Photo: ONE Championship
Alex Silva’s Performance Bonus Worthy Submission from ONE 158
ONE 158 went down early Friday morning for fight fans in the United States so they might have missed some of the great finishes on the card. There’s a fair share of knock-out highlights from the weekend of combat sports as a whole circulating the web, but Alex Silva’s heel hook submission in his rematch against Adrian Mattheis is worth looking at.
The full match is also available on the ONE Championship YouTube channel too and if you’re into leglocks succeeding in MMA, Silva’s pressure from the outset of the match is worth your time.
First, some background knowledge of the first match should also be noted because Silva’s pressure obviously came from the lessons learned back in March when Mattheis was able to knock out Silva. In striking, power comes from range and Silva made it apparent in the rematch he was not going to give Mattheis any.
A few wild strikes from both men of course started the fight but Silva wasted no time in getting the takedown. From there, it was pressure and strikes that had Silva land a few times in their transitions as Mattheis scrambled back to his feet, only to be brought to the ground again. A lot happened in those scrambles but it was apparent that Silva had a plan that started from mount and was executed during Mattheis’ escape attempts.
Every time Silva floated on top of Mattheis from mount he would attack the arm, seemingly knowing Mattheis would bridge to escape and wind up in the position beforehand. It would have Silva on his back, which he seemed fine with but as soon as Mattheis exploded out of the arm bar, Silva immediately hooked the ankle nearest to him to attack the leg.
The move would put Mattheis back on the ground with Silva already controlling the leg. Silva’s hips were deep too once he figured out Mattheis’ movement so when they scrambled, Silva had a few options depending on where Mattheis was trying to go. Once he was able to get Mattheis’ toes in his armpit, the heel was exposed for the taking.
In case you missed it, check it out right here:
Alex Silva 🇧🇷 exacts REVENGE on Adrian Mattheis with an inside heel hook! #ONE158 | #ONEChampionship | https://t.co/eBUfsODAFL pic.twitter.com/r6TP0TmUFN
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) June 3, 2022
There were two other submissions on the card but because of the pace and setup, Silva’s technique deserves some recognition, especially since of the three performance winners of the event, Silva’s was the only one that came from a submission.
