Sherdog’s Top 10: Coolest Moves

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1. Chonan’s Flying Scissor Heel Hook
Pride Shockwave 2004
Dec. 31, 2004 | Saitama, Japan
One freak submission loss to Daiju Takase notwithstanding, Anderson Silva was a rising star in the early 2000s. He held wins over such luminaries as Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Newton and Lee Murray, and he was a product of arguably the best camp in the world: Chute Boxe. Ryo Chonan was a respectable fighter himself, with his own victories over Sakurai and Newton to his credit, but he lacked the pedigree or obvious dynamism present in Silva’s game.

While Silva generally out-landed Chonan at range and had him hurt, the “Piranha” spent a great deal of time in top position and chopped down the Brazilian’s legs nicely before the finishing sequence. Silva never got used to Chonan’s offbeat rhythm and seemingly random strike selection; and looking back, it is strange to see him get hit as much as he did. Still, it was essentially even heading into the last two minutes of the fight.

The end came out of absolutely nowhere. Chonan dove at Silva’s legs and executed a picture-perfect flying scissor takedown, tripping the Brazilian to the canvas while simultaneously locking up an airtight heel hook. It is a near-impossible technique to execute under any circumstances, much less against a fairly solid grappler in the third round of a grueling, back-and-forth fight.

Even leaving aside Silva’s status as one of the future greats, it is one of the coolest pieces of violence one human has ever inflicted on another. The fact that Silva would go on to become, well, arguably the Greatest of All-Time makes it even better.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS: Mauricio Rua’s flying foot stomps, Shinya Aoki’s mounted gogoplata, Kevin Randleman’s German suplex, Jose Aldo’s double flying knee, Jose Aldo’s clinch-break knee, Yves Edwards’ flying head kick, Yves Edwards’ jumping knee, Rumina Sato’s flying armbar, Shonie Carter’s spinning backfist, Toby Imada’s inverted triangle

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