Video: Watch This Ultra-Rare Toehold Work in an MMA Fight
Do you ever see a submission on YouTube and think, “that would never work”? Over the weekend, MMA fighter Mateus Santos tried one of those submissions, but this time, it did work.
At Open Fighting Championship 2 from Samara, Russia, Santos squared off with Russian fighter Alexander Volodin. Less than a minute into the first round, the fight hit the mat and Volodin quickly wrapped up an omoplata. Rather than defending the omoplata in a traditional way (like rolling or posturing up), Santos instead chose to crank Volodin’s foot around his neck.
The result was one of the strangest toehold submissions ever seen in MMA.
The submission works like any other toehold, but the set-up is unique. In response to the omoplata, Santos uses his own neck as a fulcrum to crank his opponent’s foot into submission.
With the win, Santos sports a 15-6 professional MMA record and has won four of his last five.
