The 2025 campaign kicked off with two armbars on the first event — one to close out the prelims, the other to close out the show — and wrapped with a solitary anaconda choke from intriguing welterweight newcomer Yaroslav Amosov. There were nearly three times as many rear-naked chokes as there were any other submission, and we had a couple different one-offs, including an Ezekial choke, a reverse can opener, a triangle armbar, and a keylock.
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Anaconda chokes edged out brabo chokes 5-4, there were eight combined finishes involving the words “triangle” and “choke” including two triangle chokes, plus a pair of ninja chokes, five kimuras — including back-to-back one night, which is even more wild to recall now — and six face cranks, which feels like an all-time high.
But what were the top submissions of 2025? Here’s how our voting shook out.
1 – Merab Dvalishvili taps out Sean O’Malley (UFC 316)
Heading into the bantamweight championship rematch between Dvalishvili and O’Malley, the main point of inquiry was how much of an impact the former champion being injured impacted his performance in their initial meeting, where the indefatigable Georgian wrestled the title away from the technicolor titleholder, beginning his reign atop the division.
In the sequel, it was Dvalishvili that showed a little something different, again suffocating O’Malley with pressure and takedowns through the first two-and-a-half rounds before latching onto a choke that to this day, no one is completely sure what to call it. Officially, it’s listed as a north-south choke, but personally, I’d call it a reverse ninja choke, as the initial setup was like that off a no-arm brabo or anaconda where he clutched his bicep, but it ended with “Suga” on his back, still dead to rights.
(Watch Full Fight on UFC Fight Pass)
This was — for my money — the best performance of the year for “The Machine,” who showed he’s still growing and improving as a fighter, even while being one of the best on the planet.
2 – Jean Silva puts Bryce Mitchell to sleep (UFC 314)
Less than two months after walloping Melsik Baghdasaryan in Seattle, Silva ventured to South Beach to take on Mitchell in a classic “Okay, but how good is he really?” kind of matchups. Remember, Silva was just four fights into his UFC tenure at this point, and while he’d looked great, Mitchell was the first ranked opponent he’d faced and had only been beaten twice in his career; once by Ilia Topuria, who submitted him, and once by Josh Emmett, who took a piece of his soul while sending him to the Shadow Realm at UFC 296.
(Watch Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass)
Mitchell won the first four minutes of the opening round, throwing and landing more than Silva, who was happy to stalk and taunt “Thug Nasty” before the Fighting Nerds representative snatched up a guillotine choke that was deep and swung the round in his favor. “Lord” came out jawing at Mitchell to start the second, blasting him with a body kick straight away, dropping him with a right soon after and immediately calling him back to his feet. Mitchell tried to stem the tide by reaching for takedowns, but Silva kept stuffing the shots, until the Arkansas native left a little bit of neck exposed late in the second and the Brazilian clamped onto a ninja choke.
You can tell by how deeply in trouble someone is by how they react to the submission, and Mitchell instantly looked to get to the canvas and try to roll to his back to create space. The problem? Silva wasn’t having any of it and just kept squeezing, with Mitchell tapping just before he drifted off to sleep; the visual of Mitchell on his back, eyes wide, unconscious as Silva barked at him instantly being etched in the brains of everyone watching.
3 – Kayla Harrison claims gold with a kimura (UFC 316)
In the two instances where Harrison got Julianna Pena to the canvas in the first and second round of their UFC 316 co-main event pairing, the bantamweight champion honestly did well to minimize the threats and damage coming back her way, and yet both were still horrible situations for her.
Watch: Harrison Previews Upcoming Fight Against Amanda Nunes
In the first, Pena lost a point after hitting Harrison with two upkicks while the challenger was clearly grounded, with a third bouncing off her shoulder as referee Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro stepped in to pause the action and penalize the champ. In the second, worked to control Harrison’s posture, tried to tie up her hands and arms, and did well to avoid getting her back taken.
None of it mattered.
Harrison quicky bailed on trying to work to back mount in favor just muscling Pena’s shoulders to the canvas, bullying her to the ground while maintaining far-side wrist control. After exploring the potential of an arm triangle choke, which started to get close, but wasn’t quite there positionally, Harrison switched off to a kimura.
(Watch Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass)
Remember what I said above about you can tell how deep a hold is by the other person’s reaction? Harrison only had the kimura locked up for two seconds and Pena was tapping; the torque and positioning of the challenger was so precise that she knew it was a wrap.
This is what makes Harrison such a fascinating menace inside the Octagon and why every single soul that appreciates this sport is counting down the days until she steps in with Amanda Nunes at UFC 324.
4 – “Fluffy” Hernandez literally snatches Roman Dolidze’s neck (UFC Vegas 109)
This was gnarly.
(Watch Full Fight On UFC Fight Pass)
Hernandez is a relentless figure inside the Octagon who relies on his wrestling and conditioning to break his opponents and as the rounds ticked on, you could see Dolidze breaking, which in turn made “Fluffy” smile. Midway through the fourth, Hernandez called the burly Georgian back to his feet with a grin and a point, and Dolidze labored to get back up. Once he did, Hernandez closed the distance and shoved him into the fence, with Dolidze grabbing a handful of chain link in order to ensure he stayed upright.
So the Dana White’s Contender Series grad kneed him in the face a couple times, and when Dolidze dropped to a knee to avoid that punishment, Hernandez lifted him back up by wrapping his forearm under his neck and hoisting him up. “Fluffy” hauled him upwards, Dolidze tapped rapidly, and the surging middleweight let go, letting him crash to the canvas in a heap, motioning that he wanted a chance to challenge for the belt after picking up his eighth straight win.
5 – Valter Walker hits his finisher not once, not twice, but thrice
If you’d like to object to Walker earning the final place in our Top 5 for cumulative results, I understand, but it also leads me to believe that you don’t like fun, hate dogs, and were the kid that said, “You mean yesterday” once it was after midnight at the sleepover… if you were invited.
Dude has a legit finishing maneuver and hit it three times in 2025, tapping out Don’Tale Mayes (77 seconds), Kennedy Nzechukwu (54 seconds), and Louie Sutherland (84 seconds) to give him three wins in a combined 215 seconds and four straight victories by heel hook.
A couple things make this awesome: (1) he’s using different setups and executions each time, (2) it’s one of those “tap immediately or else” moves, and (3) my guy has a legitimate finishing move in the UFC heavyweight division in the year 2025! This isn’t the early days when dudes didn’t know how to defend armbars or Paul Sass attacking triangle chokes more than a decade ago; this is 2025 and each successive opponent is still getting tapped with quickness and it had to be recognized.
I can’t wait to see who Walker gets matched up with next and if he can keep this run going because you better believe that at some point early on in the fight, he’ll be looking to hit his finisher on whoever it is, and if they’re not prepared, they’re going to be the next victim of “The Clean Monster.”
Others Receiving Votes: Shauna Bannon, Alexandre Pantoja, Arman Tsarukyan, Charles Oliveira, Youssef Zalal, Ramiz Brahimaj, Erin Blanchfield, Ignacio Bahamondes, Islam Makhachev
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