11 MMA Fighters With A WWE Signature Style Finisher

In terms of fighting styles, MMA and WWE could not be more different. Although the WWE sometimes does try to incorporate a level of reality into their matches with BJJ submissions and various strikes, in reality nobody is jumping off the top turnbuckle, clotheslining one another, or getting disqualified for the use of a steel chair.

However, strangely enough, there are a handful of both active and retired MMA fighters with signature finishes. This means that even though the opponents of these fighters have watched a lot of tape and are well aware of the oncoming threat, it still manages to catch them off guard. As a result of this, the fighter with the WWE signature style finisher gains a reputation for this technique. This can be a real advantage in an MMA fight since if your opponent is overly worried about a left kick to the head, they may defend this too much and open themselves to a takedown.

Overall, if you are a fighter with a signature style finishing move, this is almost always because your technique or setup is simply at a higher level than everyone else. There are no bums in the UFC, so if a fighter can perform these techniques consistently at the highest level, it shows just how skilled they truly are.

MMA Fighters With WWE Style Finishing Moves

Dan Henderson – H-Bomb

Although Dan Hendersons H-Bomb is not a real hydrogen bomb (thankfully), it must feel like one when you’re on the receiving end of one of his punches. The overhand right from Dan Henderson has been used to knock out a multitude of opponents, most notably Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva.

Perhaps the scariest thing about the H-Bomb is that you know this power is always in front of you, and even if you happened to be winning the fight, the risk of a knockout is always there. Not only this, but Dan Henderson often followed up his H-Bomb with some ground and pound just to ensure that the fight was truly finished. This is obviously not a good scenario to be in if you are already knocked out on the floor but is a risk fighters take in MMA.

Alexey Oleynik – Ezekiel Choke

A true master of sambo and BJJ, Oleynik is an outstanding Ukrainian grappler. Despite fighting at 109kg, Oleynik managed to submit 48 different opponents and rack up 59 wins. There is simply nobody else quite like this at heavyweight, people who are able to dominate strong and explosive opponents on the ground are in very short supply.

If that wasn’t impressive enough already, Oleynik has 13 submissions by way of his signature Ezekiel choke. Those familiar with BJJ will know that this is quite a simple choke which is mostly used in the gi. As one of the first chokes people learn, the Ezekiel is also relatively easy to defend once you know it’s coming. It’s surprising then that Oleynik has been able to finish 13 different professional fighters with this technique – as he obviously knows something that the rest of the world doesn’t.

Masakazu Imanari – Heel Hooks From Imanari Roll

There are not too many fighters with a move named after them, but Masakazu Imanari is one of them. Quite simply, the Imanari roll is a granby style roll into a leg entanglement. From here there are a small variety of leg locks available, none more devastating than the heel hook.

Modern day MMA fighters know a little more about how to defend and escape heel hooks, although they are still used effectively in the UFC by the likes of Ryan Hall. As Imanari was the pioneer of this style, his leg locks were far more advanced than anyone else fighting at the time.

Altogether, Imanari has an incredible 12 wins by his signature heel hook, as well 4 other wins by various other leglocks such as kneebar and toehold. It goes without saying then, Imanari is a true master of the leg attack and has had over 60 professional fights to prove this.

Conor McGregor – Left Hand Punch

If you watched UFC during the mid-2010’s you will have seen the power and accuracy of Conor McGregor’s punches. In fact, if you were living in a cave in a mountain range, you’ve still probably seen at least one highlight clip.

16 of McGregor’s 22 wins have come by way of punching his opponent, the most notable knockout being the 13 second win against Jose Aldo. There are of course scores of other fighters with knockout power, but none with as much accuracy and power combined. Although McGregor is a divisive figure and known for his antics outside of the cage, he will have had an incredible MMA career and will forever be remembered for his superb punching ability.

Mark Hunt – Walk Off Knockout

Even though Mark Hunt does not have an exceptionally good MMA record, he has always been a fan favorite for his ability to knock someone out and walk off. Hunt has never been a fighter to deal additional punishment on the ground due to having massive self-confidence in his own power.

The Super Samoan almost acted like his own referee in several of his fights, but most notably against Frank Mir in which he simply lets his opponent fall to the canvas and knows that they will not be getting up any time soon.

Almost every other professional MMA fighter is told to keep attacking until the referee ends the match, but Hunt already knows when he has won and often raises his own arm and walks off by himself before the fight has been officially stopped. It must be noted that this is not done in a cocky or disrespectful way, it is simply a man who knows exactly when he has finished the fight.

Kazushi Sakuraba – Kimura

Long before the UFC had achieved the popularity it has today, Kazushi Sakuraba was dominating the heavyweight division of Japan seeing off almost everyone who came his way. Sakuraba was well known for fighting bigger men, some of which were using PED’s and was still able to dispatch them with relative ease.

Although BJJ was viewed as the dominant force of the time, Sakuraba had submission grappling knowledge of his own based on British catch wrestling. Training under the legendary Billy Robinson, Sakuraba had knowledge of the Kimura (double wrist lock) submission and position that was light years ahead of his opposition.

Armed with this knowledge he was able to submit both Royler and Renzo Gracie by Kimura, despite them both being some of the best submission grapplers in the world at the time. Sakuraba has 5 submission wins in total by kimura, but also used this lock to get out of some very dicey positions and reverse the momentum of many fights.

Demian Maia – Rear Naked Choke

A feared submission grappler and MMA fighter, Demian Maia has 28 career wins, with 10 of these coming by rear naked choke. The RNC is one of the most popular ways to finish a fight since it offers an extremely low risk way to submit your opponent and is almost unstoppable once fully locked in.

The most memorable rear naked choke of Maia’s career was against Rick Story in which Maia cranked his neck so hard that blood squirted out of his nose! Although this might be argued as more of a neck crank, the rear naked choke does not have to be 100% clean. Braulio Estima has said that anything under the mouth is as good as the neck in terms of choking a man, so there is clearly some truth to this.

One honorable mention is that Jon Fitch proved to be the kryptonite to Maia’s rear naked chokes. Although Fitch lost by a clear unanimous decision, he was put inside 3 fully locked rear naked chokes by Maia, yet was able to see each round to the end and not tap out, nor go unconscious.

Bas Rutten – Liver Shot

Due to fights being deemed KO and TKO, there is no exact way of knowing just how many Bas Rutten fights were won by liver shot. Not to mention how many opponents were hurt before being knocked out by a headshot or submitted after a liver strike.

An outstanding kickboxer, Rutten knew that a simple body shot was not in the same dimension as a powerful strike aimed precisely to the liver of the opponent. The liver is not really an organ we think of that is critical in terms of immediate bodily function such as the heart or brain. However, science explains that the liver is a center of blood circulation and taking a blunt strike to this area can cause your body to shutdown for a second or two, which is enough to end a fight.

Bas Rutten also gets a noticeable mention for his pioneering use of palm strikes. The only reason these haven’t been listed alongside a liver shot is that almost every MMA promotion in the world now allows punches to the head, which makes the use of palm strikes extremely limited.

Mirko CroCop – Left Kick To The Head

The kicks of Mirko CroCop are iconic and are on highlight reels of Japan’s legendary PRIDE events. On the official record, Crocop has only KO’d 6 opponents with his head kick, but everyone who watched his fights knows that many of his wins were set up from this position and finished with ground and pound. Either way, his left leg is responsible for copious knockouts.

As it was infamously put “right leg hospital, left leg cemetery”. Crocop could kick you in the head, legs, or ribs with either side, but his left was known to be significantly more powerful. Not only this, but he also had extremely vicious punches which were capable of stopping a fight too. There are many other fighters with deadly kicks, but none any more than the Croatian legend Crocop.

Ronda Rousey – Hip Throw To Armbar

During the mid 2010s, Ronda Rousey was arguably the most iconic fighter on the planet other than Conor McGregor and had a signature finishing move to match. It’s no wonder that she was later signed by the WWE having a preset and world-renowned finishing move in place before even putting pen to paper.

A whopping 9 of Rousey’s 12 professional MMA wins came by way of armbar, which is an astonishing 75%. Many fighters go their entire career having only one or two submission wins by armbar, but Rousey was able to do this in almost every fight.

Prior to the submission, Rousey would use one of a variety of judo hip throws in order to get her opponent to the floor. After being on the receiving end of a hip throw, fighters are often dazed for a brief moment and not 100% aware of their surroundings. When they regain full control of their body, Rousey is already in full control of a single arm and pulling on it, resulting in a win by submission.

Ovince Saint Preux – Von Flue Choke

Bizarrely, the Haitian-American OSP has a finishing move that many people do not know exists. To represent how obscure the Von Flue choke is, OSP there have only ever been 6 Von Flue finishes in UFC history, of which OSP has 4.

If were not for Jason Von Flue winning a fight by this method way back in 2003, this finishing style could well be named the OSP choke.

Knowing that most MMA fighters love guillotine chokes, OSP often sets this choke up by playing a dangerous game with his own neck. When his opponent drops back to the floor, OSP will make sure he gets his own body to the opposite side of the guillotine choke, whilst dodging the leg entanglement of his adversary.

From here, the arm of the opponent is trapped and their own shoulder is pushed into one side of their neck, with the shoulder of OSP pushed into the other. This causes a fairly long and drawn out choke, often resulting in unconsciousness due to the fighter on the bottom not realizing what danger they are in. When this happened for the first time, even the commentators were confused why the fight had stopped.