Combat FC 9 took place on February 28th, 2025 and one fighter in particular stood out by landing a very unusual kneebar variation from the twister hook. Regional MMA is known for the odd bout of craziness and there’s always something new to see at smaller events, but this was rare even by those standards. It’s not as if this was a BJJ-specific technique that isn’t seen in MMA that often like the buggy choke or the Z-lock, this was a something that you won’t even see in grappling. 10th Planet veterans might be familiar with it perhaps but the majority of seasoned black belt competitors probably haven’t seen it done before.
The finish actually came in one of the earlier fights on the card, where featherweight Jake Pilla and bantamweight Shawn Johnson were meeting in the middle for a catchweight fight at 140lbs. Both men are veteran fighters, as Pilla was coming in with a 5-2 professional record while Johnson was sitting at 4-11. A submission win for Pilla did seem to be the most likely outcome on paper because he already had 4 submission wins to his name and Johnson had been submitted in 6 of his losses. Although some fans might have predicted the general outcome, nobody would have foreseen how it was going to come about.
It took Pilla virtually no time at all to get the fight where he wanted it, and in less than a minute he was controlling Johnson with a twister hook. He used a rear-bodylock to keep Johnson’s upper body in place while he worked his legs into a tighter grip around his leg. Once he had that secured, he started to extend the leg that was behind Johnson’s leg and apply pressure to his knee in a similar fashion to a lateral kneebar. Johnson tried to hold out for a second but it looked incredibly painful and he eventually tapped, giving Pilla the win in just 46 seconds if the very first round.
UFC Fight Pass shared the footage of Jake Pilla submitting Shawn Johnson with a twister kneebar at Combat FC 9 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
