Ritter guessed it’s because of the jaw’s exposed location on the skull, protruding downward, mostly unprotected by the sturdier structures of the head. While every fighter and fan understands that the chin is perhaps the most vulnerable spot to get hit, the reasons why don’t seem entirely obvious. Nor can doctors really explain the seemingly unique role of the chin and jaw in knockout blows. It’s believed that one or a combination of these factors can cause an athlete to lapse into unconsciousness, Ritter said, but nobody knows for sure how or why.

Meanwhile, the body begins rushing blood to the brain in an effort to protect it and begin repairing any damage.

The sudden loss of those chemicals, Ritter hypothesized, can force the cells to become depolarized, to lose their electrical gradient. When brain cells are damaged by the biomechanical force of impact, they purge themselves of certain chemicals like calcium and glutamate. So, those forces can actually penetrate pretty deep, especially the rotational forces.”Īt the cellular level, these impacts disrupt the delicate chemical balance the brain is constantly working to maintain. There’s no exoskeleton to the brain at all, so when you have any sort of force to the brain, it wiggles like a piece of jelly mold, and there’s nothing to really stop those forces. “When these forces penetrate the skull, it’s basically like shaking a mold of Jello. “The brain’s way to protect itself is to encase itself in this fortress of the skull,” Ritter said. These impacts can penetrate deeper into the brain and harm the organ’s interior structures, Ritter said, sometimes going far enough to impact the brainstem, which controls consciousness. The second kind of impact is rotational, which can force the brain to wobble or quiver, sending shockwaves through the entire organ. Sometimes the brain collides with the hard, interior surface of the cranium, causing damage to its exterior gray matter structures. The first is an acceleration-deceleration impact and can cause the brain to move through its protective cerebrospinal fluid in the closed chamber of the skull. When an object such as a fist, foot or knee collides with the human skull hard enough to cause mild traumatic brain injuries like concussions, it traditionally results in two types of impact, Ritter said. These questions regarding the brain are a little bit unknown, but they’re fascinating - and I think that’s where a lot of the research and science comes in.” We still don’t really know what is necessary for life. “We have theories (but) we still don’t know why people go to sleep. “There’s a lot of unknown about what exactly is going on in the brain (during a knockout),” said the Cleveland Clinic’s Aaron Ritter, the co-primary investigator in the clinic’s ongoing study into repetitive head impacts on athlete health. While the effects of Masvidal’s handiwork on Askren’s exterior were plain to see, medical science is still grappling with what physically happens inside the body during a knockout, why the brain reacts the way it does and why certain people are affected differently than others.

Yet there’s still much about what happened during those five seconds that remains a mystery. It was the fastest finish in UFC history, propelling Masvidal to sudden heights of fame and into his ensuing “ BMF title” fight against Nate Diaz earlier this month at UFC 244. “One of the greatest knockouts you’ll ever see!” shouted UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik as T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas devolved into bedlam.

In depth ufc play by play