UFC Mid-Year Awards 2011: Top 5 Submissions of the Year

After a long stretch of major MMA events ended with UFC 132, we are now midway through the calender year. As we wait for the MMA schedule to pick back up, Bleacher Report will be taking a look at several different mid-year awards.

This installment will focus on the UFC Submission of the Year. Already, there have been plenty of options for the award, but we had to narrow it down to five nominees.

Here are the top five UFC submissions from the first half of 2011.

5. Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader

At UFC 126, fast-rising prospects Jon Jones and Ryan Bader met in a highly anticipated bout. Although Jones was favored, few expected him to dominate Bader in the fashion that he did.

Toward the end of the second round, Jones secured a modified guillotine choke and handed Bader the first loss of his career.

4. Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader

Heading into UFC 132, Tito Ortiz was supposed to be preparing his retirement party. A fight against Ryan Bader was expected to mean Ortiz's sixth straight fight without a win and his release from the UFC.

However, Ortiz shocked the world by dropping Bader with a right hand and securing a guillotine choke within the first two minutes of the fight.

The submission was only the third of Ortiz's career, but one of those submissions was due to knee strikes.

3. Nik Lentz vs. Waylon Lowe

After dropping the first two rounds of a preliminary card fight against Waylon Lowe in March 2011, Nik Lentz needed to make something spectacular happen in order to win the bout.

Midway through the final frame, Lentz did just that by locking up a guillotine choke and forcing Lowe to tap in an amazing come-from-behind victory.

2. Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin

In pretty much any other year, Pablo Garza would be at the top of this list. However, his flying triangle falls just short of taking the lead position for Submission of the Year in 2011.

Still, Garza's triangle was a thing of beauty and a rare sight in UFC competition.

1. Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia

When it was announced that Chan Sung Jung and Leonard Garcia would meet in a rematch of their 2010 Fight of the Year performance, many people envisioned another slugfest.

On the contrary, Jung displayed outstanding technique throughout the fight and finished the fight with an extremely rare twister in the final seconds on the second round.

Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Sean has also had his work featured on UFC.com. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSmithMMA.