Stevie Ray is undoubtedly a Scottish MMA legend and he locked up an incredibly rare twister variation in his main event fight at PFL Europe 3 on September 28th, 2024. It was a huge moment for Scotland, as this event marked the very first time that the PFL had staged an event in the country. Naturally Ray was the perfect choice to headline the event and PFL booked him against another veteran in Lewis Long. Ray was actually coming out of retirement to take the fight, no doubt attracted by the opportunity to fight in the first Scottish main event in PFL history.
Although the fight started out with some back and forth action over the first few minutes, Ray was able to take Long’s back shortly after the fight went to the ground. That was always going to be an area that Ray would have the advantage, as he’s one of a handful of MMA fighters who’ve been known to regularly compete and win in professional grappling events. That advantage became apparent pretty quickly and although Long was able to start escaping back control, he actually found himself turning straight into a brutal trap that Ray has made famous in recent years.
By turning into Ray while he still had the body-triangle locked up, Ray was able to reach over Long and set up an incredibly rare twister variation. This isn’t the first time that Ray has used that particular technique, as he actually submitted Anthony Pettis with it just over two years ago. Because of Stevie Ray having such a high-profile execution of a unique attack, it has become known as the Scottish Twister in his honor. It’s beautifully fitting then that Ray is able to hit the technique in front of his home crowd, especially in what may end up being his final fight.
PFL shared the footage of Stevie Ray submitting Lewis Long with the rare twister variation in his retirement fight at PFL Europe 3 in a recent post to their official Twitter account:
THE SCOTTISH TWISTER RETURNS! 🏴
Stevie Ray stops Lewis Long via submission in front of his family and his home crowd! #PFLGlasgow | LIVE NOW ON DAZN pic.twitter.com/J5oxpXNQIq
— PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) September 28, 2024
