Top 5: Incredible Finishes in the First Half of 2025

---

Most expect Mauricio Ruffy to be a regular contributor to Ultimate Fighting Championship highlight reel in the days, months and years ahead.

The surging Brazilian leveled former King of the Cage champion Bobby Green with an exquisitely timed and flawlessly executed spinning wheel kick in the first round of their UFC 313 lightweight showcase on March 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Green crashed and burned 2:07 into Round 1, the unwitting victim of an early contender for “Knockout of the Year.”

Ruffy pressed forward, backed his counterpart to the fence and stepped into the kick. Heel struck face with violent precision, and Green plummeted to the canvas facedown and unconscious. It was the seventh straight win for Ruffy, who has established himself as a serious threat in the 155-pound weight class. He drew inspiration from an unlikely source: Brazilian soccer star Neymar Junior.

“Neymar always does a sequence of dribbling that confuses his opponents. I just thought [about] how it could be applied in MMA, and that’s the movement I did with Green—a sequence of hand feints that confounded him and permitted the kick to enter,” Ruffy told Sherdog.com. “I’ve been practicing that movement alone for a long time. I have to avoid using it in sparring because there is no way to control the speed, which may hurt my training partners.”

Ruffy’s sensational knockout was but one incredible finish in the first half of 2025. Here are four more worth remembering:

Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas
UFC Fight Night 249
Jan. 11 | Las Vegas
Dern avenged a 2019 decision defeat to the former Jungle Fight champion and continued to reassert herself as serious contender in the women’s strawweight division, as she submitted the Brazilian with an armbar in the third round of their headliner at the UFC Apex. Ribas raised the white flag 4:56 into Round 3, losing via submission for the first time in her 18-fight career. The rivals traded strikes, takedowns and positional control through two competitive rounds. Ribas grounded the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championships gold medalist early in the third, only to slowly wander into danger. Dern swept into mount under threat of an armbar and pounded away with elbows and punches before once again isolating a limb. She sat back on the armbar, activated her hips with time running out and left Ribas no choice but to capitulate.

JAKE HADLEY HAS JUST MADE HISTORY!
Scottish Twister submission 😳 in the Bantamweight World Tournament?! You heard that right.

💥 Highlight reel for eternity.#PFLWorldTournament LIVE NOW
🇺🇸 ESPN+
🌎 https://t.co/jPNvomCxHI pic.twitter.com/GQgaFkkHfE

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 12, 2025

Jake Hadley vs. Matheus Mattos
2025 PFL World Tournament 2
April 11 | Orlando, Florida
Hadley left his mark on the Professional Fighters League when he put away the Brazilian with a modified twister in the third round of their bantamweight quarterfinal at Universal Studios. Mattos, who had never before been submitted, bowed out 2:16 into Round 3. The 135-pound hopefuls each had their moments across the first 10 minutes. Hadley made his move in the third round. He closed the distance behind punches, dumped Mattos to the canvas and went to work. Hadley then scrambled behind the Bellator MMA alum and secured position with a body triangle, slowly but surely luring him deeper and deeper into his web. From there, Mattos turned into the Englishman and fell right into his trap. Hadley ensnared him in a Scottish twister, torqued his torso and forced the tap.

Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira
UFC 317
June 28 | Las Vegas
The undefeated Topuria took hold of the vacant lightweight title with a stirring knockout of “Do Bronx” in their main event at T-Mobile Arena. The Spaniard, who held UFC gold previously at 145 pounds, brought it to an emphatic close 2:27 into Round 1 and became the 10th fighter in the promotion’s history to win championships in multiple divisions. Oliveira did what he could to neutralize his counterpart’s punching power by crowding him in the clinch. However, Topuria countered a takedown into top position, opened a cut above the Brazilian’s right eye and escaped an attempted leg lock. Back on the feet, he stepped into range, froze Oliveira with a right hook and landed a left as he collapsed downward. The Diego Lima protege was unconscious before he hit the mat, where he was met with a few hammerfists that added insult to injury and provided exclamation points for Topuria’s career-defining performance.

Islam Youssef vs. Benyamin Ghahraman
2025 PFL MENA 2
July 4 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Youssef was behind one of the more unforgettable knockouts in the brief history of the Professional Fighters League’s Middle East and North Africa offshoot when he cut down the Iranian with a flying head kick in the second round of their bantamweight quarterfinal at The Green Halls. Ghahraman went down 3:55 into Round 2. A closely contested and somewhat uneventful first five minutes gave way to the climactic middle stanza. Youssef dropped in on a single-leg and secured a takedown, unknowingly setting the finish in motion. Gharaman scrambled back to his feet, turned his back as he separated and failed to shield his head from fire. Youssef took flight and connected with a devastating head kick that turned out his counterpart’s lights in an instant. He then flurried with hammerfists until referee Gerd Richter could intervene.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Joo Sang Yoo def. Jeka Saragih—KO (Punch) 0:24 R1, UFC 316; Islam Makhachev def. Renato “Money” Moicano—Submission (Brabo Choke) 4:05 R1, UFC 311; Patrick Habirora def. Danny Roberts—KO (Head Kick) 4:32 R1, 2025 PFL Europe 2; Priscila Cachoeira def. Josiane Nunes—KO (Punch) 2:46 R1, UFC Fight Night 254; Kayla Harrison def. Julianna Pena—Submission (Kimura) 4:55 R2, UFC 316; Jason Jackson def. Andrey Koreshkov—Technical Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 4:21 R2, 2025 PFL World Tournament 1; Malcolm Wellmaker def. Kris Moutinho—KO (Punch) 2:37 R1, UFC on ESPN 69; Merab Dvalishvili def. Sean O’Malley—Submission (North-South Choke) 4:42 R3, UFC 316; Marc-Andre Barriault def. Bruno Silva—KO (Elbows and Punches) 1:27 R1, UFC 315; Rafael do Nascimento def. Brandon Altomore—Submission (Calf Slice) 2:06 R1, LFA 199; Dominick Reyes def. Nikita Krylov—KO (Punch) 2:24 R1, UFC 314; Paul Hughes def. Bruno Miranda—TKO (Punches) 0:42 R1, 2025 PFL Europe 1; Reinier de Ridder def. Bo Nickal—TKO (Knees) 1:53 R2, UFC on ESPN 67; Ricky Simon def. Javid Basharat—KO (Punches) 3:58 R1, UFC on ESPN 69; Cesar Almeida def. Abdul Razak Alhassan—KO (Punch) 4:16 R1, UFC Fight Night 249; Randy Brown def. Nicolas Dalby—KO (Punch) 1:39 R2, UFC on ESPN 66; Modestas Bukauskas def. Raffael Cerqueira—KO (Punches) 2:12 R1, UFC Fight Night 252; Sean Brady def. Leon Edwards—Submission (Guillotine Choke) 1:39 R4, UFC Fight Night 255; Jean Silva def. Bryce Mitchell—Submission (Ninja Choke) 3:52 R2, UFC 314; Ronnie Gibbs def. Biaggio Ali Walsh—Technical Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) 2:45 R2, 2025 PFL World Tournament 7.