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ONE Championship, being home to some of the best martial artists in the world, has some of the most lethal submission artists in both MMA and jiu-jitsu. There's something about a well-executed and nasty submission hold that amazes and entertains even the most casual of fans.
With all of the submissions in grappling, the rear-naked choke holds perhaps the highest finishing rate. Once you let even a novice grappler take your back and control it, your chances of getting choked out significantly increase. Imagine if a world-class fighter finds his way to your back. The submission becomes almost a certainty.
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What makes the rear-naked choke so effective at finishing fights is the fact that there aren't a lot of defensive maneuvers you can do once you're trapped in that position already. Not to mention, in MMA, you won't be able to see where the strikes are coming from.
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Even a beginner can tap a seasoned grappler if the latter allows the former to take his back and squeeze the carotid arteries in his neck. How to get there, however, is a different story.
It's not really about the choke itself, but the ability to get to a position to sink it in that separates mere practitioners from absolute artists.
Today, we look at three MMA fighters in ONE Championship who can execute the dreaded rear-naked choke to perfection more than most.
#3. Former ONE Championship featherweight world champion Marat 'Cobra' Gafurov
Former ONE featherweight world champion Marat 'Cobra' Gafurov once won six straight fights in ONE Championship via rear-naked choke. That's on top of his nine total career wins via the same submission. If that doesn't make the Dagestani grappler an artist at taking the back and choking people out, we don't know what does.
What makes Gafurov so effective at executing the back choke is his debilitating pressure that's synonymous with fighters hailing from the Republic of Dagestan. Once he gets a hold of any of your limbs, the former ONE world champion has one path and it always leads to him either on mount or back control.
Once he gets on top, Gafurov's pressure passing and ground-and-pound are vintage Dagestani MMA. In other words, you're in for a world of hurt. The chaining of submission attempts is there, but what makes Gafurov's ground attack remarkable is his ability to control the position while still moving inch by inch to a better position.
He doesn't allow much space as his suffocating pressure forces his opponents to basically allow him to have his way and give up their backs. From there, Gafurov's otherworldly squeeze will get the tap.
Watch his submission highlights here:
#2. ONE Championship women's atomweight world champion 'Unstoppable' Angela Lee
Attack. Transition. Attack. This is the basic framework of dominant ONE atomweight world champion Angela Lee's grappling barrage.
Her ground game is like that of an attack dog - she never stops trying to find ways to hurt you, regardless of position.
What's frightening about Lee's grappling wizardry is how frantic and frenetic it looks as she keeps attacking with strikes and submission attempts constantly. And yet, upon close examination, the ONE Championship queen is actually highly technical and methodical. Only 'Unstoppable' can see the method to her madness as her opponents seem bewildered by her attacks.
Her constant aggression on the ground often makes her opponents move desperately, presenting Lee with her signature opening to take the back: the transitions.
In her historic bout with Stamp Fairtex at ONE X, the Canadian-American world champion overwhelmed the Thai sensation with constant grappling.
Never given any space to even think, Stamp was constantly on the defensive, forcing her to move and move until Lee got her on her belly, revealing her back. From there it was all academic. Angela Lee sunk in the choke and got the tap with mere seconds left in the round.
It's a familiar story as Angela Lee has finished five of her opponents with a rear-naked choke, including ONE women's strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan.
Watch Lee's fight with Stamp here:
#1. Former ONE Championship lightweight world champion Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki
What more can be said that hasn't been said yet about former ONE Championship lightweight world champion Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki's legendary submission mastery? The Japanese MMA icon has 31 wins via submission, six of them via rear-naked choke.
Aoki rarely throws strikes as he heavily leans on his ground game. What's scary about the grappling attacks of 'Tobikan Judan', however, is that you know where he is going but you can't stop him from going there.
The best way to describe Aoki's grappling is that of a boa constrictor - it gets tighter and tighter the more you struggle to wiggle out. The slow and constricting way Aoki controls you limb-by-limb is second to none.
In his fight with ONE Championship lightweight James Nakashima, the moment Aoki got the back bodylock after ducking under a punch, the the fight was over. From back control, 'Tobikan Judan' slowly but surely worked his way to a standing rear-naked choke that wasn't even under the chin - he turned it into an excruciating neck crank.
Watch the full fight here:
