BE 2018 Year-End MMA Awards – Best Submission

Make your pick for the best MMA submission of 2018 in Bloody Elbow’s Year-End Awards.

It’s back!

Over the next few days, Bloody Elbow is going to ask for your opinion on some of the best things that have happened in the MMA world over the course of 2018. There will be a total of eight different categories you’ll be asked to vote on. For the sake of simplicity we’re going to stick with high-level and relevant MMA stuff in these posts. While I’m sure there was a ludicrous knockout in an unscheduled MMA event at The Lumberyard strip club in Des Moines, or an insane pancreas lock submission on an obscure ZST! card in Japan, let’s just stick to stuff a lot of us have seen, okay? (If that spiel looked familiar, it’s because I’ve used the same one for eight years in a row. Originality? What originality?)

It’s pretty simple. I’ll post 5-10 options in a category, you vote for what you think was the best. If you think I left something really important off my list, post it in the comments and we can add it to the poll if it’s deemed worthy. I can almost guarantee you won’t like all my suggestions, but narrowing down these lists is tough.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get onto the first poll – the best submission of 2018. There have been some excellent subs all over the MMA landscape this year, and getting the list down is very difficult. But I did, and here it is.

Adam Wieczorek stops Arjan Bhullar with an omoplata, UFC Phoenix

Aleksey Oleinik taps Junior Albini with an Ezekiel choke from the bottom, UFC 224

Aljamain Sterling finishes Cody Stamann with a Suloev Stretch, UFC 228

Zabit Magomedsharipov stops Brandon Davis with a Suloev Stretch, UFC 228

Paul Craig with the hail mary triangle win over Magomed Ankalaev, UFC London

Darren Elkins chokes out Michael Johnson after getting beaten up, UFC St. Louis

Ryan Hall heel hooks BJ Penn, UFC 232

Paddy Pimblett flying triangles Alexis Savvidis, Cage Warriors 90