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5 of the best submissions this year, so far

We're almost a quarter of the way through the year, these submissions stand out.

By Richard Ferraina

In the UFC Fight Night co-main event, Alexa Grasso scored the first submission win of her career, as
In the UFC Fight Night co-main event, Alexa Grasso scored the first submission win of her career, as / Barbara Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA
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Davey Grant puts Raphael Assuncao to sleep with a reverse triangle choke at UFC Las Vegas - March 2023

UFC Las Vegas featured a bantamweight showdown between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili, but another bantamweight fight stole the show. Davey Grant was coming off a win and faced veteran Raphael Assuncao, who was coming off his first win in four years.

Grant fights out of England and is a brown belt in BJJ, going 9-1 with nine finishing, including eight by submission. Grant joined season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, losing in the finale to Chris Holdsworth and going 5-5 thereafter, which included wins over title contender Marlon Vera, Jonathan Martinez, and Louis Smolka, none of those coming by way of submission mind you.

Assuncao was a WEC mainstay and started out his UFC career 11-2, holding wins over former champions TJ Dillashaw, Aljamain Sterling and Marlon Moraes, Pedro Munhoz, Bryan Caraway and Rob Font. Assuncao only had one win in his last five before facing Grant.

It was a competitive fight throughout two-and-a-half rounds, and in the third round, Grant landed some shots that caused Assuncao to shoot. Assuncao was controlling on the ground and Grant grabbed the fence, resulting in a point deduction. With Grant possibly needing a finish to win the fight, he landed a spinning back fist which dropped Assuncao and while Assuncao went for a single leg, Grant locked his legs around his head and arm and was able to put Assuncao to sleep with a rare inverted triangle choke.

Many thought referee Keith Peterson messed up by not putting the fighters back in ground position after the fence grab, which led to the knockdown, but impressive nonetheless. Assuncao would retire after the fight while Grant lost his most recent fight at UFC London.

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