Las Vegas, NV — Israeli bantamweight Olga Rubin, a former featherweight title challenger in Bellator MMA, is coming off what is almost certainly the biggest performance of her career.
Though it’s now more than six months removed, the sight of Rubin (9-3) hitting a rarely-seen buggy choke on Serena DeJesus at Invicta FC 53 is still fresh in the minds of many. The performance stood out enough to be nominated for Submission of the Year at last month’s 15th Annual World MMA Awards, and was the culmination of years of work.
“Basically I’ve been doing jiu-jitsu since 2013, and I’ve been doing that buggy choke, at least trying to get the buggy choke in a fight for at least three fights before I got it,” Rubin told Cageside Press on the red carpet. “So for me, it was like my moment, because I was really working on the choke.”
Walking us through it, Rubin explained that “the second I hit the bottom in side control, I will probably get to the buggy choke immediately. So I knew it’s coming, I knew she knew it’s coming but there was nothing to be done about it.”
With everything going on in the world, Rubin was clear on how much a win at the awards ceremony would mean. “This would be meaning the world to me, especially now,” she stated. And while Rubin didn’t win — the award went to Alexa Grasso in the end — there’s no doubt she made an impression.
Watch our full interview with Invicta FC’s Olga Rubin above.
