5 best UFC submissions of 2018

#3 Aljamain Sterling vs. Cody Stamann & Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Brandon Davis – UFC 228 – 09/08/2018

Zabit Magomedsharipov submitted Brandon Davis in

unique

fashion

I had to rank these two together in a tie simply because not only did they occur on the same show – September’s UFC 228, which coincidentally also saw Tyron Woodley’s D’Arce choke of Darren Till – but also because both men somehow managed to pull off the same (or similar) low-percentage, rarely seen submission on the same night. It was pretty wild to see.

Firstly, the preliminary card saw a back-and-forth fight between Aljamain Sterling and Cody Stamman end when Sterling was able to gain back control on his opponent.

Rather than attempt a choke, Sterling instead reached down and grabbed Stamann’s left leg, pulling it out to the side in a variation of the ultra-rare – and ultra-dangerous – hamstring stretcher. Stamann didn’t even have time to defend before his knee blew out, forcing him to tap.

It was one of the year’s most vicious tapout finishes, but somehow Zabit Magomedsharipov – fighting just a bit further up the card against Brandon Davis – managed to match it with an eerily similar move.

Like Sterling, Zabit managed to take his opponent’s back, but rather than go for the choke, he instead pulled out a truly crazy submission – a combination of a kneebar, hamstring stretch AND a banana split hold – forcing Davis to tap out.

It’s impossible to split the two essentially because of their rarity, and the fact that while Magomedsharipov’s was probably flashier to look at, it was clear that Sterling’s caused more pain. From a fan’s point of view, however, both were equally brilliant.