VIDEO: The craziest comeback in MMA history? Former UFC star came back from the dead twice 12 years ago, then grounded his opponent hard

It was June 26, 2011 and the UFC was hosting an interesting tournament in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The heavyweight main event promised to be an attractive spectacle, but what happened in the duel made history. The craziest comeback in combat sports history? Quite possibly!

Cheick Kongo may not be one of the biggest names to ever appear in the UFC, but he certainly made a big mark in the history of the organization. After all, he fought 18 fights in the best MMA league in the world.

He has fought, for example, former champions Frank Mir, who we can now know from the Octagon, or Cain Velasquez, who has recently become “famous” for his accusations, which unfortunately include the one of attempted murder.

But Kongo definitely delivered the most memorable fight against someone completely different. In June 2011, he took on Pat Barry at UFC Live 4 in Pittsburgh. Given the experience and quality of his opponents, Kongo should have had the upper hand.

However, the heavyweight bout offered a riveting spectacle in which it looked like Kongo had no chance of walking away as the victor. In fact, he landed a barrage of hard shots in the first round, which left him staggering to the ground twice.

Even though he was apparently on autopilot, he somehow always managed to save himself and kept his wrestling attempts in play. After getting up a second time, he made an incredible comeback in addition.

Kongo actually managed to knock Barry out hard, sending him into dreamland and delivering a fantastic reversal. You don’t see resurrections like that very often. So the fight was stopped in the first round and although the fight didn’t last very long, there was plenty to see.

It’s worth noting that Kongo earned the bonus for the best knockout of the night with this knockout. He definitely deserved a nice extra $50,000 on top of his payday.

Source: UFC, Twitter, Tapology