Friday night at Legacy 61, JiuJitsu ace Mackenzie Dern scored what many consider to not only the submission of the year, but also one of the greatest submissions in the history of MMA when she submitted Montana Stewart with a modified Imanari choke. The first round submission win extended Dern’s MMA professional record to 2-0, and certainly put her on the map in the MMA world.
In her win over Montana Stewart this week, Dern secured full guard, which she used to transition to rubber guard. While it appeared as though she would look for a triangle choke, she then transitioned to an omoplata, which Stewart defended against as she summersaulted out of the move. Dern held onto her lockdown of Steweart’s arm throughout the move, and looked to have a form of a crucifix position, which she then used to secure a rear-naked choke, while holding onto her lockdown of Stewart’s arm.
The move is similar to the imanari choke, however has never been seen from an opponents back before.
The UFC opened up 2025 with a strawweight main event as Mackenzie Dern took on Amanda Ribas on Saturday at UFC Vegas 101. The fight served as a rematch of their 2019 fight.
