14 years ago Lyoto Machida took off a knockout that nobody had ever seen in the UFC Octagon.
The Karate specialist retired former two-weight champion Randy Couture on UFC 129, which took place in the Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 30, 2011.
Before Georges St-Pierre Jake Shields made up in the main event, Lyoto Machida UFC history wrote.
The man choked cold from Jon Jones in his next fight earned a slight heavyweight title by landing a KO recording that was made famous by the Cult classical film 'The Karate Kid' from 1984.
Photo by Al Bello/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
View Lyoto Machida's Crane Kick Ko
The crane kick became popular when the protagonist of the film, Daniel Larusso, landed on his Archnemesis, Johnny Lawrence, to win the All-Valley Karate Championships.
27 years after the Hollywood cash cracker first arrived in the cinema, the UFC was founded as the largest MMA competition in the world, but none of his stars had succeeded in scoring a ko with the 'karate kid' kick.
However, that changed when Machida went into the air and the kick on Couture's Kin exploded in the second round of their UFC 129 fight.
'The natural' collapsed on the floor in a lot before Machida tried to land a few follow -ups.
Fortunately, the referee quickly stepped in and saved Couture by taking on more damage after the stairs.
Randy Couture took the hardest hit opponent
In 2024, Couture looked back on his legendary career during an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow.
The icon fought Mark Coleman, Tim Sylvia, Vitor Belfort, Tito Ortiz, Brock Lesnar, James Toney and many more massive punchers during his 30-Vechtrun in combat sports.
Yet Couture did not hesitate to sniff Machida and a couple of other UFC legends when he was asked to call the hardest hit opponent with which he was once confronted.
The 61-year-old fought three times against Chuck Liddell, for the first time confronted with 'The Iceman' in 2003. Couture scored a TKO on the third round against Liddell on UFC 43 but fell short during their Rematch and Trilogy, in which both ended in fast KO victories for his rival.
Almost two decades later, Couture claimed that Liddell hit him so hard that he lost some time
“I was only eliminated once, that was Chuck Liddell the second time we agreed,” he said.
“I flashed a few times. Brock flashed me. I have been beaten a few times on my Keister where the second touches you the deck, wakes you up and you know where you are
“That second Chuck fight is the only time I have been struck unconscious, and you lose that little time.
“It's a strange experience. One second, you're there, the next moment,” what happened? Where did everyone go? “It was certainly a unique one.”