In a night filled with chaos, UFC Vegas 104 appeared to have shattered a 15-year-old UFC record in a jaw-dropping fashion. Da’Mon Blackshear and Brendon Ribeiro pulled off something rarely seen inside the Octagon—back-to-back Kimura submissions. As Blackshear and Ribeiro steered through their opponents inside the Octagon they didn’t even know that they were breaking a decade-long record. Two deadly finishes, one historic moment, and the fans are going crazy for them.

Debutant Diyar Nurgozhay came into the Octagon with high hopes but his opponent Ribeiro, however, had other plans. With an amazing pace, Ribeiro set the tone early, hammering Nurgozhay with leg kicks and a barrage of strikes. As his moves became predictable, Ribeiro dropped Nurgozhay with a crisp straight right but chose patience over a quick finish.

As the initial round closed, Nurgozhay was desperate to get to the second round and his desperation became the cause of his downfall. Ribeiro countered Nurgozhay’s takedown attempt with a slick kimura, which forced the Kazakh star to submit. And that was just the start of it.

In the very next main card slot, Da’Mon Blackshear and Cody Gibson clashed in a bantamweight bout that ended in the exact same fashion. ‘The Monster’ overcame a strong start against Cody Gibson, who recently left his teaching job to completely focus on his MMA career. ‘The Renegade’ came out aggressive, mixing strikes with takedown attempts, but Blackshear’s grappling proved superior. After a competitive and close initial round, Blackshear knew what he had to do to clinch the victory for Gibson. With his pace ‘The Monster’ took control of the second round locking in a Kimura for the tap.

As the fighter secured the victory by way of Kimura, fans in a frenzy flooded the internet. Why? Well, because Kimura in itself is a rare submission, and witnessing back-to-back kimura is even rarer. Let’s have a look at what the fans have to say.

Back-to-back Kimuras at UFC Vegas 104 has the MMA world on its feet

Starting off, renowned MMA journalist, Aaron Bronsteter gave us insight into the record that was broken at UFC Vegas 104, “There it is from Brendan Fitzgerald – the first time since UFC 123, fifteen years ago, in Detroit where we have seen back-to-back Kimura finishes.” The November 2010 event saw the first two main card bouts ending in Kimura submissions – in the second round! The first was George Sotiropoulos submitting Joe Lauzon and the second was Phil Davis submitting Tim Boetsch.

Following the comments from Bronstester, Michael Chiesa took time out of his hand to comment on the back-to-back kimura, “I love me some kimuras  #UFCVegas104.” After the fight Blackshear explained that he was not surprised by the way he attempted the kimura as he was certain that grappling would earn him his victory.

Furthermore, we get another verdict from Bronsteter as he highlighted the rarity of Kimura, “Kimura finishes have become few and far between at the UFC level and we just saw them in back-to-back fights.” According to various reports, Kimura submissions are so rare that they account for only 4.7% of all submission victories.

We got another big shot in the MMA world, Damon Martin who was equally shocked by the back-to-back kimura, “Two kimura submissions in one card??? Da’Mon Blackshear gets it done with the finish on Cody Gibson.” Last but not least, another social media user added, “Kimuras in back-to-back fights. What the hell is happening tonight at the Apex #UFCVegas104”

As the fights are concluded, what are your thoughts on the UFC Vegas 104 card? State your opinion in the comments below.