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The UFC turns 30 years old in 2023, and it’s safe to say that the art of grappling and the use of submission holds remain as important for the promotion’s fighters as ever.
The period between 2013 and 2022 saw the fighters of the UFC continue to increase their skills on the mat, often utilizing submissions we’d never seen in the octagon before.
In many instances, some of the best tap-outs during this period came from holds that remain rare to this day.
Here are the best submissions from every year of the UFC’s existence, with this list covering the period from 2013 to 2022.
For part one of this list, click here, and for part two, click here.
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#1. Kenny Robertson vs. Brock Jardine – UFC 157 (2013)
Few UFC fans will remember Kenny Robertson, and it’s understandable. The welterweight put together an octagon record of just 4-5 during his run with the promotion. He also hardly had a flashy persona.
However, he did produce the best submission of 2013, taking out Brock Jardine in devastating fashion that February. Robertson easily outgrappled his foe in the bout, and when he took his back, a finish looked academic.
Jardine fought off a rear-naked choke attempt, though, so Robertson switched things up. Giving up on the choke, he instead reached down, grabbed Jardine’s left leg and pulled it forwards, essentially wrenching his hamstring.
Jardine yelped in pain and tapped out in an instant, and Robertson had won with a truly unique submission only seen on a couple of occasions since.
#2. Ben Saunders vs. Chris Heatherly – UFC Fight Night 49 (2014)
The omoplata, a submission hold that attacks the shoulder, had been seen in the UFC on plenty of occasions over the years. But prior to 2014, it’d never been used to submit an opponent. Instead, it tended to be used as a sweep or a transition hold.
That changed when veteran Ben Saunders faced off with Chris Heatherly. Prior to the bout, ‘Killa B’ had always been known for his striking. However, when Heatherly took him down, he wasted no time in utilizing his jiu-jitsu instead.
After failing with a triangle choke, Saunders transitioned into an omoplata. Remarkably, within seconds he had it locked up, wrenching Heatherly’s left arm behind his back.
Clearly in pain, the octagon newcomer tapped out, giving Saunders his second UFC win via submission, and the promotion’s first omoplata too.
#3. Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano – UFC 184 (2015)
At her peak, former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s armbar was as close to a pro-wrestling finishing hold as anyone could’ve found in MMA. She finished three opponents in the octagon with it, but her most memorable armbar definitely came against Cat Zingano in 2015.
‘Alpha’ was meant to be the biggest threat to Rousey’s title up until that point. A dangerous striker with excellent ground skills, she was bringing an unbeaten 9-0 record into her title challenge.
However, she came into the bout in a far too emotional state, and it cost her.
In the opening seconds, she launched herself at Rousey with an attempted flying knee. After missing, ‘Rowdy’ somehow caught her in an armbar as the two women scrambled.
Zingano had to tap out instantly and Rousey had her fastest win to that point in just 14 seconds. It remains a remarkable submission to this day.
#4. Ben Rothwell vs. Josh Barnett – UFC on Fox 18 (2016)
One fighter who was never known for his grappling skills was Ben Rothwell. A heavy-handed striker who also carried a slightly unfair reputation for sloppy bouts, Rothwell became a heavyweight title contender in 2016 after producing a remarkable tapout win.
Faced with a highly rated submission artist in the form of Josh Barnett, many fans felt that Rothwell’s only way to win was to keep the fight standing.
However, when Barnett shot for a takedown in the second round, Rothwell shocked everyone by snaring his exposed neck into a modified guillotine choke. Yanking ‘The War Master’ to the ground, he tightened up the hold. Seconds later, he coaxed a tap.
The win was the high point for Rothwell’s UFC career, as he won just three more bouts before leaving the promotion. However, this shocker still stands as the best submission of 2016.
#5. Demetrious Johnson vs. Ray Borg – UFC 216 (2017)
Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson produced plenty of memorable finishes in his octagon career, but he saved his best until his final – and record-setting 11th – title defense.
Faced with an overmatched Ray Borg, ‘Mighty Mouse’ seemed to be cruising his way to a decision win. With less than two minutes to go in the fifth round, it made no sense for him to go for anything spectacular.
That’s just what he did, though. After taking Borg’s back standing, he elevated him, hit a suplex variant, and as they landed, transitioned directly into a fight-ending armbar.
The submission was like nothing ever seen before in the octagon, and it hasn’t been repeated since. It’s a no-brainer that it stands as 2017’s best tap-out finish.
#6. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor – UFC 229 (2018)
On the face of it, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s submission of Conor McGregor at UFC 229 in 2018 was not all that spectacular.
After largely dominating ‘The Notorious’ throughout their lightweight title bout, Khabib eventually found his way into back control. From there, he used a simple – yet brutal – neck crank to force the Irishman to tap out.
However, while it wasn’t flashy and didn’t require a great amount of skill, this submission has to be considered the best of 2018 purely because of its impact. It came in the headliner of the biggest UFC show of all time and turned Nurmagomedov into one of the promotion’s greatest-ever stars too.
From his perspective, the fight with McGregor and its fight-ending submission was probably just another fight. However, to the fans, it created an indelible memory that still stands out nearly five years later.
#7. Misha Cirkunov vs. Jimmy Crute – UFC Fight Night 158 (2019)
Initially debuted in the UFC back in 2008, the Peruvian necktie remains a rare and yet devastating submission hold. When it was used by Misha Cirkunov to submit Jimmy Crute in 2019, then, it immediately established itself as that year’s best tap-out.
The fight itself was a frenetic one, with both men exchanging strikes and takedowns from the off. When Crute found himself on top midway through the first round, though, he got too wild and left his neck wide open.
Cirkunov quickly snatched it up, and rather than go for a guillotine, he instead locked in the necktie. Crute attempted to roll free, but that only made the hold tighter. Seconds later, the Australian tapped out.
This was both a beautiful and violent-looking submission, and was probably the high point of Cirkunov’s octagon career, too.
#8. Ariane Lipski vs. Luana Carolina – UFC Fight Night 172 (2020)
The kneebar is perhaps one of the more underrated submissions used in the octagon. It’s relatively rare, yet not impossible to pull off. When it is used, it makes for a truly nasty visual.
Perhaps the best kneebar in recent memory was the variant used by Ariane Lipski to submit Luana Carolina in the summer of 2020. It looked downright horrible and made a mockery of the idea of Brazilian jiu-jitsu being the “gentle art.”
After dropping her foe, Lipski pounced for a finish, only for Carolina to start hunting for a leglock. ‘The Violence Queen’ responded in kind, and seconds later, she locked up a kneebar from the top and wrenched her opponent’s leg backwards at a horrendous angle.
Carolina outright screamed in agony before she tapped out, while the look on Lipski’s face appeared to suggest she was enjoying her handiwork. This was one of the most brutal submissions in UFC history and stands out as the best of 2020.
#9. Khamzat Chimaev vs. Li Jingliang – UFC 267 (2021)
When Khamzat Chimaev, the breakout star of 2020, returned to action after over a year on the shelf in 2021, some fans doubted he’d be the same. After all, he’d almost retired after a bad bout of COVID-19.
Those fans were made to eat their words, though, when ‘Borz’ completely whitewashed a tough opponent in Li Jingliang, putting him away with a slick rear-naked choke in the first round.
Remarkably, Chimaev didn’t even absorb a strike in this fight. He simply slammed Li to the ground, worked and took his back, and choked him out as easily as Royce Gracie did to one of his opponents in the UFC’s early days.
Sure, this wasn’t a flashy submission, but to see a genuine high-level fighter dummied in this way was jaw-dropping, marking this out as 2021’s most memorable tapout.
#10. Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira – UFC 280 (2022)
Over the 30 years of the UFC’s existence, no fighter has been as successful with submissions as Charles Oliveira. At the time of writing, the former lightweight champion has a total of 16 tap-out wins, a promotional record.
In 2022, though, ‘Do Bronx’ found himself dominated on the ground by an even more powerful grappler – Islam Makhachev.
Long considered the heir to the throne vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov, the Dagestani proved that he belonged at the top by whitewashing Oliveira in their title fight, finishing him by knocking him down and submitting him with an arm triangle choke.
Not only did this choke take remarkable skill to pull off, but the fact that it came against the most successful submission fighter in UFC history only made it even more of a huge achievement.
Sure, it was only an arm triangle choke, but the bigger picture makes it by far the best submission of 2022 and one of the best of all time, period.
