At UFC 126 in 2011, Anderson Silva defended his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort in the main event and scored a thunderous front kick KO.
In February 2011, the UFC put on one of their best fight cards ever as Anderson Silva defended his 185-pound title for the eighth time in the main event.
Also on the card was current UFC GOAT, Jon Jones, as he made his seventh appearance in the promotion, scoring a second-round submission win over Ryan Bader.
At the bottom of the card was future flyweight GOAT, Demetrious Johnson, taking on Norifimi Yamamoto.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Anderson Silva scores famous front kick KO against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126
Kicking off the event during the Facebook preliminaries was 'Mightymouse' who went on to secure the unanimous decision victory against Yamamoto in what was the very beginning of his UFC journey.
The card then featured fights with the likes of Chad Mendes and Donald Cerrone, before 'Bones' had his biggest test at the time.
Then in the co-main event, fans were treated to a light heavyweight war between Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin, who was awarded the path of Griffin.
'The Spider' Silva was widely considered the UFC's biggest star at the time and he continued to show his star power with several middleweight title defenses.
Just a year earlier, the Brazilian scored one of the biggest comeback wins of all time when he submitted Chael Sonnen in the fifth round of their UFC 117 main event.
Belfort came in after five impressive victories, four of which he finished with a KO.
Despite this, he was knocked unconscious in the first round of his title fight after Silva landed one of the most vicious kicks in UFC history, landing a front kick to the chin.
What followed was one of the most iconic moments in the promotion's history as Silva rushed to land two more shots before walking away with his arms raised high.
Other famous kick KOs in UFC history
There have been several famous kick KOs in UFC history and Holly Holm's over Ronda Rousey stands out as one of the most important.
Rousey was widely considered unbeatable when she faced Holm in 2015, but 'The Preacher's Daughter' landed a huge headkick in the second round, knocking Rousey unconscious in one of the biggest upsets ever.
Leon Edwards also etched his name in the history books in 2021 when he knocked out Kamaru Usman in the fifth round of their title fight to score one of the craziest comeback wins ever.
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