With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from April 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for April.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
Nominee: Aleksei Oleinik def. Jared Vanderaa at UFC 273
Aleksei Oleinik (60-15-1 MMA, 9-6 UFC) is still dangerous at 44 years old, and he proved it against Jared Vanderaa (12-8 MMA, 1-4 UFC).
After Vanderaa tried to grapple Oleinik early in the first round of their heavyweight bout, the Russian flipped the script and locked in his signature neck crack to add a 47th career submission to his storied resume.
Nominee: Charles Jourdain def. Lando Vannata at UFC Fight Night 205
Charles Jourdain (13-4-1 MMA, 4-3-1 UFC) notched his first submission win in the octagon, and it came in impressive fashion against the always tough Lando Vannata (12-6-2 MMA, 4-6-2 UFC) during their featherweight matchup.
Jourdain and Vannata traded heavy shots early, with both fighters having their moments. Almost two minutes into the round, Vannata shot for a takedown. He was almost immediately caught in a one-armed guillotine choke. From there, as Vannata tried to squirm out, Jourdain kept re-adjusting until he had control of the guard and was able to work his way to a two-handed guillotine to get the tap.
Nominee: Claudio Puelles def. Clay Guida at UFC Fight Night 205
Claudio Puelles (12-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) said heading prior to stepping in the octagon that he wanted to use Clay Guida’s (37-22 MMA, 17-16 UFC) name to make a statement. He did just that by finishing the gritty veteran inside the first round of their lightweight bout.
The third kneebar submission victory of Puelles’ six-fight UFC tenure was what got the job done. After Guida took the fight to the ground early on, Puelles threatened with various submission attempts. He then rolled beautifully into kneebar, which had Guida dead-to-rights and forced him to tap out.
Nominee: Jessica Andrade def. Amanda Lemos at UFC Fight Night 205
Former UFC strawweight champion Jessica Andrade (23-9 MMA, 14-7 UFC) made quite the splash in her return to 115 pounds by putting away surging contender Amanda Lemos (11-2-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC).
In the process, the Brazilian made history. Andrade became the first UFC fighter to ever win by standing arm-triangle choke. Once she trapped it in pressed up the cage, she kept a tight squeeze and didn’t let go until Lemos had no choice but to submit.
Nominee: Francisco Figueiredo def. Daniel da Silva at UFC on ESPN 35
Francisco Figueiredo’s (13-4-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) first octagon finish was a nasty one when he violently tapped out Daniel da Silva (11-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in their lightweight bout.
Figueiredo wasted no time getting the job done. After getting taken down by da Silva early on, he rolled into a kneebar and cranked to elicit the tap from his opponent just 78 seconds into the flyweight fight.
The winner: Jessica Andrade
Andrade notched the first standing arm-triangle choke submission win in UFC history, submitting top contender Lemos in a fight that was starting to heat up.
Lemos was doing well while the fight lasted. She kept good distance from a much more powerful Andrade and was landing hard leg kicks that seemed to buckle Andrade. However, in a quick scramble, Andrade was able to get hold of Lemos’ neck and left arm and trap them in the arm-triangle position.
From there, Andrade kept a tight and constant squeeze. Lemos tried to stay composed and fight out of it, but it was too deep and eventually forced her to tap out.
With the historic result, Andrade made a successful return to 115 pounds. The Brazilian had a three-fight stint at flyweight, where she went 2-1 with her only loss in a title fight against champion Valentina Shevchenko.
“This is my division,” Andrade said in her in-octagon post-fight interview. “This is where I’m going to perform my best. I know that I’m ready to fight again for the title. If you guys can give me a shot, I’m going to be here. I’m going to be ready.”