Tap or Sleep: Top Five Submissions

What's up fight fans, earlier this year I wrote about my favorite KOs of all time. While this page is called "Get The KO" we have to acknowledge there are other ways to win in the MMA world. One of those ways is by Submission. Now the UFC has shown us some awesome ways to finish a fighter there are other promotions out there that have shown us how quickly it is to put someone to sleep or finish them. Let's get into it...

HONORABLE MENTION

SILVA VS SONNEN I - UFC 117 (Triangle Choke)

I can already hear people saying it "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!?!?" but hear me out first. While this was an impressive submission (mostly because Silva lost the first four rounds). It was a desperate triangle that got locked in and Sonnen ended up tapping to it. Silva is to be commended by his victory but compared to the TOP FIVE, you might agree this is a Honorable Mention

ANGELA LEE VS NATALIE GONZALES - ONE CHAMPIONSHIP (TWISTER)

While I am a huge fan of wrestlers, this was an impressive submission and one of my personal favorites. Not to be put into cuz it is very painful. The fact that Angela Lee was able to pull this off in a MMA bout is amazing. Thus why she is an Honorable Mention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN_SC0ybh_o

TOP FIVE

NUMBER FIVE

QUICK NICK HONSTEIN - EBI 11

Quick Nick is a close friend of mine and watching him go to Australia and battle the in the down under and dominate was awesome; but it was when he came back to the U.S. and battled in the EBI (Eddie Bravo Invitational) that I had to stand up and applaud. Quick Nick had to battle two different opponents and finished one by rear naked choke, and then other in a twister. It was one of Eddie's favorite submission and to finish the fight with his move made it the best.

NUMBER FOUR

FRANK MIR - UFC 48

I did not say I was going to caveat any of the submissions in this list. When Frank Mir fought Tim Sylvia at UFC 48, the fight was over in 50 seconds. The crowd boo'd the decision by the ref because they did not know what happened. Tim was caught in an arm bar and the fight had to be stopped because Frank broke Tim's forearm. Rough times in the UFC...

NUMBER THREE

JONNO MEARS - FCC 19

This is a pretty recent match and to put it on the list could be pretty controversial, but I am okay with that for now. Jonno fought back in Sept. 30th, 2017 and I have to already put this on my list. What do you say to a man who finishes a fight with the "Walls of Jericho", "The Boston Crab"...whatever you want to call it. Jonno finished the fight after locking down his opponents legs and worked for the tap out.

  
NUMBER TWO

FRANK MIR - UFC 140

Again here we are with Frank Mir, so you know it must be brutal. This particular fight was interesting because Mir was hurt in the fight and looking to get dropped. What happened was Frank fell and pulled guard on Big Nog. Mir ended up catching the Kimura lock on Big Nog, Big nog instantly rolled Mir over. Mir used was strength he had to pull Nog back over and broke his arm in the process of finishing the fight.

NUMBER ONE

TOBY IMADA - BELLATOR MMA

To be number one on my list you have to have done something very unique, and I have to say Toby probably had one of the most badass tap outs of all time. Jorge is a tough fighter and hurt Toby early in this fight but, Toby was able to withstand the onslaught and finish the fight in one of the most unique ways ever.

I do understand I am missing a couple of submissions that were amazing Jake Ellenberger north/south choke on Koscheck; Demeterious Johnson armbar of Ray Borg; and so on. There will be ways to add more to this list and I am always looking for people to talk with about their favorites.

Find me on Snapchat, Twitter, and IG @ cm_miller85 and talk to me about it. Also be on the look out for "GET THE KO" podcast; be sure to listen to THE VEGAS SPORTSCAST on iHeartradio. Last but not least be on the look out for Serotonix...this newest clothing line that I have the privilege to be apart of. Check it out be sure to follow and I will see you all next week.

UFC 216 Review

Last night was UFC 216 and I would have to say, it was not a bad card by any means. But with the lack of star power, it definitely was a fight card that should have been on Fox or even Fox Sports. It was a "C" card at best and I feel the lack of a big main-eventer really took away from everything. This car was a solid C+ or B- with Derrick Lewis on the card but (spoiler alert) with him being pulled off the main card at the last minute really hurt it more. However with that being said, there were some great things that happened on the fight card as well. Let's cover some of the big points and I will also dive into one of my favorite fights of the fight card (that was not on the main event card).

Tony Ferguson vs Kevin Lee

What a great fight we had here, these were two young guys looking to get in the ring and win a title. They knew what was on the line and sold out for the title. It has some great back and forth action and at one point in time Kevin Lee took control of the fight and looked to have some serious momentum going for him. Tony was able to withstand the storm to his shots when he needed it. Kevin showed his inexperience in the later rounds, which was something I had mentioned on the podcasts (GET THE KO and Vegas Sportscast) as well as WNST radio. Kevin had not been in a deep water fight though he said he was ready for it, it was just to get himself hyped up. Now the third round Ferguson was able to make the move took Lee down and was able to finish the fight with a triangle choke. 

What made this interesting was after the fight, Tony Ferguson called out Conor McGregor (who's last fight was in August with Floyd Mayweather). He told him to "Defend or Vacate" which is interesting because you know Conor will respond to Tony soon. 

Demetrious Johnson vs Ray Borg

Just walking to the T-Mobile Arena DJ set a record for titles to be defended. Ray Borg was looking to be "Chris Weidman" of the Featherweight Division (Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva who was defending his 11th title). Ray said all the right things leading up to this fight, he got himself in the right state of mind and was looking good. DJ was just looking like himself, cool...calm...collected. Almost, as he knew that this fight was going to go his was. DJ was the heavy favorite and I had told people he was going to win this fight hands down. 

Ray Borg was determined and looked tough, looking for the take downs constantly and attacking. DJ was able to weather the storm and continued to be the Tsunami he is. He constantly hits you with wave after wave and wears you down. This is exactly what happened with Borg, though he was able to withstand the first few onslaughts, eventually DJ is going to get you and he did. With an amazing grab from being and putting the armbar instantly, Borg had no choice but to tap out, it was a valiant effort by the young buck. I would expect Borg to be back in the title hunt soon.

What is next for DJ? Well I think he needs to fight the winner of the Garbrandt/Dillishaw fight. I think a super fight between the two is necessary, the Flyweight Champion has been dominate in his weight class and a fight between him and the Featherweight Champion needs to be put in effect. Let's hope sometime next year we can see that fight go down.

Fabricio Werdum vs Walt Harris

We are just going to keep this short and sweet. Joe Rogan said it best, there are levels in the UFC and Walt Harris saw the Mount Everest of the peak. Walt took this fight on short notice and it was a great look for him. However Werdum is not a guy I would have thought he wanted to fight, it was quick work for Werdum with the submission in the first minute. Werdum is not a guy who likes to keep fights on the feet, pulled Walt into guard and worked for the tap out. 

My Fight of the Night

Brad Tavares vs Thales Leites

At one point in time Brad was considered on of the most feared fighters in the UFC, he has hung around for a long time in the UFC. Most of you who have been following my blog for the last year and even listened to me on the radio know, I love Hawaiian Fighters. The are scrappy, hungry, and always looking for a fight. Brad fights out of Las Vegas, and is from Kailua (where I lived for short while) and I give lots of love to the fighters from Hawaii. To watch him in the Octagon again and battle towards the decision was amazing and I can not wait to see what is going to happen for Brad.

Fight of the Night (UFC)

If you missed the "Fight of the Night" do yourself a favor and watch it on the Fox Sports Go App. Lando Vannata VS Bobby Green was an amazing fight, filled with a little controversy. Vannata in the first round landed an illegal knee, and knew it the moment it landed. Green stated in a post fight interview, there was no way he was going to call the fight...he was going to go out on his shield. For three rounds these two men went to battle and landed numerous shots. In the third round towards the end of the fight, Green landed a nasty shot on Vannata (which buckled him) and Green went in for the kill. However the horn blew and it was the end of the fight. Great showing by both men and the fight ended up being called a draw. Hopefully next year we will see these two fight again!

Let me know what you thought of UFC 216. Did you enjoy it? Did you not? What was your fight of the night? Also are you excited about the future fight cards coming up this year? 

You guys can catch me on the podcast later tonight for "GET THE KO" we will be diving more in depth in these fights for UFC 216. Also, you can catch me on "Vegas Sportscast" as well. If you want to contact me on social media: Snapchat, Twitter, IG @cm_miller85 or Twitter: @gettheko. 

I wanted to thank you the readers as well, please share this with all of your friends and let them see what is going on with "GET THE KO" we just hit 100 readers two weeks in a row and I want to continue to grow the blog with your help. Thank you for being supportive in this, and you guys are awesome!

Can We Get That Fight?

What is going on guys, it is a special edition on GET THE KO tonight and I am excited to write this. I want to talk about some of the future fights that need to happen, at least on my side. If you guys listen to the podcast on anchor for GET THE KO, Anthony and I did an episode covering our dream fights for UFC 217 and I think nine of the fighters are on the card to include three title fights (one which was called out by Anthony). It is fun to see some of the match-ups. Now this is not one of those I want to see a past versus present fight, the fights I would like to see are fights between current fighters in the UFC and Bellator. Big name fighters with larger than life personas!

Sergio Pettis vs T.J. Dillashaw

This could be a fun fight to watch, Sergio has had one lose in the UFC and has been pretty solid. Dana White would like T.J. to fight Demetrious Johnson for the title. DJ has come out and said he would like Dillashaw to fight one fight before he fights for the title. I think Sergio would be a great test for T.J. It is also not a fight I think T.J. wins easily if at all. T.J. is on another level with his wrestling, but we have seen his striking game not be on the same level as Sergio. I am excited to see what Sergio could do against a big named opponent and a fighter like T.J. would be perfect.

Conor McGregor vs Edson Barboza

Let's be honest this is a fight that could happen, and could happen by the next year. Edson Barboza has some nasty kicking power (ask Terry Etim and Anthony Pettis). Many fighters have fought and got beat by Edson. On that note Conor is a student of the game and can show up in any atmosphere, we have seen him strike with Floyd and Jose (only one of those he came out the victor). Conor loves to throw leg kicks and it would be interesting to see him battle a man who's feet are faster than Conors.

Cain Velasquez vs Stipe Miocic

Be real with yourself on this one, the last time we saw Cain in...he was throwing wheel kicks at Travis and landing them regularly. Cain has shown an ability to adapt and modify his game, something has to be said about it. With multiple surgeries and extended time away from the octagon does he still have enough in he tank to battle a man, who only wants to throw hands. Stipe is a dangerous fighter from his feet (Dos Anos can at test to that), with only one fighter who beat him in the UFC (Stephan Struve) it will be interesting to see how the measuring stick of Cain will do with Stipe.

Michelle Waterson vs Cynthia Calvillo

This is a heart breaking fight for me, I love both of these fighters. They want to battle they pick their shots and are pretty open about taking them when they are there. I think this match-up presents problems on both sides. Both girls will strike, both will look for takedowns, and both love to get their ground game going. This should be a fight we see in the next year especially after the Esparza vs Calvillo fight coming up.

Other Fights:

Max Holloway vs Chan Sung Jung
Carlos Condit vs Michael "Venom" Page
Volkan Oezdemir vs Alexander Gustafsson
Robert Whitaker vs Luke Rockhold
Germaine De Randamie vs Raquel Pennington
Rafael Dos Anos vs Paul Daly

Let me know in the comments either on Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat @cm_miller85 who would you like to see battle it out. Maybe if enough of us demand the fight, we will see it happen!!!