The wizard of jiu-jitsu, Eddie Bravo, talks us through one of the sport’s rarest submissions.

As Chan Sung Jung, aka ‘The Korean Zombie’, sunk in the twister to defeat Leonard Garcia at UFC Fight Night 24, he made history as the first combatant to ever successfully deploy the submission in a UFC event.

As famed 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu coach Eddie Bravo looked on with pride and admiration, the sheer spectacle was sure to evoke fond memories of how he developed the move from high school wrestling ubiquity to prominence in submission grappling and notoriety in mixed martials arts.

“Nowadays in MMA, getting back control does not mean the fight is over like it did in the early days of MMA. Good rear naked choke defense is very popular amongst today’s fighters. Mastering the different transitions from the back to the twister is a great way to end fights against fighters with great rear naked choke defense,” Bravo claims.

“I learned it in high school wrestling. I had to modify it to work out how I could get the twister from jiu-jitsu positions. There are some jiu-jitsu positions that don’t even exist in wrestling so I had to develop and adapt it. The Korean Zombie had Garcia’s back while he was on his back as well. His legs were hooked so he took out one hook [his right leg] and swooped it underneath Garcia’s right leg, lacing it in and locking it down with his left leg.

So instead of having two hooks, he had one hook on Garcia’s left leg nice and deep as he locked it down.

“From this point Garcia was defending the rear naked choke so he grabbed The Korean Zombie’s wrist and pushed it down.

This is great for defending the rear naked choke but then the Korean Zombie swung his left arm underneath Garcia’s right arm and it was like Leonard Garcia gave it to him. The Korean Zombie slid his left arm underneath Garcia’s neck and clasped his hands together, cranking it up and tapping Garcia.

You can get the tap around the neck but it’s always best right on the temple and if you can get the figure four in then your opponent won’t be able to resist.”

As talk of the twister sets Internet forums alight, MMA practitioners are sure to adopt the submission to their fighting arsenal so Bravo is already working on advanced ways of defending it.

As for The Korean Zombie, fans can only anticipate what he will do next in a promotion where Asian crossovers have historically struggled. That is of course, until now. 

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