Watch the Skull-Crushing KO That Was Named Knockout of the Year at the World MMA Awards

The Oscars of MMA were held in Las Vegas last night, and the category that interested us most was not the headlining Fighter of the Year award, which went to Conor McGregor, but the one for the most brutal stoppage of 2016. There were five nominees in the category, and the winner was no real surprise. It was Michael Page’s knockout of Cyborg Santos in the video above, and it’s an all-timer. 

Page’s flying knee KO won not just for the brute force of the stoppage, but for its aftermath. This is the KO that turned Santos skull into Skittles, requiring immediate surgery and eventually sending the Brazilian into retirement. 

Que Deus abençoe sua recuperação gigante. #Repost @paperchaserdotcom with @repostapp ・・・ MMA fighter “Cyborg” Evangelista Santos underwent a successful 7-hour surgery on Thursday, July 28, to repair a skull fracture suffered in a loss to Michael Page at Bellator 158. “I had surgery yesterday, and thank God everything went fine,” Santos told MMA Fighting before leaving the hospital on Thursday. “It lasted seven hours, and the hospital will give Bellator a full report later today. God guided the doctors in this surgery so everything went well.” We wish him a speedy recovery. #paperchaserdotcom #evangelistacyborgsantos #cyborgsantos #evengelistasantos #evangelistacyborgskullfracture #cyborgsantosskullfracturesurgery #skullfracture #successfulsurgery #michaelmvppage #michaelpagevsevangelistasantos #michaelpagevscyborgsantos #bellator158 #mma #bellator #mixedmartialarts #liammcgeary #rafaelcarvalho #michaelchandler #andreykoreshkov #ufc @criscyborg #kingsteam #nutriedureis #movidospelapaixao #kingsteambyeduardoreis

A post shared by Eduardo Reis (@nutriedureis) on Aug 8, 2016 at 8:06pm PDT

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The other four nominees in the best knockout category are worth revisiting too. So let’s do that. 

Anthony Johnson KOs vs. Glover Teixeira

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XMj1YOki-w

Landon Vannata KOs John Makdessi

Yair Rodriguez KOs Andre Fili

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq931LtUDIs

Michael Chandler KOs Pitbull Freire