So something kind of jumped out at me today-there is a surprising lack of Heavyweight wins by Rear Naked Choke. I wanted to make see if this was true, so I did a little research.
First, I looked at 5 of the most prolific heavyweight submission artists (in no particular order)- Frank Mir, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor, Big Nog, and Josh Barnett. These 5 fighters combined for 75 submission victories, and 137 total wins. Combined, they also only have 9 RNC finishes, with 6 of them belonging to Barnett and Fedor, and NONE of the 4 who have competed in the UFC have pulled one off in the Octagon. I decided to look at only these 5 to make it easier to calculate, plain and simple. So these 5 men have won 12% of their submission victories, and only 6.5% of their total victories, by RNC. It's also reasonable to assume that these 5 men should have a much higher submission victory percentage then average, based on their submission pedigree.
None of these men have been submitted by a RNC either, so the total number of fights involving these men (including their losses) that end in RNC drops down to 5.1%.
Seeing as all 5 men hover around 50% (or higher) of their wins coming by submission (Mir 9 of 17, Werdum 9 of 19, Barnett 20 of 33, Fedor 16 of 34, Nog 21 of 34), and the fact that only about 25% of UFC fights end by submission (source to come), it is also reasonable to assume that the average number of HW fights ending by RNC is lower than the 6.5% I calculated earlier.
Now, while doing my research, I stumbled across this page (http://www.mma121.com/top-10-submission-statistics-data-from-ufc-mma-events/) that has many statistics on submissions in the UFC. There is where I got the 25% number from in the previous paragraph. Here are some key facts I gathered from this page.
So, 7.8% of UFC fights end by RNC, yet only 5.1% of these HW fights. And since these 5 are some of (if not the) best submission artists in MMA history, we can probably assume that the actual percentage of HW RNC victories is even lower.
Furthermore, I found this page (http://www.mmafightdb.com/does-size-matter-in-mma-submissions/) in my studies as well, and many of their findings corroborate mine. The analyzed 1120 fights, with 283 of them ending by submission (25.3%). Of the 283 submissions, 94 were RNC (33% of all submissions, and 8.4% of all fights). They also found that roughly 4% of heavyweight fights end by RNC, compared to 14% of BW and 10% of LW. Their data included fights outside of the UFC.
So, my question is, why do so few HW fights end by RNC? My best guess is that the RNC is relatively easy to defend, given enough skill. Many RNC finishes may come from rocking your oppponent and following him to the mat. Heavyweights typically have enough power to put their opponents out, so those fights that would usually end in a RNC in the lighter weight classes may be stopped and listed as a t/KO.
I know its a long read, but here's some sexy pics of Gina Carano to make up for it
EDIT: Fixed the Carano mistake...looks damn similar. I am ashamed of myself.
First, I looked at 5 of the most prolific heavyweight submission artists (in no particular order)- Frank Mir, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor, Big Nog, and Josh Barnett. These 5 fighters combined for 75 submission victories, and 137 total wins. Combined, they also only have 9 RNC finishes, with 6 of them belonging to Barnett and Fedor, and NONE of the 4 who have competed in the UFC have pulled one off in the Octagon. I decided to look at only these 5 to make it easier to calculate, plain and simple. So these 5 men have won 12% of their submission victories, and only 6.5% of their total victories, by RNC. It's also reasonable to assume that these 5 men should have a much higher submission victory percentage then average, based on their submission pedigree.
None of these men have been submitted by a RNC either, so the total number of fights involving these men (including their losses) that end in RNC drops down to 5.1%.
Seeing as all 5 men hover around 50% (or higher) of their wins coming by submission (Mir 9 of 17, Werdum 9 of 19, Barnett 20 of 33, Fedor 16 of 34, Nog 21 of 34), and the fact that only about 25% of UFC fights end by submission (source to come), it is also reasonable to assume that the average number of HW fights ending by RNC is lower than the 6.5% I calculated earlier.
Now, while doing my research, I stumbled across this page (http://www.mma121.com/top-10-submission-statistics-data-from-ufc-mma-events/) that has many statistics on submissions in the UFC. There is where I got the 25% number from in the previous paragraph. Here are some key facts I gathered from this page.
So, 7.8% of UFC fights end by RNC, yet only 5.1% of these HW fights. And since these 5 are some of (if not the) best submission artists in MMA history, we can probably assume that the actual percentage of HW RNC victories is even lower.
Furthermore, I found this page (http://www.mmafightdb.com/does-size-matter-in-mma-submissions/) in my studies as well, and many of their findings corroborate mine. The analyzed 1120 fights, with 283 of them ending by submission (25.3%). Of the 283 submissions, 94 were RNC (33% of all submissions, and 8.4% of all fights). They also found that roughly 4% of heavyweight fights end by RNC, compared to 14% of BW and 10% of LW. Their data included fights outside of the UFC.
So, my question is, why do so few HW fights end by RNC? My best guess is that the RNC is relatively easy to defend, given enough skill. Many RNC finishes may come from rocking your oppponent and following him to the mat. Heavyweights typically have enough power to put their opponents out, so those fights that would usually end in a RNC in the lighter weight classes may be stopped and listed as a t/KO.
I know its a long read, but here's some sexy pics of Gina Carano to make up for it
EDIT: Fixed the Carano mistake...looks damn similar. I am ashamed of myself.
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