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5 May, 2019 13:13

'One of the greatest KOs ever': Bellator's Daniels stuns with with jaw-dropping KO victory (VIDEO)

'One of the greatest KOs ever': Bellator's Daniels stuns with with jaw-dropping KO victory (VIDEO)

Kickboxing great Raymond Daniels' first MMA win will certainly live long in the memory after he bested Wilker Barros with a devastating walk-off '720 right hook' knockout in his Bellator debut on Saturday night.

The 39-year-old was unsuccessful in his mixed martial arts debut more than a decade but the sixth degree black belt in American Kempo opted to resume his MMA career under the Bellator banner at Saturday's event in Birmingham, England - and judging by the evidence, it appears to have been a very wise move indeed.

From the off Daniels uncorked the type of creative, pinpoint accuracy that one would expect from a striker of his caliber. The skill differential, on the feet at least, was apparent immediately but emphasized at the fight's finish in a sequence being hailed as a strong contender for the year's best knockout. 

Daniels began the sequence by sitting Barros down with a spinning body kick before faking another spinning kick attack into a right hook, connecting flush and sending his opponent to the canvas.

The knockout has been hailed by some of the sport's analysts as not just one of the best knockouts of the year, but one of the most memorable in the 25+ years in which mixed martial arts has become a popular sport. 

Daniels is the reigning Bellator kickboxing welterweight champion and has defeated the likes of Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson and Michael 'Venom' Page in a striking career which has seen him win numerous titles including nine World Association of Kickboxing Grand Slam championships between 2005 and 2014. 

His official mixed martial arts debut came with Strikeforce in June 2008 in which he lost by second round submission but if those particular kinks have been worked out of his game in the decade that followed, Bellator will be licking their lips at the prospect of setting up a rematch between Daniels and Michael Page, this time under MMA rules.

Either way, Daniels' first career mixed martial arts win has gone down a storm online with even some of the industry's most battle-hardened analysts gushing as to its excellence.

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