March’s Top Five UFC Knockouts

March made for stylish savagery inside the Octagon, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld as he selects the top five UFC knockouts of the month.

The world’s best mixed martial artists raised the bar in March, both in terms of brutality and style. Sit back and enjoy the month’s finest finishes:

Teeing Off

Ludovit Klein treated AJ Cunningham like a heavy bag in Las Vegas, teeing off on him at will before finally finishing him with a debilitating kick to the liver.

Burned

In his first fight against a top five welterweight at UFC 299, Jack Della Maddalena came up clutch in the third round, getting out of Gilbert Burns’ grip, rocking “Durinho” with a perfectly timed knee and finishing him off with a brutal barrage of elbows and fists.

Shine Bright Like A Diamond

Dustin Poirier went to war with “The God of War” himself Benoit Saint Denis in the co-main event of UFC 299 and emerged as the last man standing. “The Diamond” felled the Frenchman, who’d been unbeaten in the UFC and had finished his last five opponents, with a tight right hook and concussive follow-up shot.

Left For Dead

Steve Erceg scored a rare walk-off knockout at UFC Vegas 87. Ripping to the body and following up with a lightning quick left hook, “Astro Boy” sent Matt Schnell into another dimension to move to 3-0 inside the Octagon.

Beautiful Brutality

Making his promotional debut at UFC Vegas 87, Vinicius Oliveira put himself on the map as he merked Bernardo Sopai with a picture-perfect flying knee that’s the early frontrunner for the Knockout of the Year honours.

Quintin van Jaarsveld

Quintin Van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 15 years’ experience and is currently a freelance sports writer.