With another action-packed month in MMA, MMA Junkie takes a look back at the best submissions from December 2025: Here are the five nominees in chronological order, along with the winner of MMA Junkie’s December Submission of the Month Award.
At the bottom of the post, please vote for your choice to let us know if we’re right.
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Nominated by: Mansoor Abdul Malikdef. Antonio Troccoli at UFC 323
Mansoor Abdul Malik continued to show great promise when he brought down Antonio Troccoli with less than 90 seconds to go.
In this middleweight showdown, Abdul-Malik (9-0-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC) quickly choked Troccoli from an upright position and choked his opponent with a guillotine at 1:09 of the first round.
Nominated by: Chris Duncan Terrence McKinney at UFC 323
Chris Duncan vs. Terrance McKinney was all set from the moment it was added to the UFC schedule. As expected, it ended in the distance.
Duncan (15-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) walked away with the winner by stunning McKinney on the feet at 2:30 of the first round of the lightweight bout and working his way to a chokehold submission on Das.
Nominated by: Boris Mbaga Atangana def. Guillerme Suarez (PFL Lyon)
Boris Mbarga Atangana showed more signs that he is a leading candidate for the PFL by knocking out Guilherme Soares within two legs.
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Atangana (8-0) forced Suarez out with a rear-naked choke at 2:35 of the second round of their light heavyweight contest.
Nominated by: Vadim Nemkov Renan Ferreira at PFL Lyon
Vadim Nemkov needed just four minutes to defeat Renan Ferreira to become the PFL Heavyweight Champion.
Nemkov (20-2) immediately took the fight to the canvas, mediating the hulking nature of the 6-foot-8 Ferreira. Ferreira was able to briefly reverse Nemkov, but Fedor Emelianenko’s protégé quickly regained position. He moved into the right position for the arm triangle choke and delivered the accurate submission at 4:00 of the first round.
Winner: Yaroslav Amosov def. Neil Magny in UFC on ESPN 73
Former Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov has excelled in the promotion and is now a UFC champion.
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Amousov (29-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) faces all-time welterweight wins leader Neil Magny in his first Octagon match. Amosov took some time to figure out Magny and ended the fight with a submission in the first round.
When all fights begin, there are some compelling foot exchanges that Amosov is willing to take. However, he saw an opening on the fence to contend with and landed a takedown. From there, Amosov landed a few punches before transitioning into an anaconda choke, trapping Magny and forcing him to tap out.
Amosov defeated Douglas Lima at Bellator 260 to win the Bellator Championship. He dropped the title to Jason Jackson at UFC 301, then bounced back with a first-round anaconda choke under the CFFC banner — the same method he used to win his UFC debut.
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This article originally appeared in MMA Junkie: December 2025 Monthly Submission: Yaroslav Amosov
