Sherdog.com’s 2015 Knockout of the Year

5. Thomas Almeida vs. Anthony Birchak
UFC Fight Night ‘Belfort vs. Henderson 3’
Saturday, Nov. 7
Geraldo Jose de Almeida State Gymnasium | Sao Paulo, Brazil
Thomas Almeida is a special prospect. To be blunt, “Little Tom” brings big violence every time he comes to the cage. As time rolls along, and as the 24-year-old Brazilian blue chipper keeps destroying more bantamweights, it seems all the more humorous and ironic that his UFC debut in November 2014 featured his first career decision. There, after icing his first 16 pro MMA foes, he could not put away boot leather-tough Midwesterner Tim Gorman in 15 minutes.

As humorous and ironic as it might be, it is also downright strange and hard to believe, especially in light of Almeida’s 2015 exploits, as he crumpled Yves Jabouin, Brad Pickett and Anthony Birchak in vicious fashion. Both the Pickett and Birchak knockouts have garnered significant “Knockout of the Year” play in year-end lists, similar-but-different displays of one of the most thrilling up-and-comers the UFC has to offer. In fact, if we here at Sherdog.com happened to run Top 6 lists at the end of each year, Almeida would indeed be getting back-to-back appearances on this list.

Alas, five is a rounder, juicier number than six, and only one of Almeida’s knockouts featured him folding another human on top of their own leg. All apologies to Birchak.

Heading into their bout on Nov. 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Birchak seemed to be a perfect foil for the developing Almeida. An athletic, serious muay Thai striker with superior wrestling skills, he was a smart choice by UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby to suss out where Almeida was at as a developing fighter, to test his still questionable defense and see if his defensive grappling had improved. Unfortunately, Almeida was not to be tested on this day.

True to form and theory, it did take the Sao Paulo native a few minutes to warm up in front of his hometown crowd. Birchak was more active for the first two minutes and change, pressing forward, putting Almeida on his back foot, forcing him to think about defending the takedown and landing glancing punch combos. Slowly but surely, Almeida began slipping in right-hand counters as Birchak grew more confident, finding his range without putting real fear into his opponent.

Birchak clearly watched Almeida’s previous bout with Pickett. He thought if he kept up the diverse striking pressure and made Almeida go backwards, he could swell up the Brazilian’s eyes without suffering the second-round flattening Pickett did, courtesy of Almeida’s knee. Just before the four-minute mark, as Almeida started to land more actively and begin pressuring forward, Birchak saw it as the perfect time to switch up the game and seal the round in his favor, dropping for a single-leg takedown.

Almeida defended, and when Birchak moved to the body lock, the Brazilian easily secured double underhooks and turned him around, ready to rip into a vivid display of modern Chute Boxe muay Thai. Almeida unloaded with both hands, eventually landing a chopping left that sent his foe stumbling across the cage. Almeida corralled him back to the cage, and when Birchak tried to fend off the Brazilian with his jab, Almeida ripped him with a spinning back elbow to the top of the noggin.

Birchak was already in too deep, not even realizing it as he tried to throw back in retaliation, visibly staggered. As he kept throwing back, Almeida deftly dodged his left hand, cracking him with a right-left-right triumvirate of crosses that absolutely wasted the Arizonan. The final straight right detonated straight on the chin, flicking the proverbial light switch with instantaneous result. Birchak was unconscious before he even started to crumble, leaving him without the slightest physiological control of his body as he fell.

The force of Almeida’s right hand drove Birchak’s upper body straight backwards, falling over top of his rubbery legs. The Octagon wall was too close to let Birchak fall back entirely, breaking his fall as he unconsciously leveraged against it and inadvertently pinning his right leg, bent at the knee, below his own body. The result was a grisly mix of Lyoto Machida putting the infamous stanky leg on Rashad Evans against the fence at UFC 98 and Chuck Liddell laying out Guy Mezger flat on top of his own knee joint at Pride 14.

As chilling as the visual was, the result also instantly magnified and justified the hype around the always-exciting Almeida, all while earning him a cool $50,000 for the UFC’s “Knockout of the Night.” The Paulista bantamweight dished out a lot of delicious damage in 2015, but no moment was as visceral as seeing Birchak’s anatomy strewn about, stacked on top of itself -- a reminder to the 135-pound division that “Little Tom” is fixing to be a big problem.