UFC 131 Fight Card: Demian Maia and 15 Best Submission Artists in MMA Today

In Mixed Martial Arts,  the submission game often goes unappreciated.

The sport is still in it's early stages. and with so many of the fans crossing over from boxing, stand-up fighters tend to be glamorized, while ground fighters don't receive the same level attention.

It's a shame, really.

The ground game isn't as obviously entertaining as watching a stand-up fight, but once familiar with the subtleties of it, it can be just as enjoyable to watch.

Let's take a look at the best submission fighters in MMA today; you don't need to be a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner to appreciate there guys' ground games.

Honorable Mentions

Jake Shields: Shields has really good jiu-jitsu, but going into his fight with GSP, the UFC hype machine blew it a bit out of proportion. Jake has more wins by decision than submission. He seems to be much better at using his grappling to control his opponents, rather than submit them. This trend is especially noticeable against the high level opponents Shields has faced. He was almost submitted by Jason Miller in their fight.

Dustine Hazelett: I would love to be able to put this guy on the list. Nine of his 12 victories have come by submission, and he is responsible for some of the most entertaining submission victories in UFC history. Most notable is his victory over Josh Burkman. Unfortunately, Hazelett's relevancy in MMA is declining. He lost three in a row in the UFC, was released from the promotion and is not scheduled to fight anywhere else.

Mark Bocek: Bocek is the man that handed Hazelett his walking papers. At UFC 124, he met Hazelett inside the Octagon and defeated him with an impressive first-round triangle choke. Bocek just needs to earn a couple more submission wins over some higher level competition to make this list. Not sure if he's capable of doing it, however. He has lost consistently to top level competition in the UFC.

Nick Diaz: Nick just missed this list. His guard is notoriously crafty, but most of his submissions are against low level competition, and most of his wins are by knockout.

Anthony Pettis: Pettis has one of the most active guards in MMA right now. It was shocking to see how busy he stayed off of his back in his fight with Clay Guida. A couple more big victories by submission and this kid could make the list.

Cody Mckenzie: Got to have him on here just for his guillotine choke. Ten victories in a row by guillotine choke. That's stupid.

Anderson Silva: There's no doubt that Silva is good off his back, but he only has five submission victories in his career. He is much more a stand-up fighter than a jiu-jitsu guy. It took him five rounds to submit Chael Sonnen, who has terrible submission defense.

Rousimar Palhares: Palhares just missed the list, but has great jiu-jitsu. Nine of his 12 wins have come by submission and his leg locks are vicious.

No. 15: Jason "Mayhem" Miller

Because of his colorful personality, people often overlook the very legitimate skill set of Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

He's been competing in mixed martial arts for 10 years, and while he has done poorly against top competition, he does have a very dangerous ground game.

Mayhem proved this when he defeated legendary submission specialist Kazushi Sakuraba by arm-triangle choke in the first round, at Dream 16.

No. 14: Alistair Overeem

People have been focusing so much on Alistair Overeem's kickboxing these days that they forget he has some sick ground skills.

In fact, so little attention is given to Alistair's ground game that when I googled "Alistair Overeem submission", the only picture of him actually fighting on the ground was of him getting kimuraed by Fabricio Werdum.

What fans don't realize is that Alistair actually has more wins by submission than he does knock out.

His guillotine choke is particularly good. The thought of those (suspiciously) giant muscles squeezing around my neck scares me.

Overeem will look to avenge his only legitimate submission loss later this month when he rematches Werdum.

No. 13: Kazushi Sakuraba

At this point in his career, Sakuraba's spot is a little bit ceremonial.

On an all-time list, he would be much closer to the top. Unfortunately, Kazushi has lost his last three fights, and at the age of 41, he is unlikely to have a return to form.

He is one of the greatest submission specialists ever, but in MMA today, he is not that relevant.

No. 12: Frank Mir

Frank Mir has been focusing a lot on his boxing over the passed few years, but when he fought Cheick Kongo, he showed the world his ground game is still something to be feared.

After staggering Kongo with a big punch, Mir locked him up in a guillotine and choked Cheick unconscious.

An impressive aspect of Mir's ground game is that he is able to win with an array of submissions. With eight submission victories in his career, Frank has finished fights using seven different submissions. This shows that he can be dangerous from pretty much any position on the ground.

No. 11: Paulo Filho

Paulo Filho is a former WEC middleweight champion.

He has used his slick BJJ skills to defeat many tough opponents, the most notable of which is probably Chael Sonnen or Melvin Manhoef.

His ratio of submission wins is not that impressive, having 10 wins by submission but also 10 by decision and two by knockout. However, his jiu-jitsu credentials outside of MMA are quite impressive.

No. 10: BJ Penn

BJ Penn is a naturally gifted individual when it comes to martial arts; this is a man who earned his BJJ black belt in just three years.

Penn would be much higher up this list, but it's a list of submission artists, not just Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners. I point this out because BJ uses his jiu-jitsu more for control than for submissions.

Most of the time you see BJ win by submission, it's because he has knocked his opponents senseless with strikes first, then he locks the submission up.

These are impressive victories, but as submissions, they would be be more impressive if the opponents had their wits about them.

No. 9: Masakazu Imanari

Masakazu Imanari's nickname in Japanese is "Ashikan Judan," which roughly translates to "Master of Leglocks."

With nine of his 14 submission victories coming by some form of leglock, it's hard to disagree with the monicker.

You do not want to give this guy a chance to grab your leg. Just ask former WEC featherweight champ Matt Brown.

Masakazu caught Brown in a kneelock at Deep: 22nd Impact and dislocated Matt's leg from his knee to the point that it was popped out and beside his knee. Nasty stuff.

No. 8: Jeff Monson

Jeff Monson is the definition of a journeyman fighter.

He's been fighting professionally since 1997, and while he's not always fighting in front of the biggest audiences, he keeps very active as a mixed martial artist.

Monson has amassed 42 wins in his long career and 26 of them have come by submission.

Jeff is a powerful man, and so, he is particularly good at squeeze chokes like the guillotine or the north-south choke.

The north-south choke is considered to be Monson's signature move, given that it's a submission seen often and he's pulled it off six times in his career.

No. 7: Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett is one of the most dangerous heavyweight fighters out there when it comes to the ground game.

He has 29 victories in his professional career17 of them coming by submission.

Barnett has had a very successful career, but he almost consistently loses to elite competition (exception: his split decision of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira).

Josh is hoping to to break that trend by winning the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament, starting with defeating Brett Rogers later this month.

No. 6: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

It's been a rough couple years for Antonio Nogueira.

He's had some tough losses and plaguing injuries. Generally, he hasn't seemed like himself.

This doesn't change, however, that the man is a legend of the sport.

He has 20 wins by submission in his career, many of them coming over high level competition.

Big Nog may be in the twilight of his career, but I think he is still relevant enough for this list. We'll see just how relevant when he takes on Brendan Schaub at UFC 134.

No. 5: Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio Werdum is a handful for anyone in the heavyweight division, when it comes to the ground game.

Werdum is most famous for his first-round, triangle-choke victory over Fedor Emelianenko (getting KO'd by Junior Dos Santos a close second). It was a very impressive win, as he became the first man in MMA history to legitimately beat Fedor.

Fabricio's submission credentials outside of MMA are also very impressive. He has won the CBJJ World Jiu-Jitsu championship two times and the CBJJ Pan American Championship three times.

No. 4: Ronaldo Souza

Ronaldo Souza is a guy I'm really excited to see in the UFC, once Strikeforce finally merges.

Souza is Strikeforce's current middleweight champion, and a lot of people are anxious to see how this guy stacks up the UFC's best.

He has lost just twice in his career and has defeated highly regarded fighters such as Jason Miller, Robbie Lawler and and Tim Kennedy.

Ronaldo is what we call a submission specialist. Eleven of his 14 victories have come by submission.

No. 3: Shinya Aoki

Don't let the stupid yellow pants fool you, this Shinya Aoki is a very dangerous fighter.

His jiu-jitsu game is top notch, and as a black belt in Judo, he is usually able to get the fight to the ground.

Aoki has 16 wins by way of submission, perhaps the most notable a heel hook victory over current Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez. With that victory, Shinya became the first and only WAMMA lightweight champion.

It would very interesting to see how Aoki would stack up against the UFC's elite lightweights.

No. 2: Demian Maia

Demian Maia has the best jiu-jitsu of anyone to ever compete in the UFC.

Yes, better than Royce Gracie.

He is considered by most to be one of the top 10 Brazilian practitioners in the world. If you got to the ground with this guy, you will lose the fight (unless you're the No. 1 fighter on this list). Period.

Maia has five submission victories in the UFC and eight victories total. His only two losses have come in fights were he was unable to get the fight to the ground.

No. 1: Roger Gracie

It's silly how good Roger Gracie is at Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He's considered by some to be the best in the world.

He is 4-0 as a mixed martial artist, with all four of his victories coming by submission.

It would be absolutely tedious to list all of Roger's submission and grappling accomplishments outside of MMAthey're practically endless.

I'll just let say that his submission grappling record is 65-7.