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It’s time for the next part of our series looking at some of the best submission finishes in UFC history. Last time out was a look at the greatest chokehold tapouts, and in this second part, I’ll be looking at submission holds that attack the arm and shoulder.
The best tapouts in UFC history: Part 1: Chokes
Former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir once stated that the brilliance of a submission hold was the way in which it pits the attacker’s whole body against one limb of his opponent, and that saying certainly rings true for arm-based submissions.
Here are 5 of the greatest arm-based tapouts in UFC history.
#1 Armbar – Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre – UFC 50 – 10/22/2004
The straight armbar is one of the most commonly used submissions in the UFC, and it’s also one of the most effective. The move looks to hyper-extend the arm at the elbow joint, using the attacker’s hips and legs for leverage, and can be slapped on from a variety of positions, from top control to the guard from the bottom. The likes of Frank Mir and Steve Cantwell have even used the move to break the arm of their opponent.
Perhaps the most memorable armbar though came from legendary former UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes, against none other than the man who would eventually dethrone and replace him as the consensus greatest Welterweight of all time, Georges St-Pierre.
In October 2004 the two men were pitted against each other for the Welterweight crown, made vacant when previous champion BJ Penn left the promotion. The experience gap between the two was huge – Hughes had previously held the title for years and had made 5 successful defences, while GSP was just 23 years old and had only fought in the UFC twice – but when the fight came, you could hardly tell.
GSP looked like he was on top in the opening round, outmuscling Hughes a few times and landing the better strikes, but with around a minute remaining, Hughes managed to take him down and secure top position. As Hughes worked from the top, St-Pierre made a rare mistake – he reached for a kimura without fully securing control of the former champ’s body, and in one deft move, Hughes made him pay.
Using the position of St-Pierre’s grasping arms against him, Hughes suddenly swung himself around in helicopter fashion and went right into an armbar, quickly hyper-extending GSP’s right arm and forcing him to tap out almost immediately. Incredibly, there was just one second remaining in the round when he tapped.
This submission was brilliant not just because of the skill it took to pull off, but also due to the quickness in thought that Hughes required to secure it and the fact that it came in a high-level title fight. Considering Hughes began his UFC career as a one-dimensional wrestler, it was a remarkable finish.
#2 Kimura – Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – UFC 140 – 12/10/2011
The kimura – named after the legendary Japanese martial artist Masahiko Kimura, who used the move to submit the equally legendary Helio Gracie in the 1950’s – is a type of shoulder lock which utilises a double wrist grip to torque both the shoulder and elbow joints. Also known as a double wristlock or a hammer-lock, the kimura requires a blend of slick technique and brute strength to be successful, and over time it’s become ever rarer inside the UFC Octagon.
One fighter who did have the perfect blend of technique and strength, however, was submission expert Frank Mir. The former UFC Heavyweight champion won two UFC fights via kimura in his storied 26-fight career inside the Octagon, but it was the second of those that remains one of the most shocking and memorable tapout finishes in UFC history.
Part of the reason for this was Mir’s opponent – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was also a former UFC Heavyweight champ and was widely recognised as Mir’s top rival for the best submission artist in the history of the Heavyweight division. They’d fought once before – at UFC 92 in 2008 – and Mir had won by knockout, but by UFC 140 in 2011, Nogueira claimed to be much healthier and was gunning for revenge.
Early on it looked like he’d get it. He stunned Mir with a combination of punches that caused him to fall face-first, but rather than look to finish him with strikes, Nogueira decided to attempt to submit Mir with a guillotine choke. Despite being seemingly semi-conscious, Mir managed to roll to survive, only to allow Nogueira to hit a switch to take back control. The Brazilian made a simple mistake though – leaving his right arm trapped under Mir – and it was all that Mir needed.
Suddenly, Mir rolled into side mount and seamlessly locked up a kimura on the right arm in the same movement. Nogueira attempted to roll to alleviate the pressure, only for Mir to roll with him, and seconds later Mir ended up on top – and torqued Nogueira’s arm until it snapped.
Unsurprisingly the tapout was then academic, as Nogueira could do nothing but stare at his mangled right arm. It was the first time he’d been submitted in his MMA career. For the sheer brutality of the visual this tapout provided – as well as the calibre of opponent – it remains Mir’s greatest ever UFC finish, and one of the best arm-based submissions in UFC history.
#3 Omo Plata – Ben Saunders vs. Chris Heatherly – 08/23/2014
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.
#4 Keylock – Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort – UFC 152 – 09/22/2012
The keylock – otherwise known as the Americana or paintbrush hold – is another variation of arm submission which attacks the shoulder and elbow joint by causing hyperflexion to both. Usually applied from the side mount position, the hold is set up by the attacker pinning his opponent’s arm to the ground at the wrist with his own opposite arm. From there he threads his opposite hand under the opponent’s bicep, reaching through to grab his own wrist.
From there the attacker forces the opponent’s wrist towards their lower body while elevating the elbow and forearm, creating massive torque on the shoulder and elbow and either forcing a tapout, or severely damaging the arm. Like the kimura, it’s a hold that requires a mix of skill and brute strength to carry out.
The best example of a keylock in UFC action came at UFC 152 in September 2012, as Jon Jones defended his UFC Light-Heavyweight title against challenger Vitor Belfort. A natural Middleweight, Belfort had surprisingly managed to catch Jones in an armbar in the opening round, and almost took the title from him with the hold before Jones managed to slip free.
From that point onwards though, the fight was all ‘Bones’ as he beat Belfort down mercilessly with a series of strikes, in particular, elbows on the ground. By the 4th round though, it was clear that Belfort would be difficult to put away with strikes. And so Jones decided to switch his attack to a submission.
Taking side mount around 30 seconds in, Jones first trapped Belfort’s left arm to deliver some unanswered elbows to the head. With the right arm then isolated, he reached across and instantly yanked it into a keylock, torquing the elbow at a horrible angle and forcing Vitor to tap out almost immediately.
This wasn’t a submission achieved through finesse; it was a culmination of Belfort being utterly beaten down and Jones simply being able to outpower him in every possible way, but it still belongs on the list due to the sheer sudden violence of it. The keylock is a relatively rare finish in the UFC, but Jones proved its effectiveness here.
