The buildup and hype for UFC 114 in Las Vegas centered around the main event between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. Evans won that fight by unanimous decision in a bout that failed to live up to expectations. Two fights before the main event however, we had some serious action. Todd Duffee, he of the 7-second UFC record knockout punch, was obliterating Mike Russow the first two and a half rounds of their fight. Midway through the third, Russow, the part-time fighter/part-time Chicago cop, caught Duffee with a punch squarely in the face. The result was Russow taking home the bonus for KO of the night. Here’s the Mike Russow knockout punch video of Todd Duffee:
That punch truly was a Hail Mary knockout if I’ve ever seen one. As Brent Brookhouse of bloodyelbow.com said on my radio show, that fight was the football equivalent of Florida leading The Citadel 70-0 and The Citadel scoring a 71-point touchdown to win. Duffee kept Russow at a distance the entire fight, peppered him with a variety of punches and uppercuts, and had things on cruise control until that knockout. That’s the crazy part about MMA — it only takes one punch to change everything. It’s really a shame for Duffee because he really was dominating the 12 minutes prior to that knockout.
