Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.15.2010
The 411 MMA Top 5
From BJ Penn submitting Kenny Florian with a rear naked choke at UFC 107 to Toby Imada’s inverted triangle on Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5 and even Shinya Aoki breaking Mizuto Hirota’s arm to close out the year, the 411 MMA writers decide the best submissions of 2009! Check out the full column to see which Submissions made the list and why!

Welcome:
Welcome back to the MMA Top 5! What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 MMA will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. At the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It’s highly non-official and final, like WAMMA. What we are going to do over the next few weeks is run the column twice a week to crown our best of 2009. From best and worst fight to best fighter and KO of the year, the staff will come together to share out best. Thanks for joining us, and lets get down to work. (…)

AND 411’s BEST SUBMISSIONS OF 2009 ARE…

5. BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian: UFC 107 – 5pts.
4. Masakazu Imanari vs. Justin Cruz: DEEP Cage Impact – 6pts.
3. Aoki vs. Hirota: DYNAMITE!! 2009 – 8pts.
2. Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen: UFC 95 – 21pts.
1. Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal: Bellator 5 – 30pts.