With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from June 2026: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for June.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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Nominee: Joanderson Brito def. Jordan Leavitt at UFC Fight Night 278
Joanderson Brito put away Jordan Leavitt then pulled off a tricky first seen from Derrick Lewis.
Brito (19-5-1 MMA, 7-3 UFC) submitted Leavitt (13-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) with a ninja choke submission with 41 seconds left in Round 1 of the featherweight bout. Leavitt came out with a submission-first attack – an unsurprising approach given his grappling prowess. Brito weathered the storm and made things ugly against the fence, eventually snatching Leavitt’s neck and getting the tap.
Nominee: Bia Mesquita def. Melissa Mullins at UFC Fight Night 279
Bia Mesquita (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) handled business as she has done throughout her career. It wasn’t all one-way traffic, though, as she had to weather an early scare for the first time as a pro MMA fighter, thanks to the hands of Melissa Mullins, but still won by submission at 3:16 of the first round.
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Mullins (7-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) rocked Mesquita with a fast combination of punches, but was unable to get the finish in the first round. Mesquita managed to grab a hold of Mullins to stay in the fight. Mullins took top position on the ground, but perhaps put herself in more danger, as Mesquita is a high-level grappler. Sure enough, a few moments later, Mesquita threw up an armbar, rolled Mullins over, and got the tap.
Nominee: Murtazali Magomedov def. Melsik Baghdasaryan at UFC Fight Night 279
Murtazali Magomedov put the featherweight division on notice with his debut performance, which was punctuated by a rare submission over Melsik Baghdasaryan
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Magomedov (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) lit up Baghdasaryan (8-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) with a few sharp strikes on the feet. He then got a takedown and found a way to wrap his opponent up with a twister variation, which he says he has worked on in the gym. It was certainly effective, as Baghdasaryan quickly tapped as soon as Magomedov began cranking.
Nominee: Liz Carmouche def. Viviane Araujo at PFL San Diego
The first woman to ever step foot in the UFC cage for a fight, Liz Carmouche is still a top flyweight after all these years.
Carmouche (26-8) “jumped the gilly” and submitted fellow UFC alum Viviane Araujo (14-8) with a guillotine choke at 2:07 of Round 2 in the women’s flyweight bout.
The winner: Asu Almabayev def. Charles Johnson at UFC Fight Night 280
Asu Almabayev showed again why he’s a flyweight contender to watch when he taped Charles Johnson with a rare submission.
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After putting together a strong 13 minutes of fighting, Almabayev (24-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) sealed the deal by grabbing the leg of Johnson (19-9 MMA, 8-6 UFC), pulling it over the head in an uncomfortable motion to force the tap by Suloev stretch in the flyweight matchup.
It was the first finish of its kind in 125-pound history and just the fourth overall in UFC history, and Almabayev’s performance sent the local crowd into frenzy.
After the magnificent performance, Almabayev called for a showdown with flyweight champion Joshua Van. He was reminded that Van is likely to defend next against Alexandre Pantoja, and said he will continue to work until he’s the one standing across from an opportunity at gold.
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Almabayev joins Kenny Robertson, Aljamain Sterling and Zabit Magomedsharipov as other fighters in UFC history to finish a fight by suloev Stretch. To make it more impressive, it was also the first time Johnson had lost by way of submission.
