With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from August 2025: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for August.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
Nominee: Dwight Joseph def. Wilker Nsamo at PFL Africa 2
It will be hard to come by a more brutal flying knee finish than what Dwight Joseph pulled off against Wilker Nsamo.
Joseph (15-2) was throwing wild strikes with bad intentions from the outset of his featherweight bout against Nsamo (7-1). After throwing a wild spinning kick that drew Nsamo into range and into a level change, Joseph went airborne and put his right knee clean to the chin. Nsamo instantly spilled to the mat face first, and Joseph celebrated an epic highlight finish.
Nominee: Elijah Smith def. Toshiomi Kazama at UFC on ESPN 72
Elijah Smith gave a shout out to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson just seconds after delivering perhaps the most vicious slam knockout in octagon history against Toshiomi Kazama.
Smith (9-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) got the first massive highlight of his young promotional career. He picked up Kazama (11-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC) from bottom position and slammed him in an eerily similar way to Jackson’s famous finish of Ricardo Arona under the PRIDE FC banner and slammed him to the mat, putting him out cold.
Nominee: Carlos Prates def. Geoff Neal at UFC 319
Carlos Prates audibly cracked Geoff Neal with a spinning back elbow for a knockout stoppage.
Prior to the finish, Prates (22-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Neal (16-7 MMA, 8-5 UFC) brought the heat but in a contained manner. They were measured, not wild. Both landed hard shots. But it was Prates’ spinning maneuver that sealed the deal.
Nominee: Fabian Edwards def. Dalton Rosta at 2025 PFL 10
Fabian Edwards left jaws dropped with a vicious head kick knockout to win the 2025 PFL middleweight tournament final, similar to a highlight his brother Leon created almost exactly three years ago to claim UFC gold.
Edwards (16-4) met Dalton Rosta in (11-2). The tournament championship bout was scheduled for five rounds, but Edwards ended it out of nowhere at 1:28 of the third round with a vicious head kick that was eerily similar to what his brother did to Kamaru Usman.
The winner: Lerone Murphy def. Aaron Pico at UFC 319
Lerone Murphy may be undeniable after a highlight-reel knockout of Aaron Pico.
The co-main event of UFC 319 saw the undefeated Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) take on UFC newcomer Pico (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC). The featherweight bout was discussed as being a potential title eliminator to face Alexander Volkanovski. Murphy may have solidified that shot by knocking out Pico at 3:21 of the opening round.
Pico put heavy pressure on Murphy right out of the gate, landing clean punches in the opening exchange. After a brief clinch, Pico got right back in Murphy’s face and landed a hard shot to the body. Murphy answered with a hard short elbow. Pico then went to his wrestling game, but Murphy did well to work up without much issue. Back in space, Murphy landed a beautiful knee to the body as Pico closed in.
A moment later, a bomb of a spinning elbow detonated on the chin of Pico.
It was a perfectly-timed strike from Murphy that sent Pico crumbling to the canvas. Murphy touched him with one more punch, but he was already out cold.
