With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from March 2020: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Submission of the Month” award for March.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
* * * *
The Nominees
Damon Jackson def. Mauro Chaulet at LFA 83
[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag] (17-3-1) rebounded from a winless 2019 when he quickly dispatched of an overmatched Mauro Chaulet (13-7) in their featherweight headliner.
Chaulet got in an advantageous position over Chaulet on the ground and managed to lock in a rear-naked choke a little more than two minutes in. Chaulet couldn’t escape, and Jackson secured his 13th career submission finish.
Gerald Meerschaert def. Deron Winn at UFC 248
[autotag]Gerald Meerschaert[/autotag] (31-12 MMA, 6-4 UFC) got his first win of 2020 when he submitted American Kickboxing Academy’s Deron Winn (6-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in a fun fight that went down in the middleweight division.
Meerschaert took some big shots early in the fight but eventually found his range, rocked his opponent and finished with a rear-asked choke in the third round. The win saw “GM3” improve to 2-1 in his past three UFC outings.
WOW! It ain't over till it's over! 👏@The_Real_GM3 with a HUGE R3 to sink in the RNC for the victory! #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/AHfPC402Of
— UFC (@ufc) March 8, 2020
Rodolfo Vieira def. Saparbek Safarov at UFC 248
Rodolfo Vieira (7-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) likely was on his way to a doctor’s stoppage loss against Saparbeg Safarov (9-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC). Fortunately for him, he finished the fight before the doctor could intervene.
With his eye mangled and swollen shut, Vieira took care of business inside the first round against Safarov in their middleweight bout, securing an arm-triangle choke for the submission.
Renato Moicano def. Damir Hadzovic at UFC on ESPN+ 28
[autotag]Renato Moicano[/autotag] (14-3-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC) shined in his lightweight debut when he steamrolled Damir Hadzovic (13-6 MMA, 3-4 UFC) in the first round to put a fresh coat of paint on his career.
The former featherweight contender needed just 44 seconds to dispatch of Hadzovic with a rear-naked choke. He quickly got the fight to the ground, took the back and then finished the job to conclude a short night at the office.
Charles Oliveira def. Kevin Lee at UFC on ESPN+ 28
[autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] (29-8 MMA, 17-8 UFC) picked up his first UFC main event win when he defeated Kevin Lee (18-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC) to extend his winning streak to seven.
Oliveira extended his streak with a third-round submission win over Lee courtesy of a guillotine choke. The Brazilian waited for his moment to attack with the choke, and when he got it tied the UFC’s all-time stoppage record.
* * * *
The Winner: Charles Oliveira
Oliveira’s day finally has come, even if it came on a strange day.
“Do Bronx” has long been a talented competitor, but never quite put it all together over a sustained period of time.
Those days are over, though. Unfazed by the strange setting of an empty Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Oliveira put on a masterful show in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 28.
Oliveira finished former interim lightweight title challenger Kevin Lee with a guillotine choke 28 seconds into the third round. The bout was contested at a catchweight of 158.5 pounds after Lee missed weight the previous day.
With that, Oliveira won his seventh straight bout. They’ve all come by way of finish. He added to his UFC submission record at 14 and tied Donald Cerrone’s company mark for finishes at 16.
It didn’t take long to figure how the fight was going to flow. Lee’s base is wrestling, and he scored an early takedown, but Oliveira immediately went for heel hooks and leg locks. Lee’s wrestling is crafty enough that he managed to scramble bad spots, but as often as not, he’d wander into another submission attempt.
The second proved to be bad news for Lee, too, as Oliveira showed off his much-improved stand-up game, stalking Lee down and landing uppercuts. Lee went for a takedown, but that once again simply got him tangled in a spider web of submission attempts.
JUST THAT QUICKLY! 👀
🇧🇷 Oliveira ends the night from #UFCBrasilia. pic.twitter.com/m8uJShU4kc
— UFC (@ufc) March 15, 2020
Lee did manage his best offense of the fight at the end of Round 2, when he got top control and landed solid right hands and elbows. But in the third, he once again had to land a defensive takedown, and from there, it was a mere matter of second before Oliveira finished him with the choke.
Lee, who may have gone out with the choke, protested that he didn’t tap, but the replay made it clear he did on several occasions.
[opinary poll=”submission-of-the-month-for-march_mmajun-JPhSBM” customer=”mmajunkie”]
