Yair recently had a talk/ interview with a Mexican youtube channel called "Roberto Mtz" where he told that around a month before the fight he felt an horrible pain on his liver while training so he told Cowboy Cerrone (his friend) about it and Cowboy told him to go immediately to the hospital so his wife (cowboy's wife is a Doctor) could check him, they made some blood test, torso scan and stuff and they found out that Yair had an abnormal ball right on his liver and they said it had high probability to be cancer (later he found out it was a benign and fixable condition). So the UFC asks Yair to fight TKZ on a 2 weeks short notice and he accepts it, he doesn't says a word about his condition to the UFC's medical team and decides to fight with a lot of stuff going on inside of his mind, thinking he was done, that his career and his life were over. Yair said that in the fight week he constantly told himself these words: "If you are already going to die, how do you want to do it? Do you want to die with fear? Do you want to die sad? No, I want to die happy, I'm going to die on my own terms, I'm going to die inside that cage, I'm going to die fighting the toughest motherf*cker from the whole Korea". Yair was not hugging, shaking hands and being kind with TKZ to distract him, he was doing it because that was his goodbye letter to us. Edit: In the same interview he says that the KO was just the cherry on the cake after all the hell he went through, "it was God telling me 'there you go mate'"

we're not going to see another finish like this in this century. this one is one of a kind and will never be replaced and replicated. for me, this is the most epic finish of all time in any combat sports I've watched.

Having just seen this fight for the first time (not knowing the outcome) and staying glued the entire time, my mouth uncontrollably fell open when the finish happened. How epic, I doubt we’ll see anything like it in a while. What a fight.

The sportsmanship they had in this fight is one of the reasons why I love fighting sports.

That has to be the best last second literal mid-air knock out of all MMA time...

One of the best UFC fights and finishes EVER! 2 warriors and 1 vicious fight-ending bell-beating elbow! Wow!

This is one of my favorites fights in UFC history. The date, the event, the styles, the knockout, the context, the expectations, the war between both warriors and of course, the victory of Rodriguez. ¡Vas a ser campeón, pinche Pantera!

This was just a terrific exhibition of standup. I wanted them both to win. Zombie I felt was ahead, and then, what I thought was a head clash was clearly an elbow from hell. OMG, never seen anything like that. Holy crap! !

There will never be something to top this. In nearly 5 full rounds, Yair decidedly had lost the fight. Zombie marches him down in the final seconds, and in the last second of a 1500 second fight, Yair not only gets a great shot, he knocks Zombie out with an unorthodox elbow. Just mind blowing.

A beautiful display of respect. Probably one of the best fights I've seen.

There is no friends until it ends. Yair was outstanding, unorthodox, exciting all in one. Great fight from both.

This has been my favorite fight for years! They perfectly matched each other in every aspect & gave the world a hell of a performance. Glad they finally posted it in full.

There was an interview with the Korean Zombie where he was asked if he regretted the choices he made in the last five seconds of the fight. He replied that his philosophy in fighting is to always go for the finish no matter what the situation and doesn't have any regrets about the ending of the fight because he went down fighting until the end. While I agree with most people that it would've been much better for him to just take the last five seconds off, I couldn't help but respect this man's mindset! War Zombie! And congratulations to Yair

yair fight like how we all fight in our head😂

19:57 Yair showed great awareness when he got hurt. It's like he knew what was coming. More than likely he knew Zombie was gonna try the flying knee follow up so he threw one first. He probably knew how Zombie likes to go for that like he did against Aldo and Porier who he ended up finishing after it.

The level of FOCUS , the awareness of his opponents head at that very second. Theres something special about a fighter like this.

That was the most unreal finish I have ever seen! I think KZombie was going to win by decision...but what a finish!

One of best fights I ever saw! 2 great warriors.

Such a technical fight on both sides, kind of incredible how much fight IQ each has.

I can literally say that was one of the best fight IQ by Yair. How did he pull that elbow?😱😱😱

Much respect to both fighters ❤

The amount of respect they showed each other is amazing👏

Absolutely incredible fight! This is the type of fight that does credit and honor to all facets of the mma itself! What a display of courage, skill, stamina, respect, honor, strength, speed, defense, resilience, power, toughness, determination, will and heart! Damn…what a fight!

This fight is hands down one of the best fights in recent UFC history. These dudes beat the shit out of each other the entire fight, and Yair was likely headed toward a loss, but he snuck in the sneakiest shoulder in UFC history

This was the best fight I've seen in a long time. Absolutely incredible.

This will forever be the greatest knock out of all time.

Fight of the year, possibly the decade! One second to go and a KO.

Imagine how frustrating must be to lose in the last 5 seconds with a ko, a fight that you would’ve won otherwise..bet he was thinking about those last seconds for a long time, had he made a different choice and not be so aggressive in the end

Esta Es la mejor pelea que he visto nunca!! No me canso de verla..

The Korean zombie just smiling at all this fancy flying shit Yair was throwing and going "that was cool, here have a jab and 2 straights :)"

KZ had this fight in the bag by significant strikes alone. He got bamboozled by the gushing friendliness. Amazing finish

De los mejores Nocaut de la historia de la UFC 🇲🇽😎👌 gracias Yair Rodríguez por tremenda joya✨🇲🇽😎👌

That break at the near 10 second mark with the commentary saying enough because he was so excited. For me it was so damn perfect, I just thought it’s like an anime where both characters determine to finish on one final attack to settle it and that’s exactly what happened. Too good.

This should have at least a million views.

El mejor nocaut que he visto, mucha técnica de Rodríguez 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 viva México 🇲🇽

The best MMA fight i have ever seen..... Thanks Guys

I love the end of the video when Yair is dying but when the camera pointed his face he smiled

These two gotta do a movie together! 🎬

Yair Rodriquez is an amazing athlete and martial artist. His technique is so fluid, cohesive, fast, powerful, adventurous even. His arsenal of kicks is very impressive and those elbows are deadly. I think he could be the next UFC superstar and even world champion. He's also cool as a cucumber in there which is half the battle right there as calm brings lucidity and strong defence and combined with decisive and well timed offensive action is the most effective general.

yair was setting it up in the 4th to execute it in the last seconds is crazy these guys are warriors

I think this is one of the best fights I'v ever seen! The respect for each other!

unbelievably cardio from yair throwing like that 5 rounds hes dangerous

Even better the 2nd time..Korean Zombie is one of my favorite fighters of all time, i really hope he sticks around the sport in some way.

This fight is sooo underrated.. an incredible fight

The true showman of the UFC is called Yair Rodríguez "El Pantera"💪🇲🇽

The fact that Korean Zombie defeated Poirier tells us there’s no math in MMA. 😮

Holy cow….that was unbelievable!!

That buzzer beater elbow KO by Yair Rodriguez at the last second is forever iconic 👏👏👏👏

BEAUTIFUL FIGHT, I LOVE THEM

Best fight I’ve ever watched

Rodriguez is a brilliant fighter, stylist fighter, strong fighter in UFC history

*Happy New Year!* *Viva Mexico!*

Great fight! What a shocking ending, that night we were stunned almost as much as TKZ was.

That elbow at 8:50 was crazy

amazing. even till this day these 2 fighters bring the fury into the octagon. beautiful stuff.

UFC ceases to amaze me... You can witness a first round KO in the first 5 seconds or a KO in the last round with 1 second to spare.

So much respect between those two!

grappling sequence at the end of the first was sweet. i’ve been training different combat sports for 13 years for mma and i’ve gotten so much stylistic inspiration from yair, jon jones, and tawanchai. my biggest takeaway from yair’s fights is his unpredictability in striking, footwork, and movement. i added some of his unique strikes to my training as well because of how well he uses them as a mix up, and because they work very well for his body type. jones, tawanchai, and yair are pretty similar in build and watching how they utilize the advantages and disadvantages of it in the stand up massively improved my striking. i think that seeing them do this so effectively is what initially drove me to study them because i have the same body type, it’s kind of like i could relate to their styles and strategies because i am put in similar situations. anyways sorry for the rant i just wanted to express how beneficial watching and studying high level fighters has been for me, i would definitely recommend it if you compete in any combat sport. after years of dedication, training, and competition in various martial arts, my very first professional mma fight is on february 22nd. coming in at 23-3 in amateur with a 18 fight win streak from 2 years of competing is an absolute dream come true. follow your dreams and work hard for them! ✌️

My man from great Mexico 🇲🇽 Greetings from Dubai to Korea, and my Latinos family a round the world 🌍

The referee did event notice the fight ended like a second before the bell😂😂😂😂😂 he was like omg this dud is really reaally asleep😂

Best fight from this two fighters, full of respect from both of them...

Who’s here after the zombie retired 😢what a legend

Personally I think this is the greatest knockout in UFC history 🔥

I’ve never seen anything like this in the finish. BIGGUPS AND MAJOR RESPECT to be both of these men!!!! Love them both!!!!

heck of a fight. i have never seen zombie knocked out. he can take some punishment & seldom slows down. never seen yair fight before. i never understood the rolling kicks? he tried. gaethe trys the same sort of things.very even i thought until elbow caught the zombie. ref. had a easy job that night. much respect to both fighters.

MMA at it's best. Skill, sportmanship, excitment. Legend !

WOW!! Holy shit , I didn't see this fight until tonight. The very last second , incredible!! What a damn war!

One of the greatest knockouts of all time

still can't believe this K.O. never even mentioned in top K.O.s of the decade

Yes, very thankful for this fight!

Amazing fighters, amazing fight, unpredictable and diverse tactics, high tension, never seen an elbow upper cut like that before.

the back story, the 5 round war, and the ko. one of the best fights off all time

ESE MEXICANO ES SIN DUDAS EL MAS COMPLETO 🇨🇺🇲🇽🔥

dad told me about this fight and was not disappointed, great fighters and amazing match!

No contest. Rodrigues is the most dynamic fighter on planet earth. He comes up with strikes, kicks that are beyond imagination. He not only imagines these moves but executes under immense pressure. What in hell was the double handed shoulder slap (or strike) he landed in round 2? And the finish was no fluke, he meant to do it and the zombie wasn’t prepared. How can you prepare for something you’ve not seen before or imagined? He is an artist, simple. Wow

Bobby Lee: ** Triggered! ** 😭

Wow!! Great fight...gotta be in the top 10.

The judges were the happiest of everyone. They all hit the "That Was Easy" button and went home for dinner, lol.

incredible fight, incredible finish

0:04 remember watching this live & thinking Yair looked like he let out one last fart before the war started

Oh my goodness is right. That is definitely the best elbow ko I've ever seen and probably the craziest KO in general. That was absolutely insane, I didn't even notice what he did until the replay.

Это лучший бой гладиаторов современности, а какое уважение друг другу, а концовка это как у Марадоны рука божья! Супер можно только восхищаться этими джентльменами.

Osea como? Un mexicano con buen taekwondo y un coreano con buen boxeo

That couldn’t have been executed any better the timing in the moment plus the buzzer beater Hail Mary attempt that is one of the best ko’s in ufc history

Wow!!!! Holy shit!!!! I did not see that coming!

Hermosa pelea de ambos, Yair Rodríguez y the korean zombie. El knock out de Yair La Pantera Rodríguez es de genio ❤❤❤❤

28:05 a genius ....

5:08 the way zombie patted his face 🤣💀

Can you upload Marlon Vera vs Rob Font !! Im very thankful for that fight ! Idk why y’all took it down!

I never get tired of watching this fight and especially the last minute, it's amazing.

When Joe says this sport is unlike any other, in the way that you can't lead a football match with 3-0 and the other team scores a goal worth 4 goals for the win. I had zombie for the win even tho it was close, but then the beauty of this unpredictable sport strikes at the absolute last second.

Both are such a wonderful martial artists, respect to both.

This was the first event that I introduced UFC and my family are old school Méxicans but this fight changed their whole negative perspective on MMA, IF YAIR EVER WINS THE 145/55 BELT HE WOULD GO DOWN AS A GOAT ESPECIALLY WITH THIS BELL BUZZER KO!🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

That elbow hit the off button. What a fight!

Just towards the final moments to victory,the Korean Zombie took an elbow to the face,and went out like a blown candle.

What an excellent fight. What determination came from both fighters. And the creativity of Rodriguez, always flourishing right while eating the shots of the zombie. Awesome. Thx.

I was devastated after this fight. Zombie looked so incredible all fight and he had to chase the finish to the last second. Incredible fight though.

epic finish. Yair Pantera is one of my favorite fighters.

The most amazing finish ever

Que tremendo peleador que es Rodriguez, sabe como esquivar cada golpe y salir rapidamente cuando lo quieren encerrar.... Saludos desde Ecuador