Shayna Baszler calls out the use of her finisher in a UFC fight
Shayna Baszler recently pointed out the use of her finishing move, the Kirifuda Clutch, in a UFC fight.
At the September 17 UFC event in Las Vegas, NV, titled Sandhagen Vs. Song, Gillian Robertson took on Mariya Agapova in a women's flyweight bout. The fight ended midway through round two when Robertson used the aforementioned submission hold to choke out her opponent.
Kirifuda is one of several rear-naked chokes used in professional wrestling today. A similar move is used by AEW's Samoa Joa, who calls it the Coquina Clutch. A variation of the move is also used by Karrion Kross, who calls it the Kross Jacket.
The move differs from a regular sleeper hold as a rear-naked choke sees both the aggressor and the victim lying down, compared to the upright position of sleepers used by the likes of Dolph Ziggler and Roddy Piper.
The Queen of Spades, who has an MMA pedigree of her own, replied to a video of the UFC bout by naming her finisher.
KIRIFUDA twitter.com/ftbeard7/statuโฆ
Shayna Baszler most recently challenged Liv Morgan for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Clash at the Castle. Despite injuring the champ's arm weeks before the bout, Shayna was decisively defeated in Cardiff.
A brief history of Shayna Baszler's MMA career
Shayna Baszler had a nearly decade-long career in Mixed Martial Arts. She made her debut for the short-lived promotion Elite XC in 2006. She would soon move to a more prominent company in Strikeforce.
After hopping promotions and winning championships for years, Baszler's next big break came on UFC's reality show "The Ultimate Fighter" in 2013, where she was picked by Ronda Rousey for her team. After the show, the two joined up with Marina Shafir (now in AEW) and Jessamyn Duke to form an MMA faction called The 4 Horsewoman.
Despite her UFC career ending with a disappointing 0-2 record, Shayna's career record is a far more impressive 15-11, with 13 submission victories.
Shayna Baszler was the first fighter, male or female, to score a Twister submission (Ground Cobra Twist) on major televised MMA (ShoXC April 2008).
Baszler was also also the first fighter in the history of MMA to win with it twice. #PrideWrestle ๐ณ๏ธโ๐
https://t.co/d2QZ5FkQ4l
Shayna Baszler transitioned to professional wrestling in 2015, working for promotions like Stardom and DDT-Pro before signing with WWE in 2017. Her next few years on NXT were pure domination, being the brand's longest-reigning women's champion ever.
Ronda Rousey followed Shayna by signing with WWE in 2018. The two are friends to this day.