AUSTIN, Texas – UFC lightweight Diego Ferreira had a good idea his unique submission hold would work. It had gotten the seal of approval from people whose job frequently requires violent restraint.
Ferreira, who hails from the Brazilian state of Amazonas, relocated several years ago to the U.S. He now fights out of Pharr, Texas, a town of about 70,000 connected to Mexico by a bridge. Among his grappling students are border patrol agents, to whom he gives tips on how to secure a downed suspect.
“I started doing it a lot with them, and I said, ‘This is going to work,'” Ferreira (13-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) said after using it to end a fight with Jared Gordon (14-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on the FS1-televised prelims of Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 126, which took place at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
The hold is basically back mount. The difference is one of the opponent’s arms is held behind the back, making defense to incoming strikes extremely difficult.
It looks a lot like something a cop would do before slapping on handcuffs. Ferreira started applying it at grappling competitions, which were his only competitive outlet after an anti-doping violation kept him out of the cage for two years. Lo and behold, it worked.
“From one day to the next, I started catching (in) every competition that kind of submission,” he said.
Still, what works on the regional grappling circuit and inside the world’s ultimate proving ground are vastly different things. You don’t see the arm trapped that way in the octagon because there are plenty of ways for a skilled fighter to get free.
If you’re a fighter who’s recently been concussed, however, it’s a lot tougher. So it was for Gordon, who ate a vicious left hook and took a seat on the canvas in his first round with Ferreira.
As Gordon pitched forward in a desperate attempt to get a takedown and clear his head, Ferreira used his grappling chops to get back mount. At the same time, he secured Gordon’s left arm and started pounding away with his free one. After just a few seconds, the referee had seen enough and called off the fight.
“I put a lot of work into (the hold) when I’m training at the gym,” said Ferreira, who restarted his UFC career and extended his current win streak to two.
Ferreria now wants to finish some old business. He’s asking the UFC to book him opposite Abel Trujillo, whom he was scheduled to fight at UFC Fight Night 88 before his potential anti-doping violation was announced.
“I feel like it was taken from me,” he said. “I want the fight back. I just want to fight, too. It’s one more reason to fight.”
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
[sigallery id=”dHFhJkRiCqBSvJFzjrUW9T” title=”Ferreira def. Gordon” type=”sigallery”]
