Issue 143

Back in 2013 Daniel Pineda won a notable victory over Justin Lawrence, his first but not last victory deploying a deadly kimura. Here he reflects on that move and that victory

Earning an ‘...of the Night’ bonus in the UFC is never an easy task, especially if you’re on a fight card with the likes of Urijah Faber, Cat Zingano and Cole Miller, who are all also vying for that same extra bit of padding in their wallet.

And it becomes even more difficult to stay at the forefront of the minds of the fans and UFC head honchos when you’re the first bout on a stacked 12-fight card. Safe to say, the odds are stacked against you.

However, regardless of the array of talent following him on the TUF 17 Finale in April 2013, Texan featherweight Daniel Pineda literally yanked the check out of everyone else’s reach inside 95 seconds by torquing the shoulder of TUF 15 competitor Justin Lawrence in their crowd-rousing Facebook prelim.

“I go into every single fight believing I’m going to win. Of course, after my previous fight (KO loss to Antonio Carvalho, UFC 149) this fight was very important to me,” Pineda states.

“I worked really hard on my wrestling with my wrestling coach and I’ve also been working on my jiu- jitsu game with my BJJ coach Jayson Rogers; we worked a lot on the kimura specifically for this bout because that’s his speciality.

“When I got the trip takedown and I was in his half guard, once I got his wrist trapped behind his back and I was in that position, all I had to do was pull his arm up. From there I knew it was just a matter of time before he tapped.”

Clearly his work with the 4oz Fight Club BJJ coach paid dividends as he forced the respected striker to grimace in pain and submit.

Now if you feel like you had a small case of déjà vu while watching the lock, yet couldn’t quite place where you witnessed it before, think back to UFC 123 when light heavyweight stalwart Phil Davis used a near identical submission to finish Tim Boetsch. A match Pineda agrees with. He says: “It was was really similar to the Phil Davis kimura against Tim Boetsch.

“It’s a move we’ve been working on continuously in the gym and we’re still continuing to work on different positions for the kimura every day at the gym.”

With his extensive work with the shoulder separating submission continuing under the tutelage of Rogers, would it be right to change Pineda’s nickname from ‘The Pit’ to ‘The Kimura King’?

“I would imagine that my jiu-jitsu coach might object to me being referred to as the Kimura King,” Pineda finishes. “I’m pretty sure he believes that should be his nickname, but it’s something that I’m most definitely working towards.”

As of 2019, Daniel Pineda has a 28-13 win-loss record, repeating the kimura move to win bouts in 2014 and early 2015. He has won his last five fights with three TKOs and two submissions.