With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from October 2026: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for October.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
Nominee: Brendson Ribeiro def. Felipe Franco at UFC Fight Night 290
Brendson Ribeiro took some pressure off his shoulders by delivering in a must-win scenario against Felipe Franco.
Ribeiro (19-11 MMA, 3-6 UFC) entered the light heavyweight fight on a four-fight losing skid. To make matters worse, he missed weight ahead of the matchup with Franco (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC). The Brazilian came through, however, snatching the neck of Franco on a takedown attempt and locking in a guillotine choke that forced the tap at the 1:49 mark of Round 1.
Nominee: Brendan Allen def. Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC Fight Night 290
Brendan Allen pulled off a slick finish of Christian Leroy Duncan late in their main event, and he said it’s a statement for his shot a the middleweight title.
Allen (28-7 MMA, 16-4 UFC) took Duncan (15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) into deep waters, and pulled off a late submission win to close the show with an exclamation point. Duncan found himself trapped in Allen’s bread-and-butter rear-naked choke, and was forced to tap at with just over two minutes remaining in the final round.
Nominee: Chelsea Chandler def. Melissa Croden at UFC Fight Night 291
Chelsea Chandler put away Melissa Croden with just seconds remaining in the opening round of their women’s bantamweight bout.
After some striking, clinch then ground exchanges, Chandler (8-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) cut Croden (8-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) open then locked in a kimura to force the tap at the 4:52 mark of Round 1 . Chandler came into the fight as a sizeable betting underdog to Croden, who was a favorite of as much as 4-1.
Nominee: Abus Magomedov def. Cam Rowston at UFC 333
Abus Magomedov played his joker card against Cam Rowston in their middleweight bout.
Magomedov (30-7-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC) flexed after cinching in a guillotine choke to put Cam Rowston (15-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) out cold at the 1:44 mark of Round 1, flexing in a fashion reminiscent to UFC legend Nate Diaz.
The winner: Joe Kropschot def. Nick Klein at UFC Fight Night 292
Joe Kropschot won his UFC debut with some extra added flare.
Kropschot (10-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) submitted fellow Dana White’s Contender Series alum Nick Klein (6-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC) with an inverted triangle submission at the 1:25 mark of Round 2 in their middleweight bout.
Kropschot nearly submitted Klein with a rear-naked choke late in the first. Klein appeared to be fading and his technique lacked compared to Kropschot in that area. After the bell bailed him out of a bad situation in Round 1, Klein attempted to drag the fight back there in Round 2. Instead, Kropschot made him pay with a beautiful submission, which he set up by climbing up the back and isolating an arm, before locking in the triangle.
Kropschot, 31, keeps rolling and extends his winning streak to six. He earned a UFC contract on DWCS in August when he defeated Jonathan Kunneman by unanimous decision.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month for October: Newcomer scores slick finish
Reporting by Mike Bohn, MMA Junkie / MMA Junkie
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
