5 fighters with the most submission wins in UFC history

#1 Royce Gracie – 11 submission wins

Okay, so it’s a well-known fact that practically every fighter that Royce Gracie faced inside the Octagon – with the odd exception like Ken Shamrock and Kimo Leopoldo perhaps – had little to no knowledge of the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Most of them had practically no clue about any form of grappling, in fact. But Gracie’s record of 11 submission wins has still stood the test of time, meaning his legend still holds sway today.

And so while the early UFC events weren’t the Bloodsport-esque tournaments that some modern-day retellings would have fans believe, it wasn’t like Royce was fighting complete tomato cans. While the likes of karate expert Ron van Clief and professional boxer Art Jimmerson were always way out of their depth with Gracie, legitimate tough guys like Kimo and Gerard Gordeau – as well as the legitimately skilled Shamrock and Dan Severn – all fell to Royce’s jiu-jitsu.

Let us not forget either that Gracie was usually fighting at a massive size disadvantage to his opponents –a natural 170lber, Royce faced off with true heavyweights in Severn and Kimo and still managed to force them to tap. Unsurprisingly, none of his submissions were flashy fare either – chokes and armbars mainly, although he does remain the only UFC fighter with a gi-based submission on his record.

While you can question his opposition and point out that he was fighting at a time when few others understood grappling, there’s still no denying the influence of Royce Gracie. It’s because of him that the likes of Diaz and Oliveira are able to use flashy submissions to win their fights today – and so it’s fitting that somehow, he still tops this list – despite his last UFC submission win being well over two decades ago.