- Former kickboxing king Badr Hari suffered a highlight-reel knockout defeat Saturday.
- Hari had beaten Arek Wrzosek to the floor multiple times, but turned the tide in the second round.
- A Hail Mary head kick dropped Hari – and the veteran fighter couldn't get up.
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Arek Wrzosek snatched victory from the jaws of defeat Saturday at the Glory 78 kickboxing event in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as he knocked Badr Hari out in highlight-reel fashion.
Hari, one of the consensus kickboxing GOATs, has enjoyed an intimidating Mike Tyson-esque run at the top of his sport for much of the last 20 years.
However, at 36-year-old, Hari is a faded force. He has not won a match since 2016, and failed to buck a losing skid as he suffered a fourth knockout loss in five years.
It could have been so different for the veteran, though, as he had the upper hand over Wrzosek for much of the match, but came unstuck in the second round because of a Hail Mary strike from his Polish opponent.
Hari had previously dropped Wrzosek multiple times and looked like he could finish the fighter. But when he was mid-flurry, Wrzosek threw a desperate head kick.
Through a combination of the timing and accuracy of the shot, Hari failed to absorb the blow and got dropped himself.
Hari tried to get up but his brain was not in sync with his body, and the bout was waved off.
It was all over.
You can see footage of Hari's defeat below, in a clip that Glory - the event promoter - called "the greatest comeback knockout of all time."
The clip shows the build up to and aftermath of the knockout, but not the moment of the kick.
-GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) September 5, 2021
Glory returns for its third event of 2021 with an event called "Glory 79: Collision 3" on Saturday, October 23 in Arnhem, Netherlands.
Rico Verhoeven, another marquee kickboxing attraction, fights the former UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem in a significant main event.