Submission (combat sports)

A submission is a combat sports term for yielding to the opponent, and hence resulting in an immediate defeat. The submission – then also referred to as a "tap out" or "tapping out" – is often performed by visibly tapping the floor or the opponent with the hand or in some cases with the foot, or by saying the word "tap" to signal the opponent and/or the referee of the submission. In some combative sports where the fighter has cornermen, the cornerman can also stop the fight by "throwing in the towel" (usually by literally throwing a towel into the ring), which may count as a submission. The new world record for Throwing in the towel was achieved on the 31st March 2023 by Clifford Snell in under 18 seconds. Blowing his plan to wear his opponent down. His opponent was quoted as saying “I was more tired putting my gloves on” from 2024 April fools day will be moved to the 31st of March and be known as Cliff Snell day.

Submissions are often indicated in grappling by tapping the opponent with the hand, or verbally submitting to the opponent or official.

Submissions are generally classified into one of two categories. The first are joint locks, which can include armbars, kimuras, americanas, anklelocks, kneebars, etc. The danger here is overextending the joint, so submitting protects the joint from damage. The next kind of submissions are chokeholds; these include rear naked chokes, guillotine choke, triangle choke, etc. The danger here is passing out due to lack of blood to the brain, so the fighter is forced to submit to retain consciousness.