With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best submissions from January to December. Here are the top five and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Year award for 2023.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice for Submission of the Year.
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Honorable mentions
Honorable mention: Alexander Volkov def. Tai Tuivasa at UFC 293
Alexander Volkov is hunting for UFC gold, and his statement win over Tai Tuivasa kept his momentum going toward the top of the heavyweight division.
Volkov faced Tuivasa in what proved to be a hard-hitting affair until the fight hit the ground. Volkov was able to put his slick grappling skills to use and tap Tuivasa with a rare Ezekiel choke late in the second frame.
VOLKOV GETS HIS FIRST SUBMISSION WIN SINCE 2016 👏 #UFC293 pic.twitter.com/SvlSCXNwtz
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 10, 2023
Honorable mention: Yair Rodriguez def. Josh Emmett at UFC 284
Yair Rodriguez captured a piece of gold after claiming the UFC interim featherweight belt against Josh Emmett.
With champ Alexander Volkanovski taking a stop at lightweight, Rodriguez took advantage of the situation. He lite up Emmett on the feet before locking up a fight-ending triangle choke on the mat, giving Rodriguez the first submission win of his octagon tenure on the biggest of stages.
YAIR RODRIGUEZ BY SUBMISSION!
HE IS THE INTERIM FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION 🏆 #UFC284 pic.twitter.com/4Uwqgvj4Dc
— UFC (@ufc) February 12, 2023
Honorable mention: Louis Glismann def. Melvin van Suijdam at OKTAGON 43
Louis Glismann pulled off the unthinkable when he rolled and rolled opponent Melvin van Suijdam for an ultra-rare submission in the first round.
The inverted omoplata sequence began when van Suijdam’s arm was trapped between the legs of Glismann, who was on the back from the side. Glismann somersaulted forward, which caused van Suijdam to also take a nosedive. As Glismann finished his roll, he continued his torque but Suijdam’s roll was unable to continue. Glismann planted his forearm on the canvas, applied pressure, and got the tap
Honorable mention: Da'Mon Blackshear def. Jose Johnson at UFC on ESPN 51
Da'Mon Blackshear had one hell of an August, and it started by placing himself in the record books with an extremely uncommon finish of Jose Johnson in their bantamweight bout.
Blackshear pulled off just the third twister submission finish in UFC history at the expense of Johnson, who found himself wrapped up like a pretzel less than four minutes into the opening round and forced to tap out.
Da Monster with the TWISTER!!!! 🌪️🌪️🌪️
Da’Mon Blackshear gets the sub in R1! #UFCVegas78 pic.twitter.com/y6mbpUWSAX
— UFC (@ufc) August 12, 2023
Winner:
The winner: Alexa Grasso def. Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285
The belief heading into UFC 285 was that Alexa Grasso would need to fight a perfect fight to defeat Valentina Shevchenko. Who knew that also applied to the champion?
In a closely contested fight, Shevchenko made one mistake that Grasso capitalized on by sinking in a rear-naked choke for a fourth-round submission win to claim the women’s flyweight from the longstanding dominant champ.
The stunning outcome makes Grasso the first Mexico-born woman ever to win a UFC title (she was the first to compete for one) as she becomes the third newly crowned Mexican champion of 2023.
“Please pinch me, because I feel like I’m dreaming,” Grasso told Joe Rogan during her post-fight octagon interview.
Through three rounds, Grasso had a moral victory of sorts as her boxing served as a wake-up call to Shevchenko early, which made the champ resort to takedowns and grappling that likely had her winning two of the first three frames.
Then came the moment in Round 4. After they spent most of the round standing and exchanging jabs, Shevchenko threw a spinning back kick in the final minute that missed, which allowed Grasso to immediately jump on her back and take the fight to the mat.
From there, Grasso worked hard for the finish until she got it by sinking in the choke and forcing Shevchenko to tap out with 26 seconds left in the fourth. Grasso indicated the finish was no accident.
“I train for that thing,” said Grasso. “It was training. I train every single day that thing, because I knew she did those spinning things. … I trained so, so hard like I never have before in my life.”
