Watch Rico “Bon Bon” Franco pull off a “twister” submission from a recent MMA event in London, England.
Of all the ways to pick up your first win as a professional, this has to be considered truly extraordinary.
English MMA fighter Rico Franco had dropped his pro debut at Caged Steel Fighting Championship 16 last December. His second bout occurred two weeks ago (under the same promotion) against the 0-4 Steve Webster, who had been finished in all of his defeats. After advancing to full mount and then taking Webster’s back, Franco worked on securing a twister on his opponent. The commentators pointed out the brief period where Franco was going for the banana split, but he soon returned to going for the twister finish, and he was able to get Webster to tap.
You can watch the video at the top of the page.
Franco is coached by former UFC fighter Danny Mitchell, who has two wins by twister and is the only MMA fighter with that distinction. Update: Franco fought again on April 1st, winning again by submission. The 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu influence can obviously be traced all the way to Eddie Bravo, who shared the finish with his Instagram followers.
We’ve only had one twister finish in UFC history, which is Chan Sung Jung’s win over Leonard Garcia back in March 2011.