The best tapouts in UFC history, Part 4: Unique submissions

In the previous editions of this series looking at the best tapouts in UFC history, we took a look at the best chokes, armlocks and leglocks. Variations of those three holds are the most common tapouts in MMA, but there are also a handful of more unique submissions out there.

Those submission holds have a far lower percentage of success rate and aren’t attempted all that often, but this makes them high risk, high reward type moves. Often more flashy than your common rear naked choke or armbar, the following submissions are so unique some have only been seen in the UFC once.

Here are 5 of the best unique tapouts in UFC history.

#1: Twister – Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia – UFC Fight Night 24 – 03/24/2011

The Korean Zombie used an ultra-rare twister to submit Leonard Garcia

Popularised by Eddie Bravo’s 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu system, the Twister is a move as nasty – and flashy – as it sounds. Essentially, it’s a spinal lock that sees the attacker force an opponent’s head towards his shoulder while locking down the lower body – causing lateral hyperflexion of the cervical spine.

One of the most dangerous moves in the world of grappling, it’s thankfully as rare as it is deadly and has only been used in the UFC to date on one occasion.

When a fight between Chan Sung Jung – ‘The Korean Zombie’ – and Leonard Garcia was announced for UFC Fight Night 24, the majority of the fanbase were massively excited. This was to be a rematch of one of the most exciting MMA fights ever; Garcia and Jung had gone to war in a fight worthy of a Rocky movie in 2010, with Garcia taking a split decision although most felt it should’ve gone the other way.

In the rematch, Jung was determined to prove he was the better man, and he ended up doing it in the most incredible way possible. Rather than risk trading with Garcia on the feet again, he chose to take the fight to the ground where he largely out-hustled the American, and in the second round he was able to secure back control. At first he controlled Garcia with both of his legs, but when ‘Bad Boy’ rolled, Jung instead switched to a triangle around the left leg instead.

With Garcia’s body under firm control, ‘The Korean Zombie’ then locked his arms around the head of his opponent, avoiding his right arm, and pulled it to the side, stretching him at an unnatural angle. With just seconds to go in the round, Garcia tapped out in clear pain.

Considering the greatness of their first fight, it seemed highly unlikely that the rematch could be as memorable – but with one of the best and most unique submissions in UFC history, Jung ensured that it would be. Most fighters wouldn’t even attempt such a move.

#2: Bulldog Choke – Raquel Pennington vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith – UFC 181 – 12/06/2014

Raquel Pennington's bulldog choke of Ashlee Evans-Smith was savage

A schoolyard bully’s move, the bulldog choke works exactly how you’d probably imagine it to. The attacker applies a side headlock on their opponent, then essentially squeezes the life out of them until they tap out – basically like a guillotine choke with the attacker facing the opposite way. It’s a rare move to see inside the Octagon largely because the side headlock doesn’t allow an attacker to control their opponent’s body in any way. But when it works, it really works.

Surprisingly enough, the bulldog choke was actually used to win a UFC title back in 2001; Carlos Newton used the move to wrest the Welterweight title away from longtime champion Pat Miletich at UFC 31 in what was a major upset, but aesthetically, you can’t beat the version that Bantamweight contender Raquel Pennington used to beat Ashlee Evans-Smith at UFC 181.

After a back-and-forth first round that saw Pennington cut on the forehead, it looked like the fight was heading into the second stanza. But after taking the back of Evans-Smith, Pennington decided to risk a bulldog choke attempt, and with seconds on the clock, she squeezed with all her might on the neck of her opponent.

‘Rocky’ forced Evans-Smith down onto her knees, creating even more leverage, and in an alarming visual moment, the camera picked up a look of sheer bewilderment and terror on the face of ‘Rebel Girl’ as the blood supply to her head was cut off.

Seconds later, Evans-Smith was unconscious and Pennington was declared the winner despite the buzzer sounding to end the round. It remains one of the most violent finishes we’ve seen from a female fighter inside the Octagon, and despite Urijah Faber inexplicably winning via bulldog choke on the same show, Pennington’s version was certainly the superior one.

#3: Peruvian Necktie – CB Dollaway vs. Jesse Taylor – UFC Fight Night 14 – 07/19/2008

The Peruvian Necktie became synonymous with CB Dollaway in the UFC

Named after its inventor, Peruvian MMA and grappling veteran Tony DeSouza, the Peruvian Necktie is a nasty-looking hold which is essentially a hybrid of a guillotine choke and a neck crank. The move begins with the attacker holding his opponent in a front facelock position; from there they snake one arm under the armpit and across the neck and clasp their hands together.

Once this grip is tightened, the attacker will stand into a crouched position before placing their leg over the head of their opponent on the side of the trapped arm and sitting back, wrenching with the arms at the same time as throwing the other leg over the opponent’s back.

At this stage, the opponent will probably tap out – or be rendered unconscious with a very sore neck in the process. It’s a rarely-seen manoeuvre in MMA simply due to the amount of skill it takes to pull it off well – more fighters have failed to do it than succeeded.

Strangely enough, DeSouza himself never pulled off the move in MMA action, and so in the UFC at least, it became synonymous with Middleweight contender CB Dollaway. ‘The Doberman’ burst onto the scene during the 7th season of The Ultimate Fighter – and it was during the filming of that series that cameras saw him use the move to submit his coach, Rampage Jackson.

That was training, though, but in his second official UFC outing, Dollaway somehow managed to pull off the move in legitimate action. Sprawling to avoid a takedown from opponent Jesse Taylor, Dollaway swiftly locked up the Peruvian Necktie before ‘JT Money’ realised what was going on. Seconds later, he was tapping out.

It was a visually fantastic submission – one of the best ever seen in the Octagon – and it guarantees Dollaway a spot on any highlight reel of tapouts forever, basically.

#4: Pillory Choke – Nick Pace vs. Will Campuzano – UFC: Ultimate Fighter XII Finale – 12/04/2010

Nick Pace's pillory choke was so unique he initially named it after himself!

Thus far we’ve looked at rare submissions that have been used both inside the UFC and outside of it in other promotions, but as far as I’m aware the only time the pillory choke has ever been used in MMA was inside the Octagon in 2010 – by former WEC fighter Nick Pace as he faced fellow WEC alumni Will Campuzano.

The move is quite hard to even describe – like a cross between the infamous gogoplata and an Ezekiel choke – and sees the attacker begin on his back in guard. From there the attacker brings one of their legs up and over the shoulders of the opponent, placing it across the back of the neck – a variation of what is commonly known as the “rubber guard”. The big difference here though is the fact that the opponent’s arm is not trapped underneath the leg for control.

Where the gogoplata would then see the attacker force his shin across the throat of the opponent and pull down on the head, the pillory choke instead sees the attacker slide one arm – on the same side as the attacking leg – underneath and across the throat and then grip onto the opposite arm, as well as the foot. By squeezing with both arms whilst forcing the leg downwards, the move then creates compression on the neck, forcing the tapout.

If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is. But the pillory choke certainly caught Campuzano by surprise, and the UFC announcers – BJJ black belt Joe Rogan included – were equally baffled – so much so that as the choke wasn’t officially named at the time, post-fight it was christened ‘The Pace’ by its innovator – joining holds like the D’Arce and the Von Flue in the process.