5 UFC fighters who have mastered the D'Arce choke

#2. Tony Ferguson - UFC lightweight

Former interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson is one of the greatest fighters in UFC lightweight history. He is a dynamic fighter who is comfortable wherever a fight takes place.

Although Ferguson's combat sports life began with wrestling, he is better-known for being an unorthodox but devastating Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist. Supremely dangerous off his back, 'El Cucuy' has a wide variety of submissions in his arsenal. His most well-known submission, however, is his D'Arce choke, which he often uses as a counter-wrestling tool.

The effectiveness of his D'Arce choke, in part due to his long arms, is best seen in how frequently successful the submission has been in his UFC career.

To date, Ferguson has secured three wins in the UFC with his D'Arce choke, defeating Mike Rio, Edson Barboza, and Lando Vannata.

Against Vannata, 'El Cucuy' used an impressive setup for his D'Arce choke. As Vannata ducked under one of Ferguson's punches, the former interim champion immediately secured a standing guillotine choke, using his height and length for leverage.

As Vannata used his arm to fight the choke, exposing his armpit, Ferguson transitioned to a D'Arce, sliding his arm under Vannata's armpit to lock in a standing variation of the choke before snapping him down. When his opponent tried rolling out, Ferguson merely turned into him, increasing the shoulder pressure to elicit a tap.

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#1. Vicente Luque - UFC welterweight

Vicente Luque has two signature moves in the octagon: his left hook and his D'Arce choke.

A powerful and relentlessly tough fighter, Luque employs a punishing Muay Thai approach to brutalize his opponents. He applies frequent pressure, forcing his foes onto the backfoot as he draws them out of their preferred styles of engagement, offering them neither the time or space they need to fight comfortably.

Like his striking, the Brazilian's offensive grappling is phenomenally effective. As of this writing, five of his 14 wins in the octagon are due to some form of front choke. Out of those five, four are D'Arce chokes.

Not only does Vicente Luque hold the record for the most UFC wins via D'Arce choke, but one of those wins made him the first and only fighter to ever defeat former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley by submission. Throughout his career, Woodley was notoriously difficult to submit.

After stunning Woodley with a counter-left hook, the Brazilian pounced as his opponent stumbled to the ground, stepping to the side and sliding his arm under the former champion's armpit and neck. Quickly securing his D'Arce choke, Luque sought to hook one of Woodley's defending arms with his leg, but his foe tried rolling to relieve the choke's squeeze.

Unfortunately for Woodley, Luque turned into him so that 'The Chosen One's back was trapped against the fence. With no space and no other choice, Woodley tapped for the first and only time in his career.