Charles Johnson's Scottish Twister Is BJJ's Wildest Finish
Every few years the cage reminds everyone why BJJ people can't stop talking about leg entanglements. UFC 330 delivered its version Saturday night, when flyweight Charles Johnson caught late…
Every few years the cage reminds everyone why BJJ people can't stop talking about leg entanglements. UFC 330 delivered its version Saturday night, when flyweight Charles Johnson caught late replacement Eduardo Chapolin in a Scottish twister — one of the rarest submissions in the sport — for the finish in round three.
A short-notice fight that nearly went the other way
Chapolin didn't take this fight expecting Johnson. He stepped in after Jose Ochoa fell out, on short preparation, against a dangerous and unpredictable finisher. For a stretch, the gamble looked like it might pay off — Chapolin landed a heavy shot in round two that put Johnson on the canvas, and for a moment the underdog story was writing itself.
Johnson didn't fold. He recovered between rounds and came out for round three sharper, working behind heavier punishment until a scramble handed him Chapolin's back. When Chapolin tried to turn out of trouble, Johnson didn't hesitate — he read the rotation, locked his legs around Chapolin's trapped limb and torso, and secured the Scottish twister for the tap at 1:36 of the third. Watch the finish on X, courtesy of UFC on Paramount+.
Johnson, never shy about his confidence, summed it up plainly afterward: "I kind of made him feel he could turn in and I had it," he said, as BJJEE reported.
Why the Scottish twister still turns heads
Most fight fans know the standard twister — the inverted spine-and-neck crank popularized by Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet system and made famous in ADCC and grappling super-fights over the last decade. The Scottish twister is its meaner cousin: instead of isolating the neck, it wraps around the far arm and torso from back control, cranking the spine while the trapped limb has nowhere to go. It's a position most white belts never see live, let alone attempt, because it requires a very specific set of circumstances — back control, a limb caught in exactly the wrong spot, and an opponent trying to spin out at exactly the wrong moment.
That's precisely what makes Johnson's finish worth talking about beyond the highlight reel. This wasn't a drilled sequence he walked into on purpose. It was a live read of an opponent's escape attempt, converted into a fight-ending lock in the space of a couple of seconds. That's the difference between knowing a submission exists and actually understanding jiu jitsu deeply enough to see it appear in real time and take it. Twisters and their variants live in the same family as leg entanglements and back-take sequences most gyms drill every week — the rare part isn't the technique, it's the recognition.
The lesson for the rest of us
There's a version of this fight that ends very differently. Johnson gets rocked in round two, a lot of fighters — and a lot of grapplers on the mats every day — mentally check out from that point forward. Instead, he did the unglamorous work of surviving the round, resetting, and staying available for the next opportunity that opened up. That's a Jiu Jitsu lesson as much as an MMA one: getting hurt in a position doesn't mean the position is lost, and it definitely doesn't mean the round is. The scramble that gave Johnson the back wasn't luck handed to him — it was luck he was still on the mat to receive because he refused to shut down after getting hit.
It's also a reminder of why training leg entanglements and back-take finishes matters even if you'll use them once a year. Johnson's list of highlight-reel finishes now includes a knockout of current UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van and a win over top-ten contender Lone'er Kavanagh — a resume built on being willing to take positions most fighters treat as dead ends. You don't build that reputation by only drilling the techniques you're comfortable with. You build it by spending enough time in weird spots on the mats that a live opportunity like Chapolin's back doesn't feel unfamiliar when it shows up under lights.
Chapolin, for his part, has nothing to be ashamed of. He took the fight on short notice, hurt a dangerous finisher, and lost to a submission most of the sport rarely sees, let alone defends against on a few days' preparation. That's the trade-off of saying yes to short-notice UFC fights, and it's part of what makes this sport worth watching.
See you on the mats.
Original report via BJJEE.