The rear-naked choke, also known as the “mata leao” in Portuguese, has a well earned reputation in mixed martial arts.
In the UFC, the rear-naked choke has been a strong staple since Royce Gracie (as well as Jason DeLucia) used the technique to great success in the promotion’s legendary first show back on Nov. 12, 1993.
Since then, the rear-naked choke’s dominance in the submission department has only increased in the octagon every decade.
Although I won’t be limiting my list to one particular organization, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the sport’s best strangulation artists by listing my top 10 rear-naked choke artists of all time.
As usual, these lists reflect my personal tastes and biases and are not meant to serve as some ultimate authority. That said, I feel very strongly about not only my list but also my honorable mentions at the end.
So, without further ado …
