Leglocks were traditionally a rare group of submissions in professional MMA but this has slowly started to change over the years, and now they’re a regular part of major MMA organizations like Bellator. The promotion has recently put upa highlight reel of the best leglock finishes in their entire history to their official YouTube channel, and the results certainly don’t disappoint. Much like their previous highlight reels of the best neck crank finishes and the best guillotine choke finishes in promotional history, the video includes a who’s who of the best fighters to compete in the Bellator cage.
The show is kicked off by an often-overlooked legend of MMA in Roger Huerta. He defeated Chad Hinton with a brutal kneebar after softening him up with strikes on the ground in his Bellator debut, his first fight after being unceremoniously released from the UFC. Giva Santana merits a special mention too for his lovely work chaining submission attempts together against Brendan Seguin. He starts out locking up a triangle choke against his opponent before transitioning to an armbar instead, only to wait for Seguin to stack him and open up the opportunity for him to spin underneath and finish the kneebar instead.
Polaris fans will likely recognise Marcin Held who represented Team Europe at the first Polaris Squads event, as he is included thanks to a vicious kneebar he secured against Alexander Sarnavskiy. Marcelo Garcia black belt Dillon Danis also features in the highlight-reel after switching through several different leglocks before locking up a tight toehold against Kyle Walker in his Bellator MMA debut back in 2018. The final finish included also happens to be the only one in a women’s match, when Ilara Joanne submitted Bec Rawlings with a kneebar in a fight that happened to be a promotional debut for both of them.
