About the author: Michael is an avid MMA enthusiast who loves to blog about anything to do with martial arts, you can see more of his work at ignitionmma.
In the sport of MMA there are three main ways a fight will be stopped, going to a decision, a knockout or technical knockout or via a submission. Submission techniques are considered just as dangerous as KO or TKO and can end a fight in a matter of seconds. In the cage a submission will usually be stopped by a tap or tapout, however these submission if left on can lead to some nasty injuries and in some cases death!
Below are the Top 5 most dangerous submissions used in MMA.
1. Neck Crank
A neck crank is performed by leveraging pressure into the spine, in general any submission that involves putting pressure on the spine is extremely dangerous and can lead to serious injury or death. These types of submissions are so dangerous many of them have been banned from competition and are only allowed in expert divisions of BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and MMA.
2. Rear Naked Choke
A rear naked choked when performed correctly cuts off blood circulation to both the carotid arteries in the neck. When executed correctly this submission can render an opponent unconscious with 5 – 10 seconds and if held on after an opponent loses consciousness the recipient can suffer brain damage or death.
3. Knee Bar
A knee bar is performed by leveraging pressure into the knee the joint, the difference between knee bars and other submission is knee bars don’t hurt until the joint breaks making them extremely dangerous when performed by novices.
4. Arm Bar
An arm bar works work by leveraging pressure into the elbow joint, this type of submission can be performed in a number of different ways and is one of the most common submissions used in MMA.
5. Shoulder Lock
A shoulder lock is performed by leveraging pressure into the shoulder joint, this submission will result in a dislocated shoulder or tearing of shoulder ligaments, this type of submission is quite hard to perform but when done correctly can be devastating.
About the author: Michael is an avid MMA enthusiast who loves to blog about anything to do with martial arts, you can see more of his work at ignitionmma.
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Nice list. I think you could add the heelhook as well. And the triangle choke.
sounds violent enough =) how does a triangle choke work?
Yea both of those are nasty also, my favorite is still the rear naked choke!
Ya the triangle chock is pretty sweet and looks pretty amazing when done properly…like how did he just do that? None of these look very fun to be on the wrong side of.
The heel hook should definitely be put on this list, while the rear-naked is dangerous, it can only cause serious injury if held for a substantial amount of time after he is unconscious, which wouldnt happen due to the ref stopping it. (the same applies to all blood chokes)
A heel hook is far more dangerous than armbars, kneebars or shoulder locks, because the general rule applying to heelhooks is that as soon as you feel pain, you have done some damage to ligaments in your knee and ankle, and if more pressure is put on afterwards, it can cause serious damage, sometimes irrepairable damage, and can put you out of the sport.
(P.S kneebars do hurt before the damage is done)
that heel hook sounds brutal! Is that even allowed, considering it’s so easy to actually damage your opponent?
Neck crank is a pain move and Professionals rarely tap out from it.
Also where’s the Twister and Peruvian neck tie and Triangle choke.