5 times an underdog scored a knockout over a dominant champion
The shock of an underdog scoring a knockout on a dominant champion is a key reason why fights are so thrilling to watch. The drama just turns up a notch. It also goes to show that professional fighting as a sport is a highly volatile game to play. One moment you're the king then, in one fell swoop, you're uncrowned.
Though outliers like Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0) exist, almost every champion in combat sports history has at least a few losses. Simply put, no one truly comes out unscathed in fighting.
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That's why we won't be talking about the champions and their undefeated streaks in this list. We'll be listing down the underdogs who achieved the unthinkable by knocking out the seemingly untouchable champion. The kind of knockouts that were so amazing you couldn't help but call your friends to make sure they saw it.
#5. Christian Lee's knockout of Shinya Aoki (One Championship: Enter the Dragon)
Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki has become a legend in MMA lore. Aoki's eclectic yet pressuring submission game has struck fear in the hearts of fighters for almost two decades. His ONE lightweight championship bout with then 20 year-old underdog Christian Lee was supposed to be a walk in the park.
Pundits were saying that if the fight goes to the ground, Aoki will get the tap. It's not a possibility, it's an eventuality.
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It almost went that way as Aoki went straight to work with an early bodylock and put Lee's back on the mat. Moments after that, the Japanese submission master was locking in a fully-extended armbar on the young Canadian-American fighter. Somehow, the determined underdog survived the submission and came back to score a knockout in the second round to win ONE's coveted lightweight strap.