With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from January 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for January.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
Nominees
Nominee: Katie Saull def. Tamika Jones at Invicta FC 45
Canadian veteran Katie Saull (4-5) showed why her ground game is arguably the most dangerous part of her game in an atomweight bout with Tamika Jones (1-1).
Saull pulled her record above .500 when she locked in a tight armbar on Jones during a transition in the opening round of the contest.
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Nominee: Jake Collier def. Chase Sherman at UFC on ESPN 32
Jake Collier (13-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) prepared for a firefight in his heavyweight bout with Chase Sherman (15-9 MMA, 3-8 UFC), but the bout was over in less than three minutes.
The fight started out, as every fight does, in the striking department. Both men landed punches, but when the fight hit the mat, it was all Collier. He mounted Sherman and landed brutal ground-and-pound before he swiftly submitted his fellow behemoth with a rear-naked choke.
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Nominee: Vanessa Demopoulos def. Silvana Gomez Juarez at UFC 270
Vanessa Demopoulos (7-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) secured her first UFC win with an early finish of Silvana Gomez Juarez (10-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) in their strawweight bout.
The win was Demopoulos’ first in the promotion and it did not come without adversity. The finishing sequence actually came after she was dropped by a Juarez punch. She quickly turned the tables, however, and clamped on an armbar that forced the tap. Her post-fight interview was even more entertaining, as she leaped into Joe Rogan’s arms.
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Nominee: Said Nurmagomedov def. Cody Stamann at UFC 270
Said Nurmagomedov (15-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) beat Cody Stamann (19-5-1 MMA, 5-4-1 UFC) faster than anyone ever has in their bantamweight fight.
Nurmagomedov absolutely steamrolled Stamann in the bout. He locked in a guillotine choke when both men were dry very early on, but he wasn’t letting go. Nurmagomedov stayed on the attack and kept chasing it until he got the tap just 47 seconds after the fight began.
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Nominee: Loik Radzhabov def. Zach Zane at Eagle FC 44
Loik Radzhabov (16-4-1) tore through and overmatched and undersized Zach Zane (15-10) in the first round of their lightweight bout.
Radzhabov put pressure on Zane, and eventually waited for the opening to latch on a guillotine choke. It came from a standing position and Zane couldn’t find a way out, so he was forced to tap less than three minutes after the bout began.
The winner
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The winner: Said Nurmagomedov
Nurmagomedov had a quick night at the office.
The Dagestani took little time to dispatch bantamweight veteran Stamann on the UFC 270 main card at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Nurmagomedov submitted Stamann with a guillotine choke at the 0:47 mark of Round 1.
Nurmagomedov immediately went at Stamann with hard, explosive kicks and punches. Stamann initiated the grappling in response to Nurmagomedov’s strikes, but was quickly caught in a guillotine choke. Stamann had no time to fight it, as it was extremely deep. He was forced to tap a few seconds after the choke was locked.
It was a swift and dominant showing by Nurmagomedov.
With the result, Nurmagomedov is 9-1 in his past 10 bouts. His most recent defeat came in 2019 when came up short in a unanimous decision in his third UFC bout against Raoni Barcelos.
Meanwhile, Stamann is now on a three-fight losing streak, having lost to Jimmie Rivera and Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision in previous bouts. His most recent win came against Brian Kelleher in June 2020.