The fastest submissions in UFC history

rmongler

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Thomas Carlyle once wrote that the only way someone can properly interpret statistics is if they can already grasp the answer beforehand. That was a thought that popped into mind as i scrolled through article number umpteenhundred overviewing 'the most common submissions in mma', or listing 'top ten submissions in the cage' as ranked by a writer according to mysteriously opaque scattershot criteria.

There's an unfortunate lack of searchable databases of useful combat sports figures, so it was a bit of an inconvenience getting all the different bits of information i needed into one place. Once i'd gotten it all together though i figured there'd be other folks interested in the question too.
(Article used as a starting point http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/Sherdogs-Top-10-Fastest-Submissions-in-UFC-History-127593 )

Our entries:
20. Carlos Ferreira def. Colton Smith -- Rear-Naked Choke, 0:38 (UFC Fight Night 44)
19. Rousimar Palhares def. Mike Pierce -- Heel Hook, 0:31 (UFC Fight Night 29)
18. Scott Bessac def. David Hoo -- Guillotine Choke, 0:31 (UFC 7)
17. Brett Johns def. Joe Soto -- Calf Slicer, 0:30 ("The Ultimate Fighter 26" Finale)
16. Joe Stevenson def. Melvin Guillard -- Guillotine Choke, 0:27 (UFC Fight Night 9)
15. Joseph Duffy def. Mitch Clarke -- Rear-Naked Choke, 0:25 (UFC Fight Night 90)
14. Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti -- Rear-Naked Choke, 0:24 (UFC Fight Night 84)
13. Patrick Williams def. Alejandro Perez -- Standing Guillotine Choke, 0:23 (UFC 188)
12. Roman Mitichyan def. Dorian Price -- Ankle Lock, 0:23 (“The Ultimate Fighter 6” Finale)
11. Frank Shamrock def. Kevin Jackson -- Armbar, 0:22 (UFC 15.5)
10. Dennis Hallman def. Matt Hughes -- Guillotine Choke, 0:20 (UFC 29)
9. Don Frye def. Mark Hall -- Ankle Lock, 0:20 (UFC 11.5)
8. Scott Morris def. Sean Daugherty -- Guillotine Choke, 0:20 (UFC 2)
7. Chas Skelly def. Maximo Blanco -- Brabo Choke, 0:19 (UFC Fight Night 94)
6. Terry Etim def. Edward Faaloloto -- Guillotine Choke, 0:17 (UFC 138)
5. Marcus Aurelio def. Ryan Roberts -- Arm Bar, 0:16 (UFC Fight Night 13)
4. Ronda Rousey def. Cat Zingano -- Arm Bar, 0:14 (UFC 184)
3. Justin Martin def. Eric Martin -- Heel Hook, 0:14 (UFC 12)
2. Joe Charles def. Kevin Rosier -- Arm Bar, 0:14, (UFC 4)
1. Oleg Taktarov def. Anthony Macias -- Guillotine, 0:06 (UFC 6)*

~~

Working it out and tallying everything up, by far the most numerous 'quick killers' heretofore were finishes from the front headlock, at eight incidents. The next runner up was armbars, at four incidents. Rounding things out, depending on how you granulate it, were five flavors of leg entanglement incidents - two ankle locks, two heel hooks, one calf slicer - and three incidents of rear naked choke finishes.

This was actually more or less in line with my own expectations and ideas going in, the only thing that really surprised to a degree was the number of arm bar finishes. But, flying armbars in transition are a thing. If you can imagine submissions where you can just, 'walk up and do it', that would be one of them. I would suppose also an influence would be the fact that for the people around onwards from modern MMA's inception, the armbar was probably the most commonly taught submission there was, after perhaps the rnc, so there would be plenty of people looking to try it.

Another thing i noted was that even the fastest rnc's were not 'represented' so to speak in the upper end of rapidity; i feel this touched upon a sentiment that lead to me looking at things from this angle to start with. If you check the 'raw numbers' of total sub finishes in MMA, you'd probably find that the rnc was the most numerous by an appreciable margin. However, i often felt like a finish by rear naked choke was often a, how to say, 'capstone', of a fight that was already dominated beforehand. Such that, many wins by rnc could often just have easily been wins by tko as well (or even an other form of submission).

Study points with some interesting implications i think, with regards to how you might optimize training focus for better 'submission threat'.
 
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Aurelio vs Roberts is one of the prettiest Ive seen in MMA. Really fantastic stuff.
 
I remember seeing some of these live. The ones that stand out to me were the Frank Shamrock armbar and the Rousey armbar.

Best quick sub ever has to be the Rumina Sato flying armbar.
 
I'd be more interested in this same analysis, but starting with later UFC's. The early UFC's were too grappling-defense-deficient, and it's poisoning the data.
 
As far as ufc goes.

Ronda’s armbar on cat zingano and Chas skelly’s dropkick to brabo choke come to
mind. Both had to be inside of 30 seconds. Also Palhares has a heel hook inside of a minute somewhere too.
 
I’ve heard that Oleg’s was possibly a work. He and Macias were pals and he definitely shoots Macias an odd glance after the sub like “wtf was that?”
 
I’ve heard that Oleg’s was possibly a work. He and Macias were pals and he definitely shoots Macias an odd glance after the sub like “wtf was that?”
Don Frye vs. Mark Hall was also a work.
 
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