With one other action-packed month of MMA within the books, MMA Junkie looks at one of the best knockouts from May 2024: Listed below are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for May.

At the underside of the post, tell us if we got it right by voting on your selection.

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Nominees

Nominee: Mauricio Ruffy def. Jamie Mullarkey at UFC 301

Mauricio Ruffy (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) brought the violence when he brutally beat down veteran Jamie Mullarkey (17-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC) to make a press release to the lightweight division in his octagon debut.

A Ruffy right hand stumbled Mullarkey before a flying knee connected. A second right hand from Ruffy put Mullarkey down and follow-up punches rained down. Mullarkey rose to his feet, but Ruffy beat the brakes off him again. The second time Mullarkey toppled to the canvas was enough for the referee to wave off the fight.

Nominee: Caio Borralho def. Paul Craig at UFC 301

If someone can beat Caio Borralho (16-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) within the UFC, they’ve still yet to be found after he maintained his perfect promotional record against Paul Craig (17-8-1 MMA, 9-8-1 UFC of their middleweight bout.

The knockout blow was an enormous overhand left. Borralho charged forward and Craig retreated. After an initial left connected, Borralho missed on a right hand after which connected with the ultimate shot. Craig bounced off the fence, hit the canvas, and crashed over sideways.

Nominee: Esteban Ribovics def. Terrance McKinney at UFC on ESPN 56

In a battle of hard-hitting lightweights, Esteban Ribovics (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) landed first and landed best when he shuts Terrance McKinney (15-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) off in a mere 37 seconds.

For as short because it was, the fight was wild from the opening bell. Ribovics nearly caught McKinney with a knee in a previous exchange. The kick did the trick, nevertheless, as McKinney was sent right into a seated position against the fence, paying homage to Kevin Lee’s all-time knockout of Gregor Gillespie.

Nominee: Cedric Doumbe def. Jaleel Willis at Bellator Champions Series: Paris

Cedric Doumbe (6-1) walked out to the cage with a vacuum and cleaned the ground to remind everyone that his first MMA defeat was a fluke. Then he went out and proved just that in his catchweight contest with Jaleel Willis (16-6).

Doumbe made quick work of Willis. The finish sequence got here when Doumbe instigated a furious exchange between the 2 men and landed a right hook that dropped Willis, causing him to cover up on the canvas. From there, Doumbe swarmed him with a flurry of punches that forced referee the to stop the fight, sending the French fans at Accor Arena right into a frenzy.

The winner

The winner: Carlos Ulberg def. Alonzo Menifield at UFC on ESPN 56

Carlos Ulberg punched his ticket into light heavyweight relevance with en emphatic performance against Alonzo Menifield.

Ulberg (9-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) needed just 12 seconds to catch and badly rock an incoming Menifield (15-4-1 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC). It was a frantic scene, but a couple of more punches and the matchup was over before many individuals realized it had began.

It was tied for the third-fastest finish in 205-pound history, and the the performance from Ulberg prolonged his winning streak to 6 fights.

Just days after the win, Ulberg was booked against former champion Jamahal Hill within the UFC 303 co-main event on June 27.