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#5: Ezekiel Choke – Aleksei Oleinik vs. Viktor Pesta – UFC Fight Night 103 – 01/15/2017
The Ezekiel choke is one of the rarest submissions in MMA and particularly in the UFC, and for good reason, too – it’s better known from the worlds of both judo and jiu-jitsu, largely because it heavily involves the use of a gi – which fighters are not allowed to wear in UFC competition - to pull off.
Essentially, the Ezekiel is a choke that sees a fighter wrap one arm behind his opponent’s head and then grasp the sleeve of the gi on the opposite hand for leverage, before forcing that forearm down into the opponent’s throat, compressing the trachea and carotid arteries to force the tapout.
Somehow though, Heavyweight contender Aleksei Oleinik not only managed to submit Viktor Pesta with the hold in 2017, but he also repeated the feat in 2018 when he used the choke to submit Junior Albini. The original against Pesta was more memorable though, largely because he pulled it off while underneath the full mount of the Czech fighter.
For all intents and purposes, Pesta looked completely safe in the dominant position, but seconds later he was tapping out, confusing everyone from the crowd to the announcers. As the referee checked over a dazed Pesta, the replay revealed what had happened – Oleinik had wrapped his right arm around the back of Pesta’s neck and then grabbed his left bicep, and from there he’d slipped his left forearm across Pesta’s throat, and with crushing power, he’d essentially squeezed the life out of him.
Not only was it an ultra-rare submission, but to see a fighter tap out while in the full mount was jaw-dropping too. Of all the submissions used to finish fights in the UFC, this one was definitely one of the most unique and memorable.
