Is Imanari the greatest leg-log artist?

garrgoyle

garrgoyle

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Is Masakazu Imanari the greatest leg submission fighter out there? The guy constantly and relentlessly looks for leg locks, and most of the time gets it. And if you make a small mistake, like what jean silva did in their last match, then it is all over. It also always seems like he does the most painful ones- listen to Silva and jorge gurgel squel in pain. I have been a fan of that guy for a while, being a fan of submissions, especially leg submissions.

Are there any other fighters that come to mind when you think about leg-locks, besides early shamrock? my mind might just be rusty, but i can't think of any.
 
Funny I was just watching his HL. Yes, I think so. Didn't turn out to well against Hansen though.
 
Masakatsu Funaki, Ikuhisa Minowa, Satarou Kitaoka, Rumina Sato, Tetsuo Uehata and Hideo Tokoro are all incredible leg-lock artists. Josh Barnett is getting better and better at them. Minoru Suzuki was great at them in his hey-day. Volk Han too. Renato Sobral has 'em to spare also.
 
dont forget ol Ken Shamrock, some of his old leglocks were brutal
 
Ryo Chonnan on Anderson Silva is sick.Imanari has some slick heel hooks too but the best leg-lock guy is Barnett.
 
Heel Hook is his favorite submission out of them all. He loves the leg locks. I'd give him that honor.
 
Kforcer said:
Masakatsu Funaki, Ikuhisa Minowa, Satarou Kitaoka, Rumina Sato, Tetsuo Uehata and Hideo Tokoro are all incredible leg-lock artists. Josh Barnett is getting better and better at them. Minoru Suzuki was great at them in his hey-day. Volk Han too. Renato Sobral has 'em to spare also.
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Good list there, especially with Funaki and Minowa. Uehata is a good up-and-comer too. But i never actually saw Babalu do any leg submissions.
 
From the few clips of Imanari I've watched, the dudes sick not with just securing the lock but transitioning into it. His gator rolls are more pro than I've ever seen and he's very consistent at ending up in prime position for a painful sub. The guy's damn good.
 
187in802 said:
Ryo Chonnan on Anderson Silva is sick.Imanari has some slick heel hooks too but the best leg-lock guy is Barnett.
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True, that is probably the most famous leg submission high-light of all time. Too bad Chonnan has never replicate the submission. but if he is going to do it once in his life, i bet he is glad its on a name like Anderson Silva.
 
isnt dean lister known for leglocks?
 
Ryan Hall has one MMA fight I believe, and he's a purple belt tapping blackbelt champs with his heel hooks.
 
Leg locks are underrated. A leg is longer than an arm, and easier to control.
 
garrgoyle said:
Gotta love the on he did on Bass. that alone make shamrock legendary...well...sort of.
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Not really, Bas didn't even learn any submissions until he got sub'd, and let's be honest here, anyone could of sub'd Bas, and changed the way he fights. It just so happened to be Ken.
 
garrgoyle said:
Good list there, especially with Funaki and Minowa. Uehata is a good up-and-comer too. But i never actually saw Babalu do any leg submissions.
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He's got some pretty good ones; check out his transition from half-guard to heel-hook on Chael Sonnen. That's a very nice transition.

Funaki is the only one I've ever seen pull off the clinch-less rolling knee-bar more than once in MMA. Actually, he's the only one I've seen do it period. And he doesn't even grab both legs like some others that have done the move do. Just rolls for that one leg and hits it. His transitions from one leg-lock to the next are beautiful too--and he broke Guy Mezger's leg with an Achilles.

Far as Shamrock beating Bas, yeah, it was impressive. Bas's wake up call came against Funaki, who then became his friend and training partner and even cornered him for his fight second fight against Shamrock.
 
Kforcer said:
He's got some pretty good ones; check out his transition from half-guard to heel-hook on Chael Sonnen. That's a very nice transition.

Funaki is the only one I've ever seen pull off the clinch-less rolling knee-bar more than once in MMA. Actually, he's the only one I've seen do it period. And he doesn't even grab both legs like some others that have done the move do. Just rolls for that one leg and hits it. His transitions from one leg-lock to the next are beautiful too--and he broke Guy Mezger's leg with an Achilles.

Far as Shamrock beating Bas, yeah, it was impressive. Bas's wake up call came against Funaki, who then became his friend and training partner and even cornered him for his fight second fight against Shamrock.
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Now that you mentioned it, yeah...i do remember babalu catching sonnen in a leg lock, and sonnen's face was all up in the camera near the fence, grimacing in pain. too bad babalu didn't finish it. i think babalu has only one leg submission victory out of all his wins. I'm a fan of babalu's as well and hope to see him in bigger shows.
 
Imanari's nickname is "10th Dan of leg locks". Yes, he is the best.

Memorable leg locks in comp for me:

- Dean List spin around kneebar from half guard, subbing Saulo ribeiro at ADCC

- Bas breaking someones shin bone with a reverse Heelhook in Pancrase

- Ryo Chonan flying heelhook against Silva of course

- Genki Sudos flying claf slicer in the Westside Grappling tourney was sick as well. Still don't know what he did there....
 
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