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Although there is rarely a more exciting finish than a knockout in the UFC, true fans know that winning a match can happen in more ways than just through rendering your opponent unconscious. Forcing the competition to tap out can actually be just as impressive to watch.
Not convinced? Well, we have put together a list of UFC fighters who have the most tap out victories in the history of the sport and some of the best ways that they have achieved this.
Once a UFC heavyweight champion (and therefore familiar with a knockout or two), Frank Mir is known to be one of the best submission-focused fighters in heavyweight history.
Throughout his 15 years of fighting within the octagon, Mir was able to take the win by focing his opponent to tap out a total of 8 times, which is half of his total number of UFC wins.
Despite being one of the kings of a tap out win, Mir has never been forced to submit himself.
It might not be what he is best known for (type in ‘Stockton slap’ on YouTube if you are interested to see what this fighter is best known for), but Nate Diaz has also won a number of fights by submission, despite his preference for boxing over grappling on the ground.
This is a far cry from his earlier fights where it seemed like all he did was grapple, and it was because of this that he was able to win the first four fights he took part in through tap outs.
Perhaps most famous was his win against McGregor who foolishly went for the takedown and ended up being choked out by Diaz. In fact, 8 out of his 9 wins were due to choking.
Demian Maia holds a black belt in jiu-jitsu, so when he joined the UFC in 2007, he set a new standard of grappling after having recently won the infamous grappling championships that took place in Abu Dhabi. His career since then has only further impressed his fans.
Throughout his UFC career, Maia was able to win by submission a total of 9 times. Considering the fact that he has a total of 19 wins altogether, this means that almost half of his victories came as a result of his superior tap out techniques and grappling graces.
After bursting onto the UFC scene back in 2010, Charles ‘de Bronx’ Oliveira has never quite lived up to his early potential. It might be surprising, then, to learn that Oliveira is actually the fighter with the second-most successes by submission throughout the history of the UFC.
When you consider the fact that he started training in grappling-focused fighting arts when he was still only 12 years old, however, this near record might suddenly be less surprising.
Throughout his 8-year career, Oliveira’s opponents have included fighters weighing 145 lbs to 155 lbs. Despite this variation he was able to achieve 10 wins by getting his competitors to tap out, yet he is controversially one of the only fighters to lose by submission as well as win.
The record for the most wins any UFC fighter has managed to win by tap out is 11, and this title goes to Royce Gracie who has not yet been beaten, even to this day. This alone is a testament to his superior grappling ability thanks to his background in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
When you take into account the huge size disadvantage he faced when facing his opponents, as he naturally sat around the 170 lbs mark, Gracie was pitted against heavyweights who, despite their size, were still forced to tap by this formidable fighter.
Mainly relying on choking and armbars, Gracie forced a tap out in all 11 of his wins by submission and he truly set the standard for other fighters who came after him. If they learnt anything from him, it was to protect yourself against the art of grappling.
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