How UFC Vegas 122’s finish frenzy highlights the value of BJJ

UFC Vegas 122 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas delivered nine finishes in twelve fights, capped by a late rear naked choke in the main event. The card was a live demo of why grappling and submission skills still decide fights, and what that means for your own jiu-jitsu training.

What made UFC Vegas 122 at Meta APEX stand out for grapplers?

UFC Vegas 122, headlined by Brendan Allen vs Christian Leroy Duncan on October 10 at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, was one of those nights that grapplers replay on YouTube for weeks. According to the UFC’s own recap, nine of the twelve bouts ended inside the distance. That is a huge finish rate for a modern Fight Night card, where crowded schedules often lead to conservative game plans.

For anyone who cares about Brazilian jiu-jitsu and no gi, the most important part is how those finishes came. The main event ended by rear naked choke late in round five, after nearly twenty-five minutes of clinching, takedown attempts, scrambles, and back attacks. Earlier on the card, knockouts from Andre Fili and a vicious head kick from Otari Tanzilovi showed that striking is still lethal in small gloves. But underneath those highlights is a theme every Las Vegas jiu-jitsu student should notice: the fighters who blended positional grappling, submission threats, and smart defense were the ones walking out with bonuses and momentum.

Because the event happened right here in town at Meta APEX, local students can think of it like a live lab. This is the level of composure, cardio, and technical layering that BJJ players need if they want their skills to transfer to MMA, self defense, or just harder rounds in the gym. Watching with a training mindset, instead of just as a fan, turns a regular Fight Night into a free seminar on what works under real pressure.

The other point that stands out is the variety of finishing methods. You had a classic choke in the main event, clean head kicks, and ground strikes following positional control. Modern MMA is not about isolated techniques. It is about building a game that can change gears on command: threaten the neck, pass to mount, drop back to the legs if the opponent scrambles, or stand and strike when they are tired. That is exactly the kind of layered approach that good BJJ coaches in Las Vegas are trying to instill in beginners from day one.

• Nine of twelve fights ended inside the distance.
• The main event finished by rear naked choke in round five.
• Meta APEX in Las Vegas hosted the entire card.
• Finishes came from both submissions and striking.
• Fighters who blended grappling with striking had the most success.

How Brendan Allen’s rear naked choke can sharpen your back attack game

Brendan Allen’s win over Christian Leroy Duncan was not a quick club-and-sub. It was a grinding middleweight fight where grappling control, repeated back takes, and cardio eventually broke Duncan’s defenses. The official result on UFC’s report lists a rear naked choke at 2:46 of round five, which means Allen was still hunting the finish deep into championship-style minutes. For jiu-jitsu students, that alone is a reminder that submissions are not only early-fight weapons. They are tools you can rely on when both athletes are exhausted.

From a technical angle, late-fight rear naked chokes usually come from accumulated positional damage rather than trick setups. By the fifth round, your opponent is defending slower, turning their back more often in scrambles, and giving you longer windows to sink hooks and hand-fight. Allen’s performance showed consistent pressure: clinching against the fence, changing levels, and using strikes to make Duncan expose his back. That chain is exactly what you should drill: connect your takedown entries to automatic transitions toward the back.

In no gi training, this means spending time in rear bodylock situations, learning how to mat return a standing opponent, and drilling seatbelt entries when a partner turtles to escape. Instead of treating back control as something you only see in pure grappling tournaments, think of it the way Allen used it: as the final stage of an entire round of work. In a typical Las Vegas evening class, that might be a six-minute round. In the UFC main event, it was nearly twenty minutes before the choke landed.

There is also a mental lesson here. Many white and blue belts will abandon the back if the choke is not available in a few seconds. High-level fighters like Allen keep the harness, keep adjusting the grip, move their head to the safe side, and patiently peel hands until a clean bite on the neck appears. Training in that style means accepting that your first grip might fail, then your second might fail, but if you stay glued to the back and keep winning small battles, the submission becomes almost inevitable.

• Use clinch entries to transition directly to the back.
• Drill rear bodylock mat returns from standing.
• Practice patient hand-fighting instead of forcing the choke.
• Treat back control as a long-term attack, not a quick trick.
• Link fence wrestling to back takes in no gi rounds.

What the knockout artists at UFC Vegas 122 teach your jiu-jitsu defense

While grapplers naturally focus on the main event submission, the knockouts at UFC Vegas 122 might be even more important for your day-to-day training. Andre Fili scored a violent stoppage, and Otari Tanzilovi’s head kick knockout was one of the cleanest of the night. On paper, those moments live in the striking column of the stat sheet. For a Las Vegas jiu-jitsu student who occasionally does MMA sparring or just wants to be safer on their feet, they should also be a wake-up call.

The first lesson is entry timing. Every clean knockout in small gloves is a reminder that lazy shots, slow guard pulls, or straight-line clinch entries are dangerous. If you plan to translate your BJJ into MMA one day, your takedowns must look more like wrestling entries and less like reaching hugs. That means practicing level changes, penetration steps, and angle cuts rather than jogging forward with your hands low. Watching where the knockouts at APEX landed, you will notice that the losing fighter either stepped straight back with their chin up or circled the wrong way into the power side.

On the defensive side, BJJ players can use these KOs to emphasize head position and guard recovery when things go wrong. If you get knocked off balance on the feet, the goal is not to fall straight backward. The better habit is to lower your level, turn slightly, and be ready to roll into a leg entanglement, a single leg, or at least a tight half guard. Fighters who collapse in place end up absorbing follow-up shots. Fighters who fall intelligently often create a scramble where their grappling can shine.

In everyday no gi rounds, you can simulate this by starting from standing, letting your partner give you a push or off-balancing snapdown, then practicing safe falls into guard. It is not about training to get hit. It is about accepting that transitions are messy and that grapplers who panic in those transitions get finished, just like some of the athletes did under the bright lights at APEX.

• Avoid straight-line entries that expose your chin.
• Use wrestling-style level changes when shooting.
• Practice safe falls into guard and half guard.
• Train head position as seriously as grip fighting.
• Study knockout replays to understand footwork errors.

How UFC BJJ 12 and ADCC rankings tie into the UFC Vegas 122 finish trend

UFC Vegas 122 is not the only recent event pointing toward an aggressive, finish-heavy era. Just days earlier, UFC BJJ 12 took over Meta APEX for a pure grappling card. That event featured a leg-lock-heavy slate, where four of the seven matches ended with lower-body submissions and Cassia Moura became a two-division champion after a tight decision. Pair that with the 2026 ADCC World Championships in Krakow, where athletes like Felipe Pena, Helena Crevar, Victor Hugo, and Luke Griffith reshaped the no gi rankings, and a pattern emerges.

Across all these events, the grapplers earning headlines are not winning by stalling. They are attacking backs, necks, and legs in waves. UFC BJJ 12’s leg lock focus is particularly important for MMA-focused students because those entanglements can open up sweeps and back takes even in fights where heel hooks are illegal. If four out of seven elite matches can end by leg submission under one rule set, you can be sure that being ignorant of heel hook defense is a liability even in rounds where your gym does not allow twisting leg locks.

The ADCC results and subsequent rankings update in early October also show that the sport is rewarding well-rounded no gi games. Champions like Pena and Griffith are known for wrestling, guard, back control, and leg lock awareness. There is no longer a successful specialist who only knows one area. When you connect the dots between ADCC champions, UFC BJJ 12 leg lock finishes, and UFC Vegas 122’s late rear naked choke, you see a unified picture: modern grapplers must be capable of attacking and defending everywhere.

For Las Vegas students, that means not hiding from rule sets. Train IBJJF-style passing and back takes, drill ADCC-style wrestling from the feet, and spend smart time learning how to enter and escape leg entanglements responsibly. When you see fighters at APEX cashing in Performance of the Night bonuses for chokes and KOs, recognize that their base was built on months of the same fundamental drills that happen in a good jiu-jitsu class down the road from the Strip.

• UFC BJJ 12 saw four of seven matches end by leg lock.
• Cassia Moura became a two-division UFC BJJ champion.
• ADCC 2026 crowned new champions across no gi divisions.
• Modern champions blend wrestling, guard, and leg locks.
• Ignoring leg lock defense is increasingly risky for students.

How should Las Vegas students train if they want to mirror this finish-heavy style?

Looking at UFC Vegas 122, UFC BJJ 12, and ADCC 2026 together, one training blueprint jumps out for local athletes: build cardio and composure first, then layer on high-percentage submission chains. Brendan Allen’s fifth-round rear naked choke only works because his pace did not crash, and his mechanics stayed sharp when both fighters were drenched in sweat. Likewise, the leg lock finishes at UFC BJJ 12 came from technical entries rather than reckless dives that would get you hurt in sparring.

For a recreational student in Las Vegas, the path is more modest but similar. Start by making sure you can roll hard for five- to seven-minute rounds without gassing out completely. That may mean adding a jog in the desert morning, using the treadmill for intervals, or simply adding one extra round to each open mat before you shower. When your lungs are less of a limiting factor, it becomes easier to practice the kind of persistent back-hunting that decided the main event.

Technically, anchor your training week around two themes: positional chains and submission chains. Positional chains are sequences like takedown to side control to mount to back control, practiced again and again until you no longer pause between each step. Submission chains are combinations, such as rear naked choke to short choke to face crank, or straight ankle lock threat to back take when the opponent kicks free. The fighters getting their hands raised at APEX are the ones who can change from one to the other in a heartbeat.

Finally, remember that Vegas is uniquely suited to this style of training. The dry heat encourages you to hydrate and manage recovery, and the local scene is full of cross-training opportunities with MMA strikers, wrestlers, and pure grapplers visiting for camps and events. If you have been on the fence about trying a jiu-jitsu class, watching a card like UFC Vegas 122 live or on replay is a good reminder that real, functional grappling is not abstract. It is the difference between surviving and thriving when the pressure is on.

1. Rewatch Brendan Allen’s rear naked choke at UFC Vegas 122 and write down each position that led to the back, then drill that sequence with a partner in class.
2. Set a goal to roll one extra round at the end of each session this week to build the cardio needed for late-fight submissions.
3. Add a dedicated back control round where you start on your partner’s back and they must escape, then switch, focusing on patient hand-fighting rather than rushed chokes.
4. Ask your coach to show you a basic straight ankle lock and at least one safe escape so you start building leg lock awareness without overwhelming yourself.
5. In your next no gi session, start from standing and practice clean level changes into takedowns so your entries are less likely to run into the kind of head kicks seen at APEX.
6. Film one of your rolls and count how many times you could have transitioned to the back but did not, then build a small checklist to fix that in the next class.
7. Once a week, roll with someone who has a very different style, such as a strong wrestler or a flexible guard player, to simulate the variety of opponents seen at UFC and ADCC events.
8. If you live in or near Las Vegas, drop into a reputable BJJ academy for a trial class and tell the coach you want to focus on transferable, MMA-style positions like back takes, mount, and leg lock defense.

← More from the Las Vegas Jiu Jitsu blog