Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification E | UK RRP £12.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 157 minutes
We all like to see a fight go the distance, whether it's three rounds or five rounds with a title on the line. But what really gets our juices flowing is when a fighter defeats his opponent not thanks to the decision of the judges, but through a thunderous knockout or torturous submission hold. The latter especially. There's nothing quite like the offensive and defensive artistry of the ground game, and with the release of Ultimate Submissions on DVD, it truly is the ultimate showcase of the UFC's most gruelling and devastating tap-outs.
Hosted by Mike Goldberg, Ultimate Submissions, which is actually the second home video incarnation that celebrates the deadly beauty of UFC submissions, runs on the brink of three hours long. It's quite literally a journey through the company's history that compiles the most sudden, effective and masterful holds that have all decided fights. Whether the combatant on the wrong side of a hold taps out, is rendered unconscious or even has their bones broken, one thing in all the featured submissions remains the same: there is an abundance of pain.
This one-disc release is packed full of punishment and is an absolute must-buy for any fight fan. There are 30 submissions covered in the main feature and a further 20 in the bonus material, so in all you get to see 50 bone-crunching holds executed to perfection on this DVD.
EXTRAS ???? Ultimate Submissions features over 80 minutes of extras which include 20 full-length fights in Bonus Submissions and the self-explanatory Submissions from the Vault. Concluding the disc is Just Won't Tap, which is a two-minute compilation of excruciating-to-watch submission holds that fighters somehow never succumbed to, either by escaping or passing out from the pain or lack of oxygen.
Bonus Submissions takes you through the following full 10 fights:
UFC 41: Tank Abbott vs. Frank Mir
UFC 45: Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg
UFC 46: Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn
UFC 50: Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre
UFC 52: Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg
UFC 53: Forrest Griffin vs. Bill Mahood
UFC Fight Night: Joe Stevenson vs. Melvin Guillard
UFC Fight Night: Dustin Hazelett vs. Jonathan Goulet
The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale: BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Shane Primm
Submissions from the Vault picks out 10 historic tap-outs from the early days of the Ultimate Fighting Championship:
UFC 1: Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock
UFC 2: Scott Morris vs. Sean Daugherty
UFC 4: Dan Severn vs. Anthony Macias
UFC 5: Oleg Taktarov vs. Ernie Verdicia
UFC 7: Marco Ruas vs. Larry Cureton
Ultimate Ultimate '95: Tank Abbott vs. Steve Jennum
UFC 12: Mark Coleman vs. Dan Severn
UFC 13: Randy Couture vs. Tony Halme
Ultimate Japan 1: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Marcus Silveira