MMA Grappling Recap 6 – Chokes From Nagoya To London

Rizin 27 – Takumi Tamaru Vs Shooto Watanabe

In a night of rapid-fire finishes, this was the latest submission on the card and a great grappling match in Rizin’s deepest division – bantamweight. One is widely considered the cream of the crop of Asia’s fighting promotions, but Rizin really does have some of the best talents in the region. There are some fantastic Japanese MMA grapplers.

Takumi showed his skills in the first, with some wild scrambles, a great back-take, and some super effective elbows from the bottom. That might be the most interesting part of his game, posting on the face to force pressure from his opponent, and following with a slashing elbow. It’s not the most casual friendly but for a keen grappler, there’s plenty there. In the second round, Shooto took control, taking the back himself and working his way slowly to a savage-looking neck crank for the win.

Cage Warriors 121 – Ian Garry Vs Rotem Akman 

Ian Garry seemed to enter the bout with a clear game plan, taking his opponent down and using a plethora of interesting techniques to keep him there. The grappling was dynamic, purposeful, and each time Rostem looked like he was going to escape Ian Garry brought it back to the mat. With an RNC to stop him from standing up and a half nelson from the back position, Garry had plenty of interesting MMA grappling techniques. Just to round it out, he came into the second round with a completely different set of skills, finishing his opponent with punches and a high kick in a great kickboxing round. 

Cage Warriors 121 – Jack Grant Vs Madars Fleminas 

In the opposite of the Garry vs Akman bout at Cage Warriors 121, there was a kickboxing round followed by a blinder of a grappling round to secure the finish. Those last two minutes showed excellent transitions, with Grant dragging down Fleminas, transitioning to the back, the arm triangle, the guillotine, and the anaconda to secure the win. It was a fantastic demonstration of the way the different techniques fit and flow together, and a great MMA grappling round. 

ONE: Fists of Fury 3 – Hiroba Minowa Vs Alex “Little Rock” Silva

This is one for more hardcore grappling fans, but definitely worth a watch if you’re that way inclined. With two guys very willing to engage on the ground with interesting leg entanglements, passing, and scrambles, it’s a good study of different techniques and strategies. The MMA grappling in the second round showed striking aggression countered with pulling deep half and working from there. With very prolonged grappling exchanges, reversals, and sweeps, there were a plethora of submission attempts to keep any grappling fan interested. 

Cage Warriors 122 – Domination From Paddy Pimblett 

Cage Warriors poster boy and MMA grappling specialist Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett dominated with a scorcher of a performance. Pressuring Davide Martinez to the fence, he forced a clinch from his opponent and hit a beautiful hip throw to take it to the mat. From there he sliced through the guard to take mount, force his opponent to give up the back, and finish with ground and pound and the rear-naked choke. It was all over in less than two minutes and was a fantastic display of MMA grappling action. 

This was picking out the top four, but there was plenty more over the five major cards – if you think we missed anything out, let us know your top picks and what should have been included.

Like this article? Check out some of our previous MMA grappling recaps, and let us know if we missed anything out.

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