In a year with plenty of thrilling finishes, it was hard to top the fastest knockout in UFC history.
For most of his career, Jorge Masvidal had been considered a fringe top-10 athlete. A fighter with serious potential, and yet one who never quite earned elite status. That all changed in 2019.
The most defining moment of Masvidal’s career happened on July 6 at UFC 239. Standing across from him that night was Ben Askren, a 2008 Olympian who’d won belts in Bellator and ONE Championship before a UFC deal inked through the first trade in the sport’s history.