2017's best of MMA: The 10 most mind-boggling submissions

As the year in cage fighting reaches its end, theScore's Themistoklis Alexis looks back at a time of chaos, carnage, and lots of people getting clobbered in the face.

2017's best of MMA:

• The most destructive knockouts​​​​​​
• The best fights
• Fighter of the year

In the second of our four-part series, we highlight 10 of the slickest tapouts from the past 12 months:

Honorable Mention: Ajmal Atalwal def. Krzysztof Golaszewski (Octagon Fighting Sensation 11, March 4)

Golaszewski wanted a takedown. What he got was a nauseating ride with his head in a vise.

Defending a shot with a guillotine choke attempt is far from an uncommon sight in the cage, but Atalwal put a literal spin on the submission, thereby birthing the "carousel guillotine" that had a helpless Golaszewski flailing in circles before putting himself out of his misery.

10. Diego Brandao def. Murad Machaev (Fight Nights Global 58, Jan. 28)

New promotion, same Brandao.

The UFC alum didn't miss a beat in his first trip to the Fight Nights Global cage, securing a slick helicopter armbar on an unsuspecting Machaev that had the Russian tapping less than a minute into the second round.

9. Iuri Alcantara def. Luke Sanders (UFC 209, March 4)

Alcantara ate more leather in eight minutes than some fighters do in 25, but once he got his mitts on Sanders' right leg, that was all she wrote.

After surviving an early beating, the crafty veteran created a scramble and locked in a kneebar that swiftly subdued Sanders for one of the most stunning comeback victories in recent memory.

8. Fred Moncaio def. Marcos Lloreda (Titan FC 47, Dec. 15)

There's only one certainty regarding Moncaio's latest submission: We still have no idea what to call it.

Whether a modified inverted triangle choke with Lloreda's arm pinned across his chest - as opposed to through Moncaio's legs - a shoulder trap, or a combination of both, the baffling hold soon had Lloreda tapping and everyone watching wracking their brains to find it a fitting name.

7. Georges St-Pierre def. Michael Bisping (UFC 217, Nov. 4)

The rear-naked choke is one of MMA's most common paths to victory, but this wasn't just any rear-naked choke.

In his long-awaited return from a four-year layoff, St-Pierre dumped Bisping with a left hook, swarmed with his patented ground-and-pound, then put the squeeze on the scrambling Brit until he'd ventured off to dreamland, becoming just the fourth two-division champion in UFC history.

Consider the GOAT debate closed.

6. Suman Mokhtarian def. Magana Kiewon (Hex Fight Series 9, June 23)

Introducing: the teepee choke.

One of 2017's bevy of rare and intricate submissions came courtesy of Mokhtarian, who all but lopped Kiewon's head off with a concoction that promptly made the rounds on the interwebs. Luckily for Kiewon, all Mokhtarian's choke took (momentarily) was his consciousness.

5. Brett Johns def. Joe Soto (The Ultimate Fighter 26 finale, Dec. 1)

Calf, meet slicer.

Johns needed just 30 seconds and one scramble on the mat to secure the UFC's first calf-slicer finish in nearly six years, one that had a seasoned Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in Soto grimacing in pain.

4. Aleksei Oleinik def. Viktor Pesta (UFC Fight Night 103, Jan. 15)

Even when in one of the sport's most dominant positions, no heavyweight is safe from Oleinik's clutches.

The fittingly dubbed "Boa Constrictor" gave up full mount to Pesta with negligible resistance, but little did his foe know, the end would soon come, as Oleinik stunned him with the first and only Ezekiel choke the Octagon - and, judging by his delayed grasp of his fate, Pesta himself - has ever seen.

3. Jonno Mears def. Aaron Jones (Full Contact Contender 19, Sep. 30)

Who needs jiu-jitsu when you can break out the old reliable Boston crab?

When a scramble ended with Mears on Jones' back, the former snatched the latter's legs and locked in what's better known in the WWE as the "Walls of Jericho," and to the surprise of everyone not named Mears, the submission took a sledgehammer to the barriers of kayfabe and earned him the tapout.

Chris Jericho, eat your heart out.

2. Brian Ortega def. Cub Swanson (UFC Fight Night 123, Dec. 9)

It turns out Ortega's guillotine is as deadly as his triangle choke.

The surging featherweight needn't wait 'til the third round, nor resort to his calling card to get his hand raised in his first headlining gig, pulling guard on Swanson with an arm-in guillotine less than two rounds into their dance. Swanson did his damnedest to escape the squeeze, only for Ortega to maintain position, readjust his hands and put the screws to Swanson all over again to cap a breakthrough performance.

1. Demetrious Johnson def. Ray Borg (UFC 216, Oct. 7)

One month before GSP cemented himself as the best to ever do it at Bisping's expense, Johnson made child's play of the impossible.

Over four rounds into a dominant performance over Borg that ultimately gave him sole ownership of the UFC's title defense record, the flyweight king put a bow on a banner night with the greatest testament to his abilities yet, transitioning in mid-air from a slam to an armbar that all but cost the challenger a limb.