10. Juan Espino - Jeff Hughes (heavyweight)
Tournament: UFC 253 |
Method: suffocating "scarf"
Date and venue: September 27, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
On the tenth line was the original choke hold performed by Juan Espino.
The Spaniard only got into the UFC at the age of 38, but during this time he managed to become famous as a skilled grappler.
He ended both of his fights in the largest MMA promotion in the first round and invariably forced his counterparts to surrender.
In September 2020, Jeff Hughes became his "victim".
At the fourth minute, he went to his feet and immediately found himself in a full mount.
To the surprise of both fans and opponents, Espino did not remain in this dominant position, but switched to side control, after which he performed a rare choke hold called "scarf".
Thanks to this, the Spaniard's track record was 10 victories (I do not count two in exhibition fights) with only one defeat.
It is noteworthy that he suffered him back in 2011, and the Russian Vitaly Minakov became the offender.
@juan_espino_ofi UFC 253: Juan Espino regresa con victoria al someter a Jeff Hughes en el primer asalto pic.twitter.com/sKkq6nyqpH
- (((Armando Santana))) 🇮🇨 (@armandosanfer) September 27, 2020
9. Glade Viana - Emily Whitmire (minimum weight)
Tournament: UFC Vegas 8 |
Method: elbow lever
Date and venue: August 29, Las Vegas (USA)
The talented Brazilian female fighter Polyana Viana is in ninth position.
In January 2019, the girl became famous for detaining a robber in Rio de Janeiro, and a year and a half later she made her talk about herself in the UFC.
The reason for this was the victory over Emily Whitmire.
On the eve of this battle, Viana had three defeats in a row in the passive.
It is possible that another failure would have led to her dismissal from the UFC, so she needed the triumph like air.
At an important moment, Polyana did not disappoint and in just 113 seconds forced Whitmire to surrender.
The owner of the purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took a second to get out of a difficult position from below and catch her counterpart on the elbow lever.
Arm lock da Polyana Viana em Emily Whitmire # UFCVegas8pic.twitter.com / 8nMPfaOHos
- Eddie Monteiro (@eddiemonteiro) August 30, 2020
8. Julian Erosa - Sean Woodson (intermediate weight)
Tournament: UFC Vegas 4 |
Method: Strangle D'Ars
Date and place: June 27, Las Vegas (USA)
Julian Eros also managed to get out of the most difficult situation.
At that time, he won only one of the four previous fights, and in the process of this fight he was on the verge of another fiasco.
After the second round, he lost on the cards to one of the three judges, and in the third he was knocked down and practically deprived himself of the opportunity to take the upper hand on points.
Skills in grappling came to the rescue.
Eros, who could hardly stand on his feet, first managed to takedown Woodson, and when he tried to get up, he attempted to strangle D'Ars.
Sean lacked neither "physics" nor skill to provide decent resistance.
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7.Jack Hermansson - Calvin Gastelum (middleweight)
Tournament: UFC Fight Island 2 |
Method: twisting the heel
Date and venue: July 19, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Although Jack Hermansson could not end the year on a positive note and enter the number of contenders for the middleweight title, it was in 2020 that he won one of the main victories in his career.
He successfully fought the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 17, Calvin Gastelum.
Despite two setbacks in a row, Gastelum was still considered the elite representative of the division and the fighter who had the most competitive battle with Israel Adesanya.
But if he fought with the New Zealander for 25 minutes, then with Hermansson he did not last even one and a half.
The Swede grabbed the leg of the vis-a-vis and twisted the heel.
Prior to that, Gastelum surrendered only to ex-champion Chris Weidman.
Jack Hermansson with the heel hook in the first against Gastelum
🤯🤯 # UFCFightIsland2 # UFC # MMATwitter # UFCFightIslandpic.twitter.com / rJmMR8WK3J
- Cealan Finn 🇮🇪 (@ cealanf2) July 19, 2020
6. Maurice Greene - Gian Villante (heavyweight)
Tournament: UFC Vegas 4 |
Method: manual triangle from bottom position
Date and place: June 27, Las Vegas (USA)
Ahead of the June tournament, Green was on the verge of being fired.
In the last two fights, he lost to the Russians Sergey Pavlovich and Alexei Oleinik, and his next opponent was to be the former strong light heavyweight Gian Villante.
No one predicted an easy victory for him, and in the third segment, Maurice almost lost at all.
In the first two rounds, Green was slightly more accurate than Villante (56:46 in significant shots), but in the final he missed the oncoming left.
For more than two minutes he lay on the floor and was beaten, but at one point he turned the course of an unsuccessful five-minute.
Being on his shoulder blades, Maurice slammed the lock on Jan's neck, depicting a semblance of "Ezekiel" (Oleinik's trademark strangulation).
The opponent could only knock.
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5. Alexander Romanov - Marcos Rogerio de Lima (heavyweight)
Tournament: UFC Vegas 13 |
Method: forearm strangulation
Date and venue: November 7, Las Vegas (USA)
Alexander Romanov opens the top five.
The undefeated Moldavian made his debut in the UFC only in September, but has already managed to win two bright victories.
First, he "strangled" Rocky Martinez, and then it was Marcos Rogerio de Lima's turn.
Moreover, in the second case, he performed an extremely rare technique, which had never before brought success in the Absolute Fighting Championship.
A minute before the end of the first round, Romanov knocked de Lima to the ground for the second time and ended up in half a guard.
For the remaining time, he did not give rest to the enemy, then frightening him with a guillotine, then bombarding him with his fists and elbows.
And having lulled vigilance, he carried out the suffocation with his forearm.
The Brazilian did not have time to understand what was the matter, as he was already unconscious.
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4. Makwan Amirhani - Danny Henry (Featherweight)
Tournament: UFC 251 |
Method: anaconda
Date and venue: July 12, Las Vegas (USA)
A year earlier, Makwan Amirkhani had already been included in the top ten authors of the best painful years according to RT.
Once again, the Finn was helped to be on the list by the branded "anaconda", and he again settled down a step away from the top three.
True, if then he dealt with the equally striking grappler in the person of Chris Fishgold, then this time the test was not so difficult.
The victim was a little-known Danny Henry.
Yes, he also has a passion for painful techniques (five out of 12 wins), but in this regard, he is not close to Fishgold (13 out of 18).
As a result, if a year ago Amirkhani had to spend almost two full rounds in the cage, this time 195 seconds were enough.
It is worth noting that the brave Scotsman refused to knock and preferred to lose consciousness.
Neşeniz yerine gelsin diye ...
Amirkhani!
pic.twitter.com/riQZqAySRh
- Mehmet Sanrı (@Mihemed) July 13, 2020
3. Brandon Royval - Tim Elliott (Flyweight)
Tournament: UFC Vegas 1 |
Method: manual triangle
Date and venue: May 30, Las Vegas (USA)
As for the bronze medalist, Brandon Royval's triumph is worthy of attention for two reasons.
Firstly, even though he performed not the rarest technique, he did it quite beautifully.
And secondly, the famous grappling expert Tim Elliott became his victim.
Despite only a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he forced opponents to surrender six times, and in 2016 even fought for the title with Demetrius Johnson.
It is worth recalling that in the reporting battle, the Denver native was not expected to succeed.
He only made his debut in the UFC, but before that he had already had four defeats in the passive.
The fears were confirmed by the first round left for Elliott.
In the second, Brandon looked better and kept his opponent on the floor for a long time, but he made a mistake and ended up in the guillotine.
The situation seemed hopeless, but Royval got out, went to a full mount, then performed a roll and imprisoned his opponent in a hand triangle.
Tim resisted desperately, but had to knock.
✨ After Alot of heart Elliot
gets subbed by Royval ✨ pic.twitter.com/XgvnORgv09
- ☘️ MMA VISUAL ☘️ (@MMAVISUAL) May 30, 2020
2. Thiago Moises - Michael Johnson (lightweight)
Tournament: UFC Fight Night 171 |
Method: pinching Achilles
Date and venue: May 13, Jacksonville (USA)
Thiago Moises stopped one step away from the first place.
A member of Dana White's Contender Series made his UFC debut in 2018, but was unable to immediately break into the elite of the lightweight division.
Until 2020, his track record included only one victory with two defeats, and the duel with Michael Johnson could well be the last under the auspices of the largest promotion.
But at the right time, skills in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu came to the rescue, which allowed the fighter to restart his career in the championship.
At the end of the first round, it became clear that Moises was not able to compete with Johnson in the standing position.
In five minutes, he delivered only one accurate blow, while his opponent was marked by 26 hits at once.
The Brazilian understood that he needed to change something, and from the very first seconds of the second round he grabbed the American's leg.
Michael was clearly not ready for such a development of events and allowed Thiago to conduct a rather rare technique called "infringement of Achilles."
What a comeback from Thiago Moises 🔥🔥🔥
After remaining on the back foot in the first round, he turns it around and submits Michael Johnson in the second # UFCJAXpic.twitter.com / fT29Wvjw2I
- MMA India (@MMAIndiaShow) May 14, 2020
1. Ariana Lipsky - Luana Carolina (Flyweight)
Tournament: UFC Fight Island 2 |
Method: knee lever
Date and venue: July 19, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
For Ariana Lipsky, 2020 was pretty tough.
Due to the pandemic, she missed the first half of the year, and at the end suffered a painful defeat from Antonina Shevchenko.
Not everything was easy with her fight with Luana Carolina, which she managed to organize only on the third attempt.
But he hardly disappointed the audience, and the 26-year-old Brazilian won the UFC for the second time and demonstrated her skill in jiu-jitsu.
Before the fight, Lipsky was hardly considered a grappling expert.
Her basic kind of martial arts was considered Muay Thai, in which she wields a black belt.
At the same time, in jiu-jitsu, she could only boast of purple.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the first attempt to carry out a painful one was made by Carolina, grabbing her counterpart by the leg.
However, Ariana was not taken aback and first tried to go to the hall of the shin (kafslicer), after which she caught her opponent on the knee lever.
The capture was so strong and dangerous that Luana had to knock on the door immediately.
THE VIOLENCE QUEEN.
Go step-by-step on @ Ariane_Lipski's kneebar 😳 # UFC255pic.twitter.com / 7slTrOzTXn
- UFC (@ufc) November 18, 2020