The best tapouts in UFC history: Part 2: Arm submissions

#3 Omo Plata – Ben Saunders vs. Chris Heatherly – 08/23/2014

Ben Saunders used the ultra-rare omo

plata

to submit Chris Heatherly

The attacker then sits up and pushes forward, forcing the opponent’s arm away from the back and applying pressure to the shoulder. Another shoulder lock similar to the kimura, the omo plata is often attempted in the UFC but rarely does it see success. It’s a tricky move usually applied by a fighter on their back in a full guard – the attacker places one leg under the opponent’s armpit before turning 180 degrees in the direction of that leg, which moves the leg over the back of the opponent, trapping the arm.

The reason that the omo plata is so regularly attempted is because of the fact that in order to escape, the fighter on the receiving end usually has to give up top position – meaning it’s highly effective as a form of a sweep from the bottom. It’s only been used twice to force a submission inside the UFC though, and the first time was by Welterweight Ben Saunders in 2014.

Faced with newcomer Chris Heatherly, Saunders was taken down early on but immediately began to attack Heatherly from the guard, going into the tricky variation known as the rubber guard. From there Saunders swung his right leg under the armpit and around the right arm of Heatherly to set up the submission.

Initially Heatherly seemed fine, but when Saunders sat up and began to force the right wrist forwards to produce more leverage on the shoulder, the debutant was forced to tap out in a lot of pain.

It was the UFC’s first omo plata submission and I’d class it as superior to the second – applied by Adam Wieczorek on Arjan Bhullar in 2018 – due to the variation that Saunders used by forcing the wrist forward. For the sheer rarity of the hold and the inventiveness of ‘Killa B’, this definitely belongs on any list of the UFC’s best tapouts.