Full fight video highlights from the TUF 22 Finale co-main – Tony Ferguson vs. Edson Barboza fight, courtesy of FOX Sports 1.
TUF 22 Finale: Edgar vs. Mendes
Dec. 11, 2015
The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan
Las Vegas, Nevada
Tony Ferguson defeated Edson Barboza by Submission (D’Arce Choke, Round 2, 2:54)
Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson won the undistinguished The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 by defeating Ramsey Nijem in the Finale. He then beat vets Yves Edwards and Aaron Riley, before losing to Michael Johnson at UFC on Fox 3.
Then he disappeared for 18 months.
Whatever he did for those 18 months, every fighter should – he returned on fire. First fight was a submission of the night win over Mike Rio, via Darse (Brabo).
Then he won three more.
Then he lit the fire on fire, winning three Performance Bonuses in a row, the third time Friday night when he also won Fight of the Night, adding an extra $100,000 to his purse.
In the first round vs. Barboza, Ferguson simply stayed in the pocket with the ferociously hard hitting Brazilian. He took a number of shots, including solid low and middle kicks, but appeared unfazed.
In the second round, Ferguson turned up the heat, opening multiple cuts with his elbows, while being cut himself. But the striker Barboza was increasing attempting to grapple.
In one of the great, great, great scrambles of the year, Ferguson ended up sinking a bloody Darse for the win.
Ferguson is now on a seven-fight win streak and is currently ranked #7 in the fiercely competitive UFC lightweight division. Expect a big, big fight next.
A word on the finishing move.
The list of individuals who have a move named after them is short indeed. Perhaps the most humble is Joe D’Arce. It isn’t even pronounced like his name. The black belt’s surname is pronounced D-R-C, said sort of quickly. The choke is pronounced Darse, rhymes with farce.
It’s odd that the choke is named after me because I never claimed to invent the choke, and I never claimed that I’m the only one who does it, said D’Arce to MMAFighting. But when anyone gets good at a certain move, other people associate that move with him. So people started using my name when talking about it. But I didn’t invent the move. I was shown that move by one of the instructors at the Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy named John Danaher. He showed me the move, and I really liked it. So I worked hard at it, tried it from all different angles, and became known for using it, and it kind of snowballed to where people started using my name with it.
The person who really made that choke popular on the West Coast was a jiu jitsu coach named Marc Laimon. He knows how to pronounce my last name, but he said, ‘It’s too many syllables.’ So he shortened it to ‘Darse’ so when he’s coaching someone in a fight or a jiu jitsu match he can yell out, ‘Darse’ quickly. … No one ever says ‘dee-R-see choke.’ Everyone just says ‘darse.’ People often call me ‘Darce’ because they don’t know how to pronounce my name when they see an apostrophe. People say ‘Hey, Joe Darse’ and I don’t correct them, even though it is pronounced ‘dee-R-see’.
The choke (which you can see illustrated here or in an instructional video here) is also referred to as the Brabo choke, but Joe D’Arce doesn’t use either name.
I don’t even call it the D’Arce when I’m teaching jiu jitsu classes, he said. I just call it a head arm triangle variation. I just call it the D’Arce when my students say to me, ‘Can you show me the Darse choke?’ Some people call it the Brabo, some people call it the D’Arce. I don’t really care. It’s just personal preference.
Marc Laimon is the one who really made this choke popular. He teaches a lot of fighters on the West Coast, he’s a well-known jiu jitsu coach, and what he calls the choke becomes what other people call it. He’s the one who made the Darse choke the Darse choke.
It’s flattering, but I hope people don’t think I’m trying to take credit for the D’Arce choke, or claiming I invented it. Everyone has certain moves they’re good at, and I was good at the D’Arce choke, but the person who really made the move popular is Marc Laimon.
