Top 10 greatest submission wins in UFC history
While all UFC fans love a brutal knockout, there’s also something alluring about a really slick submission, which it could be argued takes a little more skill to pull off.
The UFC was built on the back of Royce Gracie and his submission skills, and over the years, we’ve seen a countless number of great submissions inside the octagon.
With all kinds of submissions, from leglocks to armbars, seen in the UFC, it’s hard to produce a list of the greatest submissions we’ve seen in the octagon.
After all, how do you compare a title-winning rear-naked choke to a unique tapout in a largely meaningless bout?
Despite this, some submissions clearly stand out over and above others. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the 10 greatest submissions in UFC history.
#10. Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida – UFC 140
Jon Jones is comfortably the most successful light heavyweight in UFC history, as well as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Despite his reputation being knocked due to a string of positive drug tests, it’s hard to overlook the list of victims dispatched by ‘Bones’ in the UFC.
Jones has won a total of five UFC bouts via submission, but his most memorable was undoubtedly his 2011 finish of Lyoto Machida, a finish that stands as one of the best tapouts in UFC history.
After a difficult first round for Jones, he turned up the heat on ‘The Dragon’ in the second, eventually knocking him down with a left hand. When Machida attempted to get up, Jones snatched him into a modified guillotine choke, and then wrenched him practically off his feet to tighten it up.
Machida fell unconscious almost immediately, and then crumpled lifelessly to the canvas once Jones released him.
The guillotine is one of the more common submissions in the UFC, but fans had never seen it applied this violently and effectively and, to be honest, they haven’t since, either.
#9. Rousimar Palhares vs. Tomasz Drwal – UFC 111
Leg locks are relatively rare in the UFC, largely due to the risks they represent inside the octagon. However, one fighter was more renowned for his array of leglocks than any other – Rousimar Palhares.
‘Toquinho’ came into the UFC in 2008 with a reputation for hurting his opponents with vicious leg locks, usually preferring the deadly heel hook. And in his fifth appearance in the octagon, he showed everyone why.
Faced with Poland’s Tomasz Drwal, Palhares locked up a heel hook after just 45 seconds of the first round, and wrenched it violently, causing ‘Gorilla’ to tap out in agony.
However, for reasons known only to him, Palhares continued to wrench on the hold despite the tapout, doing untold damage to Drwal’s knee. It was an excessively violent submission even by the standards of the UFC and, while it was memorable, it also netted ‘Toquinho’ a suspension and a fine.