WASHINGTON — Bryce Mitchell is now the second man in UFC history to score a twister submission finish.
The featherweight fighter submitted Matt Sayles at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington D.C. with one of the rarest submissions in the game. The end came at the 4:20 mark of round one and it was worthy of a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
Although the twister is rarely seen in the UFC, Mitchell (12-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) told the media backstage at the event that he often catches the maneuver in the gym.
“It’s something I do in practice a lot,” Mitchell said. “I’ve seen Eddie Bravo doing it on YouTube and I practiced it, practiced it and practiced it. I remember every step that he told me. I even know the Peruvian twister – it’s the tighter version. I really paid a lot of attention to that video, shout out to Eddie Bravo, and yeah, that’s where I got it from.
Me and my teammates are always practicing it and it’s a good ground-and-pound stop too. If you don’t want to go for the sub, you can just punish them, and they can’t do anything. But I knew I didn’t have a lot of time left, so I just went straight to the submission.”
Despite Mitchell feeling comfortable locking up twisters on a frequent basis, the unbeaten prospect understands why the submission is rare.
“I’d say it’s rare because it’s hard to do, there’s just so many steps,” Mitchell explained. “So, so many steps; it looks funky, that’s another thing. It looks like it wouldn’t work but it’s a common move for me. I get it, not every time I grapple, but one two or three times a week.
“I get twisters more than I get Kimuras, everyone thinks Kimuras are common. But I guess because it’s funky and it takes a lot of steps and it uses your whole body too. Like, armbar, you just fall back from mount, but a twister you go from regular lockdown to that butterfly style with your leg locked down and then you move the grip over here. So it’s a multi-step process if you’re opponent knows how to defend it.
“If your opponent doesn’t know how to defend it, if they don’t know how to defend, then it’s going to be a one or two-step process because they will just give you the arm. But if they defend, then it’s like a six-step process so it takes time. I think that’s why it’s so uncommon because people don’t know all the steps and how to do it.”
