Sherdog’s Top 10: Heaviest Hitters

7. Melvin Manhoef

We have our third straight great kickboxer turned mixed martial artist with the Dutch dynamo Manhoef. Manhoef never achieved the level of success in MMA as Pereira or Hunt, but his power may well have been superior. Of Manhoef's 32 wins, a mind-numbing 29 occurred by knockout. That gives him a 91% knockout rate, much higher than anyone else on this list, though it should be noted that this was often achieved against a lower level of opposition. Still, absolutely no one wanted to engage Manhoef on the feet, preferring to instead take him to the ground and defeat him there. That was even true for a devastating, all-time great striker like Yoel Romero against a 46-year-old Manhoef. In his prime, Manhoef had double-fisted power, able to generate knockouts from either hand. While that's true of some other fighters on this list, it bears repeating what a special quality this is. However, Manhoef also had the most vicious knees in all of MMA in his prime and perhaps of all time. Manhoef's long list of highlight finishes including a 17-second beatdown of Ian Freeman, massacring Shungo Oyama in 67 seconds in their rematch, separating Fabio Silva from consciousness in just 60 seconds, requiring only 109 seconds to knockout former world-class boxer Yosuke Nishijima, the same man we had mentioned Mark Hunt needing a third round to stop in our last entry, obliterating Kazushi Sakuraba in 90 seconds, blasting Ryo Kawamura into unconsciousness with a single punch in the first round, leveling Kazuo Misaki in another 109 second special, finishing Denis Kang in 50 seconds with a knee to the body, demolishing Evangelista Santos in 46 seconds, and even at 39, delivering a sensational one-punch left hook knockout of talented striker Hisaki Kato. However, his most impressive knockout may be knocking out titanium-chinned previous entry Mark Hunt, who is much larger than Manhoef to boot, in all of 18 seconds. Manhoef may never have been an elite fighter due to his lack of grappling and ground game, but he is one of MMA's hardest hitters, leaving a treasure trove of highlights.

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