With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from January 2025: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for January.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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Nominees
Shinebaatar Bat-Erdene def. Kai Yoshida at Gladiator 029
Shinebaatar Bat-Erdene (3-0) delivered an ultra-rare submission against Kai Yoshida (6-1) with a scissor choke in the opening round of their bantamweight bout.
Felipe Bunes def. Jose Johnson at UFC Fight Night 249
The first submission finish under the UFC banner in 2025 was nothing short of beautiful, and it came courtesy of Felipe Bunes.
With his back on the mat early in the flyweight bout, Bunes (14-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC) quickly transitioned into an armbar attack on Jose Johnson (16-10 MMA, 1-3 UFC), who valiantly attempted to escape, but was forced to tap out just over two minutes into the opening round.
Mackenzie Dern def. Amanda Ribas at UFC Fight Night 249
Mackenzie Dern checked a lot of boxes when she defeated Amanda Ribas in their strawweight rematch.
Not only did Dern (16-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) pull off her first stoppage since April 2021, she avenged a prior loss to Ribas (12-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC) and solidified herself as a potential title challenger. Dern submitted Ribas with an armbar in the third round after all judges had the fight scored 19-19.
Reinier de Ridder def. Kevin Holland at UFC 311
Kevin Holland made it clear that he wasn’t overly impressed with Reinier de Ridder going into their middleweight bout. Perhaps now his opinion has changed.
De Ridder (19-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC), the former two-division ONE Championship title holder, came up aces against Holland (26-13 MMA, 13-10 UFC). He got the fight to the ground in the opening seconds then took the back. Once de Ridder secured the position, it didn’t take but 30 more seconds to lock in a rear-naked choke for the finish.
The winner
Islam Makhachev def. Renato Moicano at UFC 311
Is Islam Makhachev the greatest lightweight fighter in UFC history? After UFC 311, he’s got one record working in his favor.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) needed a quick wakeup call, but once it happened, it didn’t take long for him to dispose of Renato Moicano (20-6-1 MMA, 12-6 UFC) with a D’arce choke. The finish came at the 4:05 mark of the first round, marking Makhachev’s fifth consecutive title defense.
Makhachev now holds that record, surpassing Khabib Nurmagomedov, Benson Henderson and B.J. Penn for the most title defenses in divisional history.
For a brief moment, Moicano – who took the fight on one day’s notice after Arman Tsarukyan was forced to withdraw – gave Makhachev a scare when he knocked him down. But Makhachev quickly bounced back up to his feet.
Once standing again, Makhachev wasted no time shooting for a takedown, easily getting it, and working for the finish using the same technique he beat Dustin Poirier with to defend his belt at UFC 302 in June.
Cast Your Vote!
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