UFC Fight Night: Joaquin Buckley delivers the 'most unbelievable KO' in UFC history against Impa Kasanganay

Middleweight bout in Abu Dhabi ends with Buckley landing an incredible spinning kick

Joaquin Buckley, left, throws a punch at Impa Kasanganay during their middleweight at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi. Josh Hedges / Zuffa LLC

The UFC labelled it the “most unbelievable KO” in its history, and it’s easy to see why.

After an entertaining first round between middleweights Joaquin Buckley and Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning, the former wrote his name in the promotion's folklore.

Midway through the second round, Buckley (11-3 MMA) landed an incredible spinning kick having had his initial kick caught by Kasanganay – putting out his opponent before he hit the canvas. Thankfully Kasanganay was soon seen to be OK.

It was only the fourth time in UFC history that a win stemmed from a spinning back kick to the head. Cue some of the promotion’s biggest stars chiming in on social media, including middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and greatest-of-all-time candidate Jon Jones.

A video of the knockout on the official UFC twitter account quickly became the most retweeted and liked in the promotion's history, trumping Conor McGregor's January knockout of Donald Cerrone.

Some way to get your first victory in the big time.

“It was just open. I seen that he still had my legs, I was still able to balance with him grabbing my foot, so I just spun and kicked,” Buckley said. “I aimed and I fire and it got the result we needed.

"I know I landed flush; I didn’t know if I knocked him out, though, until he locked up and I said it was game over.  I train it all the time, the only thing that was different was him holding my leg, but I practice it all the time.”

Of UFC president Dana White, Buckley said: “The boss just told me that he wants to give me all of the bonuses, so I’m welcome to it, I want all of it.

"To be honest with you, it’s surreal, a cloud came over my head when he was talking to me, so I couldn’t hear nothing, but once that money came in, once he talked about that, then it cleared up a little bit. But it’s awesome, it’s surreal that Dana White came over and talked to me."

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