concept was.

WWE tried to salvage it by adding some storyline to the matches, but it was still crap. More bad luck led to their star player being knocked out. The entire tournament was meant to be a way to hype the incoming “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, a legit tough guy and amazing pro wrestler. Sadly, no one told Bradshaw who knocked him out. Yada yada yada, Bradshaw met Bart Gunn at the finals with Gunn taking the win, and entering him in a boxing match with Butterbean.

What happens when you put a barely adequate pro wrestler with brawling skills against a Butterbean in his prime? Pain. Lots of pain. And a horrible way to cap off a horrible tournament. WWE never attempted anything like this again, and Butterbean collected a fat paycheck and the notoriety of being one of the few mainstream athletes to appear at a Wrestlemania.

7. Butterbean VS Pat Smith

A bit of history leading up to this fight at the little company that could, YAMMA Pit Fighting. Originally, Butterbean was supposed to fight Gary Goodridge, but Goodridge was forced to withdraw by the NJSAC due to taking a fight in Korea two weeks before he was set to fight in the YAMMA which he lost against Mu Bae Choi, and was therefore medically suspended. The other fight in YAMMA’s master division was Oleg Taktarov VS Don Frye. Sadly, Frye had to pull out for an alleged shoulder injury and Pat Smith was going to replace him, until he got caught speeding in his motorcycle while carrying drugs in his possession in his hometown. So, Mark Kerr was set to fight Taktarov instead. This left Butterbean without an opponent, until YAMMA officials decided that Pat Smith’s criminal record was not such a big worry anymore and set him up against Butterbean for their debut, and final, show.

So here we are, and there is the fight above. How does it end? With Butterbean falling on the mat, turtling up, and being pounded on for minutes as Pat Smith goes to town on him with Dan Mirgaliotta realizing that this is not someone being mugged, but that this is a cage fight and he is a referee in said fight. The loss is not the sad part here though. The sad part is watching Butterbean throw kicks for the first time in his MMA career. Oh yes, he throws kicks…

6. Not Fighting Lyndon Byers

Remember Moosin? They held the first sanctioned MMA event in Massachusetts this past Spring, which was headlined by Tim Sylvia taking on Mariusz Pudzianowski, and also featured Roxanne Moddafferi VS Tara Larosa 2, Mike Campbell VS Yves Edwards and some other pretty good matches… if you saw it in person. If you saw it on TV, it looked awful sadly. The event was also supposed to include a match between Butterbean and former Bruins enforcer Lyndon Byers. The fight, however, was called off at the very last minute due to the commission being hesitant over Byers’ lack of experience.

You see, Byers had never had any fight experience at all. Playing hockey does not equate to a fight record, no matter how many brawls you get into on the ice. Seeing as how this happened earlier this year, I do not need to talk about Butterbean’s experience since it goes without saying he has a ton.

This is not an epic fail however, and in the end it worked out for the best anyway, as they accomplished their original goal of raising money for a charity, benefiting the family of Worcester police officer Mark Bisnette, who was killed in a car accident last January. What was the fail was that the Massachusetts commission almost allowed this fight to happen in their debut show, thus ruining their credibility as a whole forever. Luckily, that has not happened again… if you ignore Tim Sylvia VS Mariusz Pudzianowskis on the same show… or James Toney VS Randy Couture a few months later… surely it won’t happen again!

5. Cardboard Butterbean jobs to Necro Butcher

I am stretching it this time, but it still counts. During some random hardcore wrestling match in some random independent pro wrestling league that I am too lazy to research, the infamous Necro Butcher (who non-wrasslin’ fans will remember from the movie “The Wrestler” in that bloody match he had midway in the film against Mickey Rourke) manages to find a life-sized cardboard cutout of Butterbean. After slamming it into his opponent’s head, he sets up Bean straight up and nails him with a chair shot! Necro tosses the crumbled effigy into the ring and proceeds to elbow drop and do a top-rope leg drop onto a chair on cardboard Butterbean’s face, then rolling him up for the three count. The best part is when a fan in the crowd yells out, “This is for Bart Gunn!” See, I told you how important that match was to the pro wrestling world!

4. Genki Sudo taps out Butterbean

It was so crazy only the Japanese could think it up! At K-1 – Premium 2003 Dynamite!!, Genki Sudo took on his largest challenge against Eric Esch. Why? Because the seven-year-old son of the promoter said, “I want to see Genki Sudo fight Butterbean!” “But, why son,” asked the promoter, “we could get such better matches like…” “NO,” said the rambunctious young child, “I want to see Butterbean fight Genki Sudo or I’m telling mom you hit me!” Not wanting to incur the wrath of his ex-wife nor lose any more fingers to the Yakuza, K-1 officials booked the match and gave us one of the oddest fights ever.

Butterbean would later fight Ikuhisa Minowa in a match that seemed very similiar to this fight in its nature, and lasted a few minutes longer than his meeting with Sudo, yet still losing by armbar in the first round.

3. Butterbean actually pro wrestled… repeatedly!

I have no idea where this match came from or who his opponent is beyond being named “One Man Kru”. I just know that at some point, Butterbean got a call from a promoter who asked him to pro wrestle in a high school gymnasium and Butterbean thought it would be a great idea. The Bean seems to be a very philanthropic man so maybe it was for a charity or a good cause, in which case if that is true than it’s all good. But if not, I have to ask him about this one day. This match is very short (and if you watch it I implore you to put it on mute as the genius who uploaded it made his four minutes of audio sound like when a microphone gets heavy feedback and makes your ears bleed), and the finish is a rather weak-looking clothesline, which ends this weak match.

One Man Kru is also a rapper according to his youtube page. I find this suspect since the mans Youtube videos are mostly drunk ramblings with very little lyrical styling. Save yourself the time and don’t investigate him. I did it for you already. The Fight Nerd has suffered for your sins.

Butterbean did wrestle previously in WWE, but not really, as his two appearances in that company included his KO of Bart Gunn we saw before, and another boxing match he had with Marc Mero, which is not worth watching. Take my word for it, you sat through enough Butterbean footage already. Butterbean also won the Pro Wrestling Syndicate Heavyweight Championship on May 29, 2009 after defeating Trent Acid, then lost the belt to Kevin Matthews on May 8, 2010 in White Plains, NY. Useful trivia right there for you Butterbean aficionados.

2. Butterbean wins a fight he was losing because his opponent quits after two rounds

And now we come to the most recent offense, coming from this past weekend of December 10, 2010′s LFC 43: Wild Thang show at the 8 Seconds Saloon in Indianapolis. Butterbean took on Deon West, who before this fight had a record of 2-2. At a combined weight of 800 lbs., nothing good could have come from this match. CagePotato picked up the scoop on this epic match, with Jason Wright giving us some more insight to this showdown as he was lucky enough to shoot from atop the fence.

West dominated the first round, slamming Esch to the mat and pounding him out for five minutes, even taking the back of Butterbean, which Esch managed to defend. By the end of the first, West was exhausted and was looking to throw in the towel, but his corner forced him back in for the second round. With Deon gassed, Bean attempted to take advantage by throwing some haymakers, which West avoided by clinching and hanging on through the round by laying against the fence.

Wright gives us the best explanation of what happens next, “West is totally gassed and determined to quit before the 3rd round starts, even though he may have this one in the bag. This time West is persistent. He overrules his corner and quits due to exhaustion, even though he was never even close to hurt… Christmas comes early for Butterbean, as he is given the gift of an unearned “W”, improving his MMA record to 16-8-1.”

What is better than winning a hard-fought back and forth battle? Winning a fight that you were losing because your opponent is too obese for his own good. What could top a fight like this? Our number one moment did, without ever having actually happened!

1. Butterbean VS Tank Abbott AKA Apocalypse Now!

Yup, this almost happened. Back towards the very end of 2009, a start-up MMA company popped up named Thunder Promotions and began promoting “Alabama Pride”. The main event was Tank Abbott VS Butterbean in a match that sounds exciting for about three seconds, then you recall that beyond their name power, these guys have a combined gas tank of 30 seconds. Also on the card was rapper DMX making his MMA debut against a man named Eric Martinez. It turns out that Martinez was the CEO of Power Moves Entertainment, a record label, management firm, and event promotion company based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to Martinez’ bio, he was an official member of DMX’s management team and was going to fight him at the event (in other words, take a dive for his homie).

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and this event flat out did not happen. Is Thunder Promotions still around? Turns out they are… sorta. If by around, you mean have a website, then they indeed exist. What they are doing is still not being able to promote an event without losing their big main event and just generally looking shady. It’s sad that Butterbean got mixed up with these people in the first place, but let’s count our blessing that he did not fight Tank at “Alabama Pride” or the entire universe might have imploded.

With all of this over with now, I just want to remind everyone that Butterbean is an awesome dude. He is extremely philanthropic, a great interview, and an all-around nice guy who takes fighting seriously but also is not afraid to let loose and have a good time, such as pro wrestling or doing sumo tournaments or other random things. If you are ever in Jasper, Alabama, don’t forget to check out his restaurant, Mr. Bean BBQ, you can get some good vittles and maybe even meet the man himself! To wash the taste off this article out of your mouth and to end on a more pleasant note, here is an excellent highlight video of Butterbean to remind you of his skills!

The Fight Nerd returns with 10 more fights you have never seen before (or maybe you have, but that makes you as big of a loser as me)! We keep the countdown going but this time with more of the big names you might know from the UFC and Strikeforce, so see how many of these fights you’ve seen and how many you never even knew about.

The top ten grossest freak injuries in MMA, all in one convenient spot for you to enjoy! Will your favorite make it to number one? Will you survive till the end to find out?