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MMAjunkie’s 'Submission of the Month' for November 2014

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMAjunkie takes a look at November’s best submissions. Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMAjunkie’s “Submission of the Month” award for the month.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

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The nominees

Jake Matthews def. Vagner Rocha at UFC Fight Night 55

Jake Matthews and Vagner Rocha

Jake Matthews and Vagner Rocha

Jake Matthews (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), the youngest male fighter on the UFC roster, faced the sternest test of his young career in Vagner Rocha (11-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC). The grappling specialist hadn’t been submitted in more than five years of MMA competition, but there’s a first time for everything. The minute Rocha exposed his neck in a scramble, Matthews jumped on the opportunity for a rear-naked choke.

Luke Rockhold def. Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 55

Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping

Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping

Although he predicted a first-round knockout win, Luke Rockhold (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) settled for a slick second-round submission of Michael Bisping (25-7 MMA, 15-7 UFC). Rockhold knocked down Bisping with a head kick, but instead of throwing strikes to finish the fight, he secured a one-arm guillotine choke and forced “The Count” to tap out for the first time.

Daniel Pineda def. Leonard Garcia at Legacy FC 37

Leonard Garcia and Daniel Pineda

Leonard Garcia and Daniel Pineda

Daniel Pineda (19-11) sent Leonard Garcia (18-13-1) into retirement with the help of a kimura submission victory less than two minutes into the opening round. Garcia’s pro career kicked off in 1999 and was highlighted by a 17-fight UFC/WEC stint. Pineda had no intention of letting “Bad Boy” close his career on a high note, though, and he twisted Garcia’s arm behind his back early in the first round to get the win.

Ricardo Lamas def. Dennis Bermudez at UFC 180

Ricardo Lamas and Dennis Bermudez

Ricardo Lamas and Dennis Bermudez

Ricardo Lamas (15-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) abruptly halted Dennis Bermudez’s (14-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) seven-fight winning streak with a first-round guillotine choke. The bout was going smoothly for both sides until Lamas landed a clean punch that dropped Bermudez. “The Bully” didn’t give him any time to recover, and he followed his opponent to the ground and cinched the choke until Bermudez called it quits.

Frankie Edgar def. Cub Swanson at UFC Fight Night 57

Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson

Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson

It was hardly the most technical submission of the month, but Frankie Edgar’s (18-4-1 MMA, 12-4-1 UFC) relentless effort against Cub Swanson (21-6 MMA, 6-2 UFC) allowed him to earn a submission finish in record time. After dominating the majority of the first four rounds, Edgar was still hungry for a stoppage in the fifth. He mauled Swanson on the ground before wrapping his arm around Swanson’s neck and jaw, cranking until he got the tap with just four seconds remaining in the fifth round.

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The winner: Luke Rockhold

Luke Rockhold

Luke Rockhold

Guillotine chokes occasionally finish high-level fights. However, it’s rarely a one-armed guillotine from mount, which Rockhold used to choke out Bisping at UFC Fight Night 55 in Sydney.

Rockhold hurt Bisping with a kick from striking range and had the option of keep attacking with strikes or switch to the submission. He can’t explain exactly why he chose the submission in the UFC Fight Pass headliner other than it’s the avenue that felt most natural.

“The best submissions and best stuff in the cage happen when you don’t really think about it,” Rockhold told MMAjunkie. “The guillotine is my No. 1 submission in the gym. I would say probably 60 percent of the time I finish it with one hand. As the longer, rangier grappler, I can do different things with my body. I never really try to finish the guillotine from the bottom. I always use it as a sweep into mount. As he came up into me as I was punching him, his neck was so open that I just decided to listen to my instincts and do what I do best.

“When I have a deep guillotine, there are really not many people that are going to get out of it. Once I knew I had full grip of his neck, I knew it was going to be a wrap.”

Rockhold said open-mindedness with his techniques is a major key to his success inside the octagon. The noted striker believes his grappling is just as strong, if not stronger, than any other part of his game. He said he doesn’t pinpoint submissions, but if one comes about in the flow of the action, he won’t pass up the opportunity.

“It’s cool to get back and get some submissions under my belt,” Rockhold said. “It’s funny because before the past couple fights, people forgot that I even had submission skills. They thought I was just a kickboxer. My jiu-jitsu is probably my strongest asset. My wrestling’s good, and my submission game is just as strong as anything else.

“I’m as good as anybody on the ground. I can finish it at any time. Middleweights, beware. I’m an MMA fighter, and I can finish you anywhere. I can do anything I want. I just like finishing people, period.”

While Bisping had been finished before, Rockhold was the first to do it by submission. Although he predicted a knockout in the weeks leading up to the fight, Rockhold is satisfied with how it all played out and is glad he could put his grudge with “The Count” to rest.

“I just wanted to go out there and back up what I said I was going to do; I kind of did what I said,” Rockhold said. “I knocked him out and submitted him, so what’s better than that? I’ll take both.

“After him running his mouth saying he’s the unofficial (Strikeforce) champ, I was happy to put a statement on that one, embarrass him and show fighting’s fighting and training’s training.”

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