What is a knockdown in MMA?
A knockdown is credited when a legal strike makes a fighter lose their footing and touch the canvas with something other than their feet.
How it works
Stat-keepers count a knockdown when a strike, not a slip, a trip or a takedown, puts a fighter down: a hand, a knee or their backside touching the mat, or the fighter falling flat. Unlike boxing there is no count. The fight goes on, and the fighter who scored the knockdown usually follows up. A knockdown the fighter recovers from straight away is often called a flash knockdown.
The rate version is knockdowns per 15 minutes of fighting: knockdowns × 15 ÷ minutes fought.
Worked example
A fighter scores 6 knockdowns in 150 minutes of fighting across their career. Their knockdown rate is 6 × 15 ÷ 150 = 0.60 knockdowns per 15 minutes, about one every five rounds.
Good to know
Stat-keepers differ on borderline cases, such as a fighter who drops to a knee only partly because of a strike, and on whether a knockdown that leads straight into the stoppage is counted as well. Judges weigh a knockdown as impact within effective striking; it is not worth a fixed number of points.
Where to see it on UFCalendar
- All-time leaderboard: Knockdowns →
- All-time leaderboard: Knockdowns per 15 min →
- All-time leaderboard: Knockdowns in a fight →
- Record Book →
Get it from the API
The same data is served as JSON by the MMA Fight Data API. The endpoints that carry it:
GET /v1/fights/{id}/statsPer-fight totals for both corners: strikes by target and position, takedowns, control time.
GET /v1/fights/{id}/roundsOne bout with its result, per-fight totals for both corners, and round-by-round statistics.
GET /v1/stats/leadersOne Record Book leaderboard per promotion: career, single-fight, round, division and event boards across 48 metrics.
UFC fight stats in the Fight API →