On this day four years ago, one UFC fight served as a great advertisement of the benefits to tapping out.
Las Vegas hosted UFC Fight Night action on August 28, 2021, with a card topped by Giga Chikadze’s win over Edson Barboza taking place inside the Apex.
Before the Georgian featherweight recorded the biggest win of his career, a couple of other fighters delivered standout performances on the undercard to join Chikadze in taking home ‘Performance of the Night’ checks.
That included a feared knockout artist after Abdul Razak Alhassan needed just 17 seconds to finish Alessio Di Chirico. While that result was brutal because of the Ghanaian’s power and the sickening thud of his head kick, the other bonus winner’s performance was devastating for a different reason.
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Pat Sabatini left Jamall Emmers screaming in pain with gruesome heel hook at UFC Vegas 35
The undercard saw the second UFC fight for submission specialist Pat Sabatini, and things were looking a little shaky at first.
The former Cage Fury FC champion was quickly stunned on the feet and dropped by Jamall Emmers at UFC Vegas 35. But when ‘Prettyboy’ followed Sabatini down into his wheelhouse, Emmers made a critical error.
Emmers began to work for a toe hold and risked a 50-50 guard, as Sabatini engaged in a battle of leg locks. It was clear who had won the exchange when Sabatini’s heel hook left Emmers screaming out in pain.
The finish came just before the two-minute mark of round one and was clearly extremely painful. Emmers remained in agony on the ground as medical professionals put his leg in a splint before helping him out of the Octagon.
That result boosted Sabatini to 2-0 in the promotion, while Emmers slumped to 1-2 under the UFC banner.
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Pat Sabatini is 6-0 in submission grappling
While Emmers perhaps lost in the most brutal fashion, he is far from the only victim of Sabatini’s strong submission game.
Of the 34-year-old’s 20 professional MMA wins, 12 have come by way of submission. With that in mind, it is unsurprising that Sabatini has had success in the grappling-only realm.
He has gone a perfect 6-0 under the Fury Pro Grappling banner, defeating a number of UFC peers on the mats in recent years.
Having beaten the likes of Herbert Burns, Alex Caceres, and Niko Price, Sabatini most recently earned a unanimous decision victory over Joe Solecki in the main event of Fury Pro Grappling 13 this past May.