When it comes to a category like ‘Round of the Year’ in combat sports, it’s hard not to harken back to boxing’s classic example of Marvin Hagler versus Thomas Hearns.

Though the build-up for the UFC 231 fight between Thiago “Marreta” Santos and Jimi Manuwa was nowhere near the classic boxing reference above, both battles brought palpable power that could be felt through television screens worldwide. Not only that, but, more importantly, each matchup contained frames that housed more violence than a round was meant to hold.

For Santos, the contest, which took place Dec. 8 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, was his first bout at 205 pounds against a legitimate light heavyweight, which, especially in retrospect, was an important indicator of the Brazilian’s fighting future.

As for Manuwa, it was arguably a must-win spot for him. The Brit went from being in title talks to two heartbreaking defeats within the span of a year, making for a determined and dangerous man come fight night.

The match started somewhat opposite to way Hagler-Hearns did, with Santos, the stance-shifting pressure fighter, being the one to get the jump on the longer, more pinpoint striker. “Marreta” was able to beat Manuwa to the punch, landing right hands and left hook follow-ups that had the more seasoned light heavyweight looking to clinch.

Referee Todd Anderson – unlike Richard Steele in Hagler-Hearns – allowed the two fighters to work things out in the clinch for decent instances of time, which provided the few breathing points this round had to offer. More importantly, Manuwa was able to make use of these clinch instances, gathering himself from the shots he’d absorbed while staging offense of his own.

After landing a solid elbow on Santos off the break, Manuwa then appeared to sting his counterpart with a check jab in space, which only made Santos seemingly more frantic to close the distance. And on that note, Santos launched into a wild combination flow that consisted of a fake level-changing shot to a jab and spinning elbow, only to immediately be followed by a head kick in the same motion, parlaying his miss into a jumping, Thai-style roundhouse kick off the same leg, which ultimately crescendoed into left hook to double-leg takedown – all within the span of ten seconds.

Manuwa, however, quickly got back to his feet and started getting back into the fight, landing quality elbows and uppercuts inside of the clinch. Once separated, Santos would go to his patented spin kicks, something that Manuwa was able to capitalize on by stepping out of the way and returning with kicks of his own. And after landing his trademark left hook along the fence, Manuwa had seemingly hurt Santos even further, which – wait for it – only made the Brazilian even more of a marauding madman, slinging flying tornado kicks at the Englishman in retaliation.

By the time Manuwa was able to capitalize on Santos being out of position, the round had come to an end. The fight then moved onto the second frame, where Santos found a stoppage within the first minute.

Words cannot do battles like this justice, as the weight of the blows to the sporadic jolts of adrenaline is at it’s most palpable when watching these kinds of fights live. And though there were other worthy options like the third round of Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero 2 at UFC 225 in June or the first round between Cory Sandhagen and Iuri Alcantara at UFC Fight Night 135 in August, few other fights – much less rounds – took the MMA world through a rollercoaster ride of emotions like Santos and Manuwa did at UFC 231.

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