10 Greatest Submissions In UFC History

4. Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock €“ UFC 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJWjo3dGcyA Result: Gracie defeated Shamrock via submission (rear naked choke) at 0:57 of round 1 UFC 1 was what brought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu into the limelight and made hundreds of weedy kids think they were actually capable of choking their bullies into unconsciousness. The type of thinking which spawned the UFC was motivated to answer the age old question of which martial art is the most effective? If the inaugural UFC event is anything to go by, definitely BJJ. UFC 1 was organised to pit all types of martial artists against each other to find out which was the most effective at destroying other humans. There were no weight classes and only basic rules like no eye-gouging, so when a small man in a Gi named Royce Gracie entered a tournament full of giants, the reaction was of quiet sniggers and perhaps some scattered concern. In his first bout of the night, Gracie fought Art Jimmerson €“ aka the guy with one boxing glove €“ and beat him by mounting him (curiously no submission was required; one has to question Art€™s heart). Gracie€™s next fight was against Ken Shamrock. Shamrock was the only other man who had a submission victory that night and actually came close to pulling off a heel hook on Gracie. However, Gracie used his Gi to his advantage and reversed the submission to pull off a rear naked choke on the much bigger Ken Shamrock. Gracie went on to win the tournament and continued making a name for himself beating up men twice his size until he faced Kazushi Sakuraba in Pride. Seeing a man as heavily-corded and ripped as Shamrock forced to beg for mercy at the hands of the average-sized Royce Gracie must have been a thing to behold for those watching live and remains an incredible spectacle of martial arts to this day.