Bloody Elbow 2013 Year-End MMA Awards - Best Knockout

Over the next few days, Bloody Elbow is going to ask for your opinion on some of the best things that have happened in the MMA world over the course of 2013. There will be a total of eight different categories you'll be asked to vote on. For simplicity's sake we're going to stick with high-level and relevant MMA stuff in these posts. While I'm sure there was a ludicrous knockout in an unscheduled MMA event at The Lumberyard strip club in Des Moines, or an insane pancreas lock submission on an obscure ZST! card in Japan, let's just stick to stuff a lot of us have seen, okay? (If that spiel looked familiar, it's because I've used the same one for three years in a row. Originality? What originality?)

It's pretty simple. I'll post 5-10 options in a category, you vote for what you think was the best. If you think I left something really important off my list, post it in the comments and we can add it to the poll if it's deemed worthy. I can almost guarantee you won't like all my suggestions, but narrowing down these lists is tough.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get onto the latest poll - the best knockout of 2013. I know there's going to be a lot of bitching about this one, but think about this - these are the ten that have the best chance to win the poll. You'll obviously offer up other ones, but how do they compare to these ten? Probably not very favorably. Okay, now rant away.

Here we go, in no particular order:

Demetrious Johnson blasts Joseph Benavidez, UFC on Fox 9 - The flyweight shot heard 'round the world. Approximately no one expected Mighty Mouse to drop Benavidez with a punch, but he did. And it was devastating.

Emanuel Newton's spinning back fist KO of King Mo, Bellator 90 - Mo clearly never saw it coming, and the spinning back fist put him to sleep in one of the biggest upsets of 2013.

Junior dos Santos' spinning kick KO of Mark Hunt, UFC 160 - JDS was well on his way to winning a decision and had already dropped Hunt once, but the insane spinning kick (and a followup punch on the ground) turned Hunt's lights out and stunned everyone.

Derrick Mehmen spins Rolles Gracie around, WSOF 5 - While it didn't get the play it deserved, it definitely earn a spot on this list. Mehmen blasted Gracie so hard that he spun around and did a perfect Ric Flair flop to the floor.

Dong Hyun Kim blasts Erick Silva, UFCFight Night 29 - Another one that was pretty unexpected. Kim caught his with a brutally perfect punch that sent Silva straight to the canvas against the cage, done like dinner.

Vitor Belfort's spinning kick/GnP KO of Luke Rockhold, UFC on FX 8 - I don't think I had ever seen Belfort throw a spinning kick before, so I chuckled at the first one. I wasn't laughing at the second one, which laid Rockhold out. A little GnP and the fight was over.

Antonio Silva knocks out Alistair Overeem, UFC 156 - Despite being down two rounds, Bigfoot came out on fire in the third and brutalized Overeem. After landing some 15 straight punches, Silva finally toppled Overeem with a monster punch and took the improbable win.

Chris Weidman KO's Anderson Silva, UFC 162 - Silva decided to clown a little too much and paid the price for it. Weidman caught him and put him completely unconscious, which is a memory most UFC fans will remember forever.

Mark Hunt breaks Stefan Struve's jaw, UFC on Fuel 8 - After an entertaining fight, Hunt finally caught Struve on the button with a couple of shots, then blasted him with a brutal left that broke his jaw. Hunt then just walked off, casual as could be. He looked back to see if Struve wanted some more, but it was over.

Travis Browne on Josh Barnett, UFC 168 - Barnett hadn't been legitimately stopped by strikes since 2001, but all it took was a bunch of brutal Hapa elbows to get it done in 60 seconds.