Christmas is a day past but Santa’s office elves still have to submit the combat sports good/naughty list. Of the UFC recap categories, KO and submission of the year are the most subjective trends. Tapout wins. especially, showcase a special zeal like none other. The rarity of the technique vs. the skill-to-skill differentiation and threats hooks MMA fans on to the edge. 2024 was full of them.
Will Joint locking, pacing, or even Omoplata’ing a UFC PPV undercard kickboxer rank first? Or will it be choking out some spatial master, say Israel Adesanya? Or even the seasoned King Green? All ’24 season submissions on this list deserve their spot here. Here is a look into what ranks where and which was the best of it.
5. Jim Miller vs. Damon Jackson
Give him his flowers and salud because at 40+, this ripe old dog is proving he can pull out all the tricks and techs of tactile battle. Jim Miller (38-18 MMA, 27-17 UFC) is a UFC competition all-time wins leader, who has made the walk about 50 times now in pro competition.
Age has nothing to do when there’s a noose around the rival’s neck (Source: marca.com/X)Miller’s 27 UFC wins are a 17 percent bump from the next top crops on the list. Even flashy finisher and submissions specialist Charles Oliveira! The 41-year-old UFC lightweight defeated Damon Jackson via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:44, at UFC 309 PPV.
Aside from a few rugged strands of gray hair, he proved he’s still very much in the game. Jumping a gilly with maximum exertion from the brachioradialis is also the epitome of technique. Miller passes the key components of this ranking.
4. Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura
The rear naked choke is the least of the flashy UFC/MMA maneuver work. However, it is quite symbolic and threatening when a fighter gives his/her back. Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja is a rare beast and also one of four fighters in UFC history to force a title change by split decision when he won at UFC 290. The animalistic “Cannibal” is also one of the prominent specialists in rear naked stints.
One flyweight submission really soured a UFC debut in 2024 (Source: X)Pantoja put his title gold a third time on line against RIZIN champion and new signee Kai Asakura (21-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC). Asakura seemed like a similar berserker to the UFC flyweight and touted quite the striking. But Pantoja made it look easy, tying together trip attempts and chaining his jumping back takes. Soon, he had his back and clothed up the neck. The rest is history for next year.
Asakura brought in quite the momentum at the tail end of 2024 at UFC 310 PPV. However, this wasn’t a case of him being bad. This was a case of the submission win and Pantoja being just that good. That’s the beauty of the tapout game; the threat comes from anywhere.
3. Gabriella Fernandes vs. Wang Cong
Talking of threats, this was a pure threat reversal! Per Best Fight Odds, Gabriella Fernandes had very little chance on the props against 6-to-1 favorite Wang Cong in their WMMA flyweight bout. Cong was entering UFC Macau (also called UFC Fight Night 248) quite a fan-fave after an electric debut.
One submission was one of the biggest modern upsets (Source: UFC (@ufc) on Threads/X)The girl dressed as the Joker was to be quite the berserker. But Team MMA Masters’ Fernandes (10-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) didn’t let the oddsmakers ruin her fun. Sweet little ‘Gabi’ turned the tide and defeated Wang Cong via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, at around 3:49!
The sequence started with a mammoth left that dropped the rival. Fernandes pounced at the opportunity, headhunting a submission. She proactively jumped the back and eventually got it, while ‘Joker’ faced her sophomore stumble. Fernandes joined the ranks of Matt Serra (+850) vs. Georges St-Pierre, and even Holly Holm (+830) vs. Ronda Rousey as the biggest of underdogs to cash with such an upset.
2. Paddy Pimblett vs. King Green
Bobby Green took a more royal name as the King and made it official. Scouser sensation and UFC 155-pound fighter Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett adopted the name ‘Kingslayer’ and wanted to play spoiler. It is a hard thing to do against a lively veteran with good flow, who cartwheels and flips into action.
A UFC lightweight threatened the King with his moves (Source: YT/independent.co.uk)Additionally, what followed was a thing of beauty and proved that Pimblett’s UFC privileges (if any at all) are well deserved. Consequently, his transitions worked well; too well. Pimblett used an arm-in guillotine attempt. The Englishman, however, found his space and threatened with a triangle. But then, he found a flailing arm and caught it hard; three chain submissions in a row!
All the while, King Green almost passed out from the pressure of the submission. The execution was flawless. Pimblett’s first-round win (via technical submission; triangle choke – Round 1, 3:22) at UFC 304 in July was a hot topic for the rest of 2024. It was the one that proved him a more-than-serious contender at 155 pounds.
1. Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker
When talking about UFC/MMA tapout threats, nothing…literally nothing comes as close in the ’24 season as Khamzat Chimaev’s jaw crank. Once more, it’s the feeble rear naked choke. But it’s the rear naked choke by the explosive Chechen ‘Borz’ that even downed former 185lbs champ Robert Whittaker.
The best submission of 2024 was quite a limit breaker; face-crank jaw breaker actually (Source: yardbarker.com/X)Chimaev did not bother balancing out his explosive lean-ins. He hunted it; he got it. The fighter forced a frantic tap with an off-angle squeeze that wasn’t under the jaw! For a moment it was confusing that someone called a ‘Reaper’ and quite the veteran would tap into it. But in the aftermath, it came to be that it had cracked through Whittaker’s jaw and pushed the teeth in!
Such raw power would even make MMA pundits and practitioners question all about BJJ and submissions wrestling. Chimaev defeated him via submission (face crank) – Round 1, 3:34 at UFC 308’s PPV co-main event. Still undefeated, he rightfully amped up the energy on the mic and demanded a title shot. On the books and visually, this would be one of the most dangerous ones to come in a while.
Honorable mentions
Jasmine Jasudavicius elevated her place in the flyweight roster when she defeated Ariane da Silva in style at UFC Fight Night 246. A D’Arce choke that too! As mentioned before, champ Dricus Du Plessis finishing strong with a submission on kickboxer Israel Adesanya was a highlight. Kevin Holland vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk was gruesome and technically lopsided, up to the breaking point.
2024 had other such punishing moments as well (Source: UFC(@ufc) / X/agfight/IG)
Youssef Zalal’s R2 arm-triangle choke on Jack Shore at UFC Fight Night 246 was fit to form. Women’s strawweight Virna Jandiroba defeating Amanda Lemos in their July Fight Night was another good one. Topping this list would be Islam Makhachev executing a fifth-round D’Arce choke at UFC 302 in June on Dustin Poirier.
Poirier has faced submission before, But this was technical to the utmost degree. Subsequently, it was sudden, threatening him with a flip-and-gilly operation. From the top half-guard, Makhachev then attacked the D’arce. Even though he couldn’t plate in that much pressure, the champ gave it his all and got it done. Such are the moments that made 2024 truly special to be a MMA fan.
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