Of the 98 UFC submissions in 2022 these were the rarest

With the UFC schedule wrapped up for 2022, it’s time to look back at some of the stats and figures from the year. There were tons of fights, a boatload of highlight reel KOs, and a bucketful of cool tapouts. We saw everything from wheel kick KOs to d’arce chokes.

Today, I’m taking a look at the grappling side of the game to feature some of the rare techniques UFC fighters used to score finishes in 2022.

Number of UFC fights in 2022: 511

Number of UFC fights that ended via submission in 2022: 98

Types of submission (least common to most common):

Arm Triangle in Clinch: 1
Keylock: 1
Kimura: 1
Rear Naked Choke from Back Crucifix: 1
Scarf Hold: 1
Von Flue Choke: 1
Kneebar: 2
Triangle Armbar: 2
Triangle Choke: 3
Neck Crank: 3
Anaconda Choke: 3
Guillotine Choke Standing: 5
D’Arce Choke: 5
Armbar: 8
Arm Triangle on Ground: 9
Guillotine Choke on Ground: 14
Rear Naked Choke: 38

Jessica Andrade delivers first standing arm triangle submission in UFC history: In her return to the strawweight division, Jessica Andrade put her name in the UFC record book with her first round stoppage win over Amanda Lemos at UFC Vegas 52.

Alexander Romanov delivers the sixth keylock submission in UFC history: Alexander Romanov moved to 16-0 in his career and 5-0 in the UFC with his submission win over Chase Sherman at UFC Vegas 53.

Erin Blanchfield gets the first, last and only kimura submission in the UFC in 2022: Erin Blanchfield picked up her second straight UFC submission win when she stopped Molly McCann at UFC 281.

Zhang Weili delivers a rear-naked choke submission from the back crucifix position: The UFC strawweight title went back to Zhang Weili after she submitted Carla Esparza in the co-main event of UFC 281,

Aleksei Oleinik finished Jared Vanderaa via scarf hold: Twenty-six years (!) into his professional MMA career, Aleksei Oleinik was still submitting opponents in unexpected ways. At UFC 273, he finished Jared Vanderaa via scarf hold.

Cory McKenna becomes the first woman in UFC history to score a Von Flue choke submission: Before UFC Vegas 59, no woman in UFC history had finished a fight via a Von Flue choke. Cory McKenna changed that when she forced Miranda Granger to tap to that technique in the second round of their strawweight scrap.

*Stats via UFCStats