Most Common UFC Submissions

[Rod Farva]

Cool graphic.
I’d like to see a bar graph of % of fights ending in submission by year. It seems like there were a lot more submissions years ago

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

Cool graphic.
I’d like to see a bar graph of % of fights ending in submission by year. It seems like there were a lot more submissions years ago

Those Gracies did achieve their goal. It was the best martial art to beat all the others. Now you can't picture a world where the fighters dont have to know it well enough to survive.

The flipside is, its the one that everyone now definitely trains, and they have to know quite a bit just to not get subbed constantly but to actually see fighters who are consistently winning by submission has really leveled out

 

[richardjohnson]

Kind of surprised that there’s only been 42 d’arce chokes, I would’ve guessed more. It seems like a pretty common submission these days.

 

[EndlessCritic]

That's what I'm thinking bc yeah, arm bars have gotten exceedingly rare

They're not that rare. In 2025 alone, I can think of at least 8, two of which were on one card, and two of which were done by Brunno Ferreira.

Of the below, Zalal vs Emmett was probably the most high profile. Bannon vs Tomar should be more well known considering it was one of the craziest comebacks you'll ever see.

Bannon vs Tomar
Ferreira vs Petrosyan
Ferreira vs Mcvey
Bunes vs Johnson
Dern vs Rimbas
Emmett vs Zalal
Crute vs Prachnio
Lacerda vs Oliveira

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

They're not that rare. In 2025 alone, I can think of at least 8, two of which were on one card, and two of which were done by Brunno Ferreira.

Of the below, Zalal vs Emmett was probably the most high profile. Bannon vs Tomar should be more well known considering it was one of the craziest comebacks you'll ever see.

Bannon vs Tomar
Ferreira vs Petrosyan
Ferreira vs Mcvey
Bunes vs Johnson
Dern vs Rimbas
Emmett vs Zalal
Crute vs Prachnio
Lacerda vs Oliveira

Shit, good call bc yeah, zalal Emmett and Crute Prachnio are the only ones I remember clearly. Guess that puts them 2nd to only RNCs?

 

[HHJ]

Its the Von Preaux now (or should be)

No

You shouldn't take it away from the original

 

[EndlessCritic]

Shit, good call bc yeah, zalal Emmett and Crute Prachnio are the only ones I remember clearly. Guess that puts them 2nd to only RNCs?

If you don't know the Bannon/Tomar one it's pretty wild:



Actually, reminds me of another WMMA one:

 

[Elvis.]

Interesting seeing how fast there's a drop off.

Not sure if it falls in other category, but Oleinik has a pair of scarf holds.

I’m going to guess it falls under neck crank , but I’m not sure

 

[jeff7b9]

not TOO surprising, but I thought arm trinagle was more common than an armbar.

I would have thought so too.

Ultimate "big brother" submission.

Great for big strength advantage.
Having a little bit of hs wrestling this was my bread and butter in bjj.


I wonder how much the ladies skew the results.
I feel like I see more arm bars in WMMA

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I'd like to see a return to the forearm choke

 

[RockyLockridge]

I wonder how much the ladies skew the results.
I feel like I see more arm bars in WMMA

Bro I had the exact same thought about the armbars I can't remember the last time I saw a male get armbared

 

[jeff7b9]

Bro I had the exact same thought about the armbars I can't remember the last time I saw a male get armbared

Submission defense in general has gotten really good, especially at the top level of mma.

Ladies ... they are still catching up.


Also- specifically with the arm bar - I think the risk of losing position, winding up on bottom and possibly losing the round outweighs the upside of that submission.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Submission defense in general has gotten really good, especially at the top level of mma.

Ladies ... they are still catching up.


Also- specifically with the arm bar - I think the risk of losing position, winding up on bottom and possibly losing the round outweighs the upside of that submission.

Weirdly though, I also find that women dont tap to armbars as easily. I forget which girl I was watching but she was getting her arm fucking destroyed every which way and would not tap.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Yeah I feel something similar when I look at woodleys take down defense. Maia just throwing the worst take downs ever letting woodley stuff liek 50 takedowns in a fight to statboost off him , It's like shooting at your own net to grab the rebound at a certain point.

I just checked out dustins record, not a single guillotine on it, certainly not from a lack of trying LOL

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Yeah I feel something similar when I look at woodleys take down defense. Maia just throwing the worst take downs ever letting woodley stuff liek 50 takedowns in a fight to statboost off him , It's like shooting at your own net to grab the rebound at a certain point.

I just checked out dustins record, not a single guillotine on it, certainly not from a lack of trying LOL

Supposedly:


I thought I remembered one vs Islam. Tried googling and got this absurd AI result:

[AI Overview
The "Islam Poirier guillotine" refers to the significant threat of Dustin Poirier's guillotine choke against Islam Makhachev, which Poirier often used as a setup, but Makhachev successfully defended and countered in their fight, ultimately submitting Poirier with a D'Arce choke after Poirier's guillotine attempts failed, showcasing Poirier's famous technique against Makhachev's superior grappling control.]

 

[RockyLockridge]

Supposedly:


I thought I remembered one vs Islam. Tried googling and got this absurd AI result:

[AI Overview
The "Islam Poirier guillotine" refers to the significant threat of Dustin Poirier's guillotine choke against Islam Makhachev, which Poirier often used as a setup, but Makhachev successfully defended and countered in their fight, ultimately submitting Poirier with a D'Arce choke after Poirier's guillotine attempts failed, showcasing Poirier's famous technique against Makhachev's superior grappling control.]

Yeah, and if that's the case my famous technique is scoring with super models

 

[Hymen Crusher]

That probably tracks with actual ju jitsu no gi

 

[HavokHarmon]

Found this cool inforgraphic from Dr. Kickass thought it might lead to some interesting discussion




View attachment 1128510

View attachment 1128509

This rocks, I wonder what the breakdown would be by decade though

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I’d like to see a trend of guillotine chokes over the years, specifically standing, you don’t see many of those anymore. Mir got Kongo I think years back but can’t really remember other ones since.

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

I’d like to see a trend of guillotine chokes over the years, specifically standing, you don’t see many of those anymore. Mir got Kongo I think years back but can’t really remember other ones since.

The years fly by and make fools of us all!