Ramin Sultanov hails out of Azerbaijan. Sultanov was pitted against Tamirlan Saralapov at the Naiza FC 50 card on Monday, 20th March 2023.
Saralapov is of Russian descent. He was on a 7 win streak heading into Naiza 50, and had never lost a bout. Saralapov seemed to be much less experienced heading into the event with a single professional MMA outing.
Sultanov was trying to submit Saralapov with a banana split.
What is a banana split?
The banana split submission, also known as a crotch ripper, is a highly effective submission that is pretty much indefensible when applied correctly. The primary idea behind the move is to pull the thighs of both legs in opposite directions. However, just pulling the legs in different directions is not enough to cause damage to the joint structures and surrounding muscles.
While it may seem easy to execute the banana split submission, it requires sufficient control to complete the move. Both legs need to be pulled in opposite directions, with the truck position being the best option for controlling someone while setting up the banana split. However, sometimes, grapplers come up against insanely flexible opponents. In this case, the banana split submission can be modified by switching to a leg triangle or a reverse triangle, providing the necessary leverage to get the tap.
This is something, Saralapov wasn’t aware of. Banana split is considerably harder to pull off and has never been executed properly in the UFC (although some inaccurately identify Zabit Magomedsharipov’s Suloev stretch win as a banana split).
But this backfired – considering Saralapov wouldn’t budge was ultimately able to wiggle himself out of the devastating submission.
Saralapov was able to maneuver out and land punch after punch, finally defeating him in via technical knockout.
