There has been 68 UFC fights in 2014 and yet only 8 of those UFC wins ended with a submission. With the lack of submission victories in the UFC, some Jiu-Jitsu experts in the UFC blamed the fans and the referees for it.
The stats for the results of the 68 UFC fights this 2014 so far are 44 decisions, 15 KO's, 8 submissions and one DQ. Because of this fans are starting to wonder where are the jiu-jitsu fighters who are well versed in submission are.
Even in the TUF: China Finale card in Macau, China had zero submissions.
Jiu-Jitsu fighter Charles Oliveira, one of the only fighters to win a fight via submission in 2014 said "The fans like to watch a stand-up war. I guess the jiu-jitsu fighters are looking to work on their stand-up skills and forgetting about the jiu-jitsu."
Submission specialists Demian Maia, Jacare Souza, Frank Mir, Gabriel Gonzaga, Donald Cerrone and Ronda Rousey all fought this year but none of them finished the fight on the ground with a submission. In fact, only Cole Miller, Russel Doane, Dustin Kimura, Kyung Ho Kang, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Beneil Dariush, Alex Caceres and Charles Oliveira have scored submission wins in 2014.
"In my last fight I was looking for the knockout," Oliveira said, "but I saw an opening and went for the takedown several times and got the tap."
Jiu-jitsu world champion Antonio Braga Neto made his UFC debut last June with a first-round kneebar over Anthony Smith and according to him, most UFC fans prefer to watch a striking battle over a grappling chess match.
"The fans don't like to watch too much jiu-jitsu," he said. "To tell you the truth, when someone goes to the UFC they want to knock people out because that's what the fans want to see. I think the fans clearly prefer to watch a stand-up fight because they don't understand the ground game."
Charles Oliveira believes that referees also are to blame for the lack of submission finishes aside from the fans, in that they don't let fighters work for better positions on the ground and constantly ask them to "work" even when they are already doing it.
"That's a problem because you have to be fast and not lose positions," he said. "You need to quickly advance for positions, looking for an opening to finish the fight."
What do you think? Are these fighters right in that because of the fans wanting to see heated striking bouts thus causing "boring" grapplers to change their style leading to less submission victories, correct? If not, then who should take the blame for the lack of UFC wins by submission?
