The best tapouts in UFC history: Part 1: Chokes
In the world of MMA, while a brutal knockout is always highly entertaining, there’s something almost more impressive about a fight-ending submission hold – the artistry and skill that goes into catching it, the positional sense and timing, and quite often, the sheer brutality it can bring.
Over the 25 years of the UFC, there have been some massively memorable tapouts with a plethora of various holds being used to finish fights. In this new series, I’ll be looking at the most memorable submissions in UFC history, grouped by type.
We begin with the 5 of the most memorable choke submissions in UFC history.
#1 Rear Naked Choke – Drew Fickett vs. Josh Neer – UFC Fight Night 1 – 08/06/2005
The rear naked choke is probably the most common submission in MMA as it’s a relatively simple hold to apply and tends to be used on worn-down opponents who’ve simply taken enough punishment.
Introduced to MMA by the legendary Royce Gracie, who used it to win many of his fights in the early UFC tournaments, the rear naked choke is usually applied by a fighter who’s taken the back of his opponent, using the legs as hooks in order to control the body position.
There have literally been hundreds of rear naked choke submissions in UFC history, but the best for my money was the one that Drew Fickett used to submit Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 1 back in 2005. The fight saw Fickett secure an early takedown to guard, and after a scramble, he was able to hop onto Neer’s back and use both legs as hooks to control ‘The Dentist’.
From there, Fickett managed to secure a rear naked choke almost in a sleeper hold fashion as Neer attempted to reach up to prevent it. Within seconds the hold was locked in, and Neer collapsed to the ground with Fickett still clamped to his back. It took a signal from Fickett to referee Steve Mazzagatti to point out that Neer was unconscious, and when the hold was released, Neer was left stiff, arms pointing up in the air with a glassy look to his eyes.
Sure, there have been more historically important rear naked chokes, but for the sudden effect of the hold – as well as a pretty scary aftermath – you can’t beat this one. Neer literally looked like he’d had the life choked out of him – which is exactly the idea behind the rear naked choke.