Sherdog.com’s 2013 Submission of the Year

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5. Sublime Simplicity

There was a time not long ago when a submission win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would have effectively ended the “Submission of the Year” discussion in its tracks. Perhaps Frank Mir splintering the beloved Brazilian’s humerus two years ago is proof of that. This, however, is a different scenario.

When “Minotauro” first met fellow grappling ace Fabricio Werdum back in Pride Fighting Championships, it was July 2006, and Werdum, despite much greater Brazilian jiu-jitsu credentials than Nogueira, was embryonic in his MMA career. Not surprisingly, Nogueira boxed Werdum to a unanimous decision win. Their rematch in June served as the finale to the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” and was expected to be a role reversal, with Werdum besting an aged battler. However, no one forecasted a legend like Nogueira getting taken to school on the mat.

In the second round of their rematch, Nogueira jumped a guillotine choke -- an ill-advised bit of strategy that started the ball rolling for “Vai Cavalo.” Werdum got on top, deftly shut down Nogueira’s favored half-guard sweep series and took the back with relative ease. Werdum controlled his man, trapped his left arm and dropped over the top for the belly-down armbar. Nogueira grimaced and tried to find an angle to go over the top to escape.

If it existed, “Minotauro” of all people could not find it in time. He told referee Mario Yamasaki he wanted out, and that was it. One of MMA’s most indefatigable warriors had been submitted, and it was not because a man with the horsepower of Mir obliterated his bones and a referee had to rescue him; Werdum made a man synonymous with never surrendering in MMA quit.

Werdum’s finish was not a breathtaking display of athleticism. It did not exhibit brutal top pressure or exotic techniques. As if grappling for an instructional video, Werdum casually used textbook fundamentals to tap a legend, much in the same way he did in his 2010 “Submission of the Year” over Fedor Emelianenko.

In 2013, a win over a shopworn, 37-year-old Nogueira is admittedly not what it was back in the day. However, Werdum did not hit him with a surprising knockout; he trounced him on the floor with straight grappling. Over the last decade, it became an accepted-if-unprovable fact of fighting life that Nogueira was the best heavyweight grappler MMA had seen. He was not the most accomplished BJJ player in the gi, but in MMA, his toughness and technique made him unparalleled in using his grappling to succeed at the highest levels. Now, with Werdum having translated his considerable sport BJJ success into submissions over the two most legendary heavyweights in MMA history, both of whom are known for their grappling prowess, it is hard not to give him that piece of figurative hardware for his trophy case.