Sherdog’s Top 10: Scariest Finishers

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10. Anthony Johnson

Once a huge and inconsistent if obviously gifted “welterweight,” Johnson has taken his ridiculous power and physical tools to the light heavyweight division and reinvented himself as a devastating power striker.

To be clear, Johnson was a straight-up killer well before he accepted the inevitable and moved up to 205 pounds. He finished six of his seven victories at welterweight by flat-on-your-face, killed-him-dead knockout, including head kick finishes of Charlie Brenneman and Kevin Burns to go along with the brutal punches that put down the likes of Chad Reiner, Tom Speer and Yoshiuki Yoshida.

A lone attempt to make 185 pounds against Vitor Belfort ended with Johnson missing weight yet again and being forced out of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He repackaged himself as a light heavyweight and one-time heavyweight in smaller promotions, inaugurating a streak of six consecutive victories that included four brutal finishes before getting the call-up to the big show again in April 2014. Since his return, Johnson has finished two of three fights in stunning fashion.

What makes Johnson so terrifying as a finisher is not just his natural power, which is substantial, but also the fact that his striking mechanics are fantastic. He gets all of his weight behind his shots, and he has the aggressive, skilled counter repertoire to land those punches and kicks when his opponents are off guard and unsuspecting. The finishing sequence against Alexander Gustafsson, for example, started with a counter to a lazy front kick. Moreover, once Johnson gets you hurt, it is only a matter of time before the finish comes, and he has a rare gift for sensing and exploiting that moment.

Can Johnson repeat his past performances against the greatest light heavyweight in the history of the sport? We will find out at UFC 187.

Number 9 » Although his name has been largely forgotten by a newer generation of fans, the Ukrainian heavyweight was one of MMA’s original sprawl-and-brawlers and the true king of the one-night tournament. He fought multiple times in a single night on 12 different occasions according to the official records and won seven of those brackets. Between 1995 and 2000, he strung together a 37-fight unbeaten streak.