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- 2024 Best Submissions Of The Year (so far)
First Things First
We’re halfway through 2024 but this week’s combat sports calendar is bleak. Instead of looking ahead at upcoming action today we’re going to take a look back at the best submissions from 2024 (so far).
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Now let’s get to today’s piece!
What's In Today's Letter?
2024’s Top 3 Submissions (So Far)
Here are 2024’s top three submissions and two honorable mentions you probably missed from the regional scene.
1: Ortega’s Arm Triangle \ Rear Ezekiel Combo
This fight was an important rematch for Brian Ortega. After losing by injury in their last fight, Ortega had been sitting for more than a year.
Yair Rodriguez, on the otherhand, had gone on to claim an interim belt before failing to unify it in a fight with Alexander Volkanovski.
Early on in this rematch, Rodriguez was beating the snot out of Ortega.
Ortega is pawing forward. Rodriguez responds with a front kick that Ortega catches. Rodriguez drops Ortega with a calf kick and a two a punch combo. Rodriguez enters Ortega’s guard with a hard punch. |  Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez |
Ortega would weather the early storm and get back to his feet. He even ended the round by getting to a dominant position.
Ortega has pushed Rodriguez to the fence with an under hook. Ortega steps between Rodriguez’s feet, hooks his foot, and pulls Rodriguez while circling away to take him down. Ortega would pass to mount to end this round. |  Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez |
To start the second, Ortega got right in his face and Rodriguez got flustered. Ortega then took him down and beat him up on the fence.
Ortega grips Rodriguez’s wrist & neck while driving his head to the fence. Now Rodriguez is stuck. Ortega elbows, frames, and elbows again so Rodriguez opens his guard to try for a submission. Ortega passes, frames, and elbows again. |  Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez |
The third round is going to start and it’s 1 - 1. Again, Ortega got right back in Rodriguez’s face to take him down. Then he went straight to mount to look for the finish.
Ortega gets wrist grips and folds two elbows over the top. Rodriguez tries to frame and defend himself. This gives Ortega the arm triangle choke. Ortega switches to the rear ezekiel variation to finish the choke. |  Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez |
2: Islam Makhachev’s Title Defending D’arce
This submission was only a month ago but it deserves a shout-out. High stakes, impressive submission, and jaw-dropping sequence to set the whole thing up. Let’s check it out.
Makhachev grabs a single and cuts back to switch to the other leg. Poirier pushes Makhachev’s head away so Makhachev steps out and back, lifting Poirier’s leg for the single leg whip. You’ll also hear this called a golf club swing finish. |  Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier |
Makhachev sprinted up to Poirier like a rabid dog. He jumped onto Poirier with the challenger’s favorite submission attempt, a guillotine. He used that to sweep Poirier, lock up a d’arce, and choke him unconscious.
Makhachev crunches onto Poirier with a guillotine. Poirier rolls back and Makhachev follows. Poirier gets to an elbow and digs an under hook so Makhachev counters by grabbing Poirier’s neck for the d’arce. Makhachev hooks Poirier’s leg and sits to his side to finish it. |  Islam Makhachev vs Dustin Poirier |
Now let’s take a look at a submission that happened outside of the UFC.
Number 3: AJ McKee’s Triangle Arm Bar
The guard is kind of dying in MMA. Yes, there are still plenty of fighters that make it work - Yair Rodriguez won his interim title with a triangle after all. But guard-first fighters are essentially non-existent now.
If you look at the chart below from my Twitter friend Nate Latshaw you’ll see that rear naked chokes and guillotines have been the most popular submission for the last decade. In today’s UFC, those two submissions account for more than half of all submissions.
That statistic is exactly what makes this next submission so special!
At the PFL vs Bellator fight card we were treated to a hardcore fan’s delight. MMA phenom AJ McKee took on veteran action star Clay Collard.
Collard tried to wrestle back up after quickly getting taken down. That only created the space McKee needed to trap Collard in his finishing sequence.
McKee is maintaining distance. Collard steps in to box and McKee drops on his legs. Collard starts to wrestle up and McKee grabs a guillotine. Watch McKee’s leg. As he sits back for the choke he throws it over Collard’s shoulder to set up his follow attacks. |  AJ McKee vs Clay Collard |
Collard was doing a good job pulling his arm out to avoid the choke. Unfortunately, that only gave McKee an angle to start breaking his arm.
Collard tries to pull his arm and neck out. To do that he has to extend his trapped arm. McKee hooks over it to get a modified shotgun grip. When Collard does pull his head out, his arm hyperextends and he submits. |  AJ McKee vs Clay Collard |
Now let’s take a look at two honorable mentions you probably missed.
Honorable Mentions You Probably Missed
An Aerial Arm Bar
Masakazu Imanari is an MMA legend. His nickname “ashikan judan” roughly translates to “master of leg submissions”. He’s been snapping legs so effectively, he got a damn leg lock entry named after him!
To celebrate his 48th birthday this year he had another MMA fight. In the first round, it was classic Imanari. He shot, pulled guard, and started attacking immediately.
Majima is attacking with wrist grips and folding elbows. He stands to strike more forcefully and Imanari inverts to start attacking from the back side. Majima pulls out and decides to stay on his knees so Imanari can’t attack his legs again. |  Masakazu Imanari vs Kazumasa Majima |
The fight would go to the second round but it started to look bad for the Japanese legend. He was still attacking from guard but he was eating elbows for his troubles. Then he caught this beautiful arm lock.
Imanari has an over hook. Majima is elbowing with his free arm. When Majima postures to strike, Imanari throws his leg over to attack the trapped arm. Majima lifts Imanari but he pinches his knees to maintain the hold. Majima taps and the 48 year old legend wins again. |  Masakazu Imanari vs Kazumasa Majima |
In this next submission we have an even more dramatic, come from behind win.
The Craziest Come From Behind Submission Of 2024
Cage Warriors is the largest MMA promotion in the UK. I don’t watch them much, but they’re good for a few awesome highlights every month.
Earlier this year, Mitchell Goode and Angus Hewett put on a grappling slug fest for the better part of 14 minutes. Hewett came out fast and hard to take Goode down. Goode was happy to fight off his back and show his Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Hewett has a body lock. He twists Goode before stepping behind him to throw him to the mat. Goode threatens a buggy choke but quickly abandons it. Goode walks his feet on the cage to sweep Hewett. |  Mitchell Goode vs Angus Hewett |
Shortly after this sequence Hewett wrestled up and Goode tried to counter with a guillotine choke. That really set the tenor of the fight.
Hewett would swarm, slam, and strike when he got on top. Goode would move, weather the storm, and try to counter with submissions or sweeps. Midway through the second round, Goode even got deep on a leg entanglement.
Goode rolls and ends up in outside ashi. Goode brings Hewett’s leg across to attack an inside heel hook, but Hewett starts punching him. Goode spins inside a couple times to keep attacking the leg but Hewett rolls with him to strike. They end in a modified calf slicer. |  Mitchell Goode vs Angus Hewett |
Goode would actually hold the calf slicer he locked in here for several minutes. Hewett would monitor his base and hit Goode as the opportunity arose.
The third round opened and it was more of the same. Hewett was beating Goode up from half guard, drowning him. Then it went from bad to worse to unbelievable as we were treated to one of the most insane sequences you’ll see all year.
Hewett has a rear naked choke. Unfortunately for him his hips aren’t aligned with Goode’s spine and he loses the back. Hewett comes up in side control and Goode locks a buggy choke with less than a minute left. He squeezes for 20 seconds and gets the win. |  Mitchell Goode vs Angus Hewett |
The announcers called this the first buggy Choke in Cage Warriors history. Now that it’s been used in MMA and the highest levels of submission grappling effectively, you simply can’t afford not to know the defense to this submission if you like attacking from side control and you’re fighting a BJJ specialist.
Next week’s big fight is more spectacle than substance. Youtuber turned boxer Jake Paul is taking on Bake Knuckle Fighting Champion, Mike Perry. This fight really has me questioning, why do so many wealthy people want to get punched in the face? Come back here Tuesday if you want to find out why.
Links, Instructionals, And More Matches To Study
These final two fights are available for free on Youtube:
Click here to watch Masakazu Imanari’s fight
And you can watch Mitchell Goode’s buggy choke here
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