St. Pierre's secret weapon against Matt Hughes was a submission chain. It was a sweet one in fact. Matt never had a chance, because St. Pierre had an interesting business model for fighting. Here it is.

I crack Matt in the face, and when he's woozy. I'll catch him in a sub, and then we defends that one, I'll wrap him in another.

In a sub chain, if you don't catch one, the 2nd one will usually always catch. Just ask Minotauro Noguiera, he had this to say about fighting and training for Tim Sylvia.

"I always train and work in chains, if the first doesn't catch, I can always catch them in something else." (Paraphrased)

So what was the chain, a kimura (double wrist lock for you catch wrestlers out there) to an arm bar. How do you know you can do that?

As I've gotten older and more advanced you can feel positions coming up, and when they come up you can just take them. Or you can be smart and take the short cut and train chains to the most likely counters.

My feeling is that St. Pierre had a little of both on this one. If you're smart, you'll also realize that he actually hit about 2 subs before catching the last one.

It actually went like this: Kimura (double wrist lock) to regular arm bar (which Matt Hughes rolled out of) to reverse arm bar.

You should really go home and drill that one down boys and girls. Also, if you're really smart you can transfer back to a modified omaplata (coil lock for you catch wrestlers) and then end with a Frank Shamrock Front Choke or a wrestler's guillotine, but I'll save that for you advanced folk.

Scott Buendia is an mma instructor based out of Hillsboro, OR and has been certified under Frank Shamrock to teach Shamrock Submission Fighting. You can find his Hillsboro martial arts and mixed martial arts school (also in Tigard).