It’s awards season once again, with 2023 wrapping up, and we’re handing out our annual year-end awards to some of the most exhilarating moments, and fighters, of the past 12 months. No limits on promotion, as long as it took place in 2023 (with the exception of the RIZIN New Year’s show, like last year, which counts towards the following year!)
There were some slick submissions in 2023, but who wrapped things up and put a bow on it? Here’s our team to break it down!
Be sure to check out our Knockout of the Year winner right here!
Submission of the Year 2023
Eddie Law: Alexa Grasso submits Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285. Easy one for me here. Grasso beat someone many believed couldn’t be beaten, and some considered the real WMMA GOAT, by submitting her in the fourth round of their UFC 285 co-main event. Underdog, counted out, and looked past by many, Grasso proved she belongs. And she’s from my hometown.
Gabriel Gonzalez: Olga Rubin’s Buggy Choke. I always like to give this award to submissions with a high degree of difficulty and Olga Rubin’s buggy choke fit that category in 2023. Add into the fact that the victory came against another tested up-and-comer with Bellator and Ultimate Fighter experience in Claire Guthrie and the finish becomes all the more impressive.
Jay Anderson: Olga Rubin hit a buggy choke, and Da’Mon Blackshear hit a twister. When it comes to submissions, those two stood out in 2023. And I was leaning one way or the other before taking into consideration Alexa Grasso’s face crank submission of Valentina Shevchenko. No, it wasn’t as technical. Yes, that will probably be a shoo-in for Upset of the Year. But forget the odds: “Bullet” had never before been submitted. She’d lost by decision, and TKO, and that’s that. Grasso, looking much improved of late, became the first to submit the most dominant women’s flyweight in history. She gets it.
Jamie Theodosi: Shavkat Rakhmonov’s standing rear-naked choke over Geoff Neal. This year almost feels like one we’ll look back on for Rakhmonov and label it as the year he showed, ‘he’s him’. The reason I have picked this one over many other impressive subs, is because we rarely see the bulldog choke and for that reason, it felt unique.
Val Dewar: Diego Lopes vs Gavin Tucker. This turned out to be a year of incredible and unique submissions in the highest levels of mixed martial arts. We saw a twister, inverted triangle, Ezekiel choke, all in the UFC alone, but the best submission of the year was Diego Lopes’ flying triangle-armbar. Lopes showed up basically out of nowhere in 2023 and took the division by storm. For a fighter to announce themselves in their debut with a flying submission, against a skilled veteran opponent no less, is beyond remarkable.
Cade Morehouse: Alexa Grasso. Alexa Grasso submitting Valentina Shevchenko is the submission of the year. The upset and the level of the opponent are what makes it that much better. That was one of the biggest highlights of 2023.
Patrick McCorry: Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Geoff Neal. A standing rear-naked choke after a crazy back and forth fight, in the dying seconds.
Shawn Bitter: Damon Blackshear. For submission of the year I’m more about the actual submission than I am about the stakes of the fight or moment. Blackshear hit that twister with such ease. It’s a rare submission we don’t see everyday.
End result: With honorable mention to the technicality of Da’Mon Blackshear and Olga Rubin’s respective finishes, and to Shavkat Rakhmonov, Alexa Grasso gets the nod for the 2023 Submission of the Year!
