MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month for May: Anthony Smith’s first career guillotine halts unbeaten run

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from May 2024: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for May.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

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Nominees

Nominee: Michel Pereira def. Ihor Potieria at UFC 301

Michel Pereira (31-11 MMA, 9-2 UFC) put away Ihor Pereira (21-6 MMA, 2-4 UFC) just 54 seconds into their middleweight bout for his eighth win in a row inside the octagon.

Pereira came out and quickly dropped Potieria with a one-two combination. At that moment, in true Pereira fashion, he decided to backflip onto his stunned opponent. Potieria tried to quickly get back to his feet but left himself open for a standing guillotine choke that Pereira locked in tight, forcing the tap just before Potieria fell to sleep.

Nominee: Mansour Barnaoui def. Yusuke Yachi at Bellator Champions Series: Paris

Mansour Barnaoui (21-6) thrilled the French crowd with a slick finish of Yusuke Yachi (26-13) in the opening round of their lightweight bout.

On a two-fight losing skid, Barnaoui bounced back when he needed it most by locking in a D’Arce choke on Yachi that led to the tap.

Nominee: Costello van Steenis def Gregory Babene at Bellator Champions Series: Paris

Add Costello van Steenis (15-3) to the list of fighters to successfully pull off a Von Flue choke in a major promotion, this time at the expense of Gregory Babane (23-12).

In a middleweight bout, van Steenis put Babene to sleep with the rare submission to punch his ticket to a shot at a Bellator title.

Nominee: Angela Hill def. Luana Pinheiro at UFC Fight Night 241

Angela Hill (17-13 MMA, 12-13 UFC) finally has a submission victory on her professional record, but that wasn’t all against Luana Pinheiro (11-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC).

Hill, a UFC strawweight veteran, put a nice feather in her cap at while also securing the most wins in the division’s history by tapping Pinheiro with a mounted guillotine choke at the midway point of the third round.

The winner: Anthony Smith def. Vito Petrino at UFC 301

Former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith (38-19 MMA, 13-9 UFC) proved he isn’t done yet when he took the undefeated record of Vitor Petrino (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) in their light heavyweight bout.

After a feeling out process on the feet at distance, the two light heavyweights engaged in the clinch. Smith grabbed a hold of Petrino’s neck with a guillotine attempt. Petrino elevated Smith and they crashed to the canvas. Smith’s grip seemed to deepen. Petrino strained before the panic tap came.

Smith, 35, rebounds from a knockout loss to Khalil Rountree and moves to 2-1 in his most recent three bouts. Petrino, 26, loses for the first time as a professional.

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