UFC: Is It Possible to Convince Fans That the Knockout Is Not Always King?

Fans of any combat sport in the world—whether it be boxing, mixed martial arts, karate or tae kwan do, among others—love a good knockout. A move coming out of nowhere to put a man on the ground, out cold, and get the fans out of their seats in a mix of astonishment and amazement.

So, can the UFC convince its fans that the knockout is not all that it's cracked up to be? How would it go about doing that?

Let's see what we can do right now.

Look at the five nominees for fight of the year 2011: Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick at UFC 129, Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber at UFC 132, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard at UFC 125, Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley at "Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley," and Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann at UFC Live 3.

The only one of these five fights not to go the distance was Diaz vs. Daley. That lasted less than one round. Imagine if that fight had gone on another 20 minutes. It may have won Fight of the Year, but it was never given enough time. Why? Because Diaz knocked out Daley with punches at the end of the first round.

What if Gray Maynard had knocked out Frankie Edgar in the first round of their fight at UFC 125? The comeback that Edgar put on over the next four rounds to earn a draw and retain his championship would never have been seen.

For the UFC to convince fans that the knockout is no longer king, they have to play the 15 to 25 minutes of action card as much as possible. Joe Rogan said of the Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva fight at UFC 132 that it had "all the makings of fight of the year, and perhaps the fight of the decade!" The fight lasted 27 seconds. So much for that.