Ten Of The Most Brutal Choke Submissions In MMA History

There’s something visceral about watching people choke the life out of each other – something that connects deep within our primeval monkey brains. You gotta imagine the first 200,000 years of human existence featured a whole bunch of our ancestors strangling anything and anyone they could get their hairy hands on. So that may have left a slight genetic impression on us.

Nowadays you can enjoy choking in fine literature such as 50 Shades Of Grey, or in a cage where professionals do it under the supervision of a watchful referee – or not so watchful referee. As you’ll see in the next ten clips, choking someone into submission is still a violent act that is shocking to watch. Fortunately I can assure you that no one was permanently injured in the videos you’re about to watch. Somehow.

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Roan Carneiro vs Mark Munoz

The fight from UFC 184 that inspired this post! As Rener Gracie said immediately afterwards on Twitter, “any person who doesn’t understand ocular fixation should not be allowed to ref in the UFC.” Carneiro actually has to tell the ref that Munoz is unconscious.

Gabe Ruediger vs Olaf Alfonso

If watching the Munoz fight go too long upsets you, wait til you get a load of this. Oldschool fighter Olaf Alfonso is known for always winning or losing in spectacular fashion. In this case, it was a spectacular defeat at the hands of Gabe ‘Cake’ Ruediger. No clickbait hyperbole here: this is by far the worst choke non-stoppage in mixed martial arts history.

Dan Miller vs Dave Phillips

Necks just aren’t supposed to bend like that. How Dave Phillips managed to walk away from this is something I’ll never understand. I’m sure his chiropractor is putting children through college off that finish.

Naoyuki Taira vs Jan Lomulder

Another example of what happens when a ref doesn’t notice that a fighter has lost consciousness. Thankfully Jan Lomulder’s corner threw in the towel a few seconds before brain damage would have set in.

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Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral vs David Heath

Brazilians are a prickly, prideful people as David Heath found out after wearing a t-shirt featuring a picture of Babalu’s recent mugshot to the UFC 74 weigh-ins. Babalu repaid that disrespect by bashing Heath’s skull open and then refusing to release his anaconda choke until Heath was unconscious. That was too much for the UFC even by 2007 standards and Sobral never fought for the promotion again.

Bas Rutten vs Yamada Manabu

That awkward moment when you know your opponent is gone to the world but the ref ain’t stopping the fight. Gentleman Bas Rutten decided to release this choke rather than wait for a stoppage and obviously agrees that what just happened was f*cked up.

Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida

As far as haters are concerned, Jon Jones can do no right. Even after putting the stamp on one of the best light heavyweights in the world and choking him out standing up, the only thing people could talk about was how disrespectful it was that Jones dumped the unconscious Machida onto the mat. Like he was supposed to lay him gently onto a pillow and tuck him in or something!

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Jake Ellenberger vs Josh Koscheck

Another fight from the recent UFC 184 card. I’ve seen a lot of messed up stuff in my years, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone foam at the mouth like this. Cujo be like “Damn, son. Get that slobber under control!”

Sheila Bird vs. Kim Couture

Before CM Punk, another person decided to try and turn their name recognition into an MMA career. Randy Couture’s ex-wife Kim paid for that hubris, going 3-8 in her career and having her mandible cracked clean in half before this horrifying scissor submission left her unconscious on the canvas for several minutes. Whenever a live event cuts to that super far away camera, it means something has gone very, very wrong and they don’t want you watching someone potentially dying.

Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Bubba Jenkins

American fighters are lucky it’s so hard for Caucasus fighters to get into the U.S., or there would be a lot more guys with impossible to spell names holding belts in major organizations. Karakhanyan gets the squeeze on Bubba Jenkins and puts him to sleep. Ten seconds later, Herb Dean stops the fight.

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