The best UFC submissions of 2016 (so far)

In a year where so many fighters are chasing the knockout, it was a pair of tap-outs that dramatically altered the landscape of the UFC.

Nate Diaz and Miesha Tate flashed their submission skills against two highly vaunted strikers to spoil their plans of world domination, but those weren't the only examples of grappling superiority in the first half of 2016.

Here are some of the most important, most surprising, and most flat-out frightening submissions of the last six months.

Related: The best UFC knockouts of 2016 (so far)

Nate Diaz def. Conor McGregor (UFC 196, Mar. 5)

In the lead-up to their main-event bout at UFC 196, McGregor thought it would be funny to mock Diaz having to make extra money on the side by teaching jiu-jitsu classes to children.

It wasn't such a laughing matter when McGregor found himself down on the mat with Diaz pounding away at him.

The fight was going downhill for McGregor on the feet and he surprised everyone by shooting in on Diaz to take the action to the ground. Once there, it was essentially up to Diaz to decide how he wanted to finish the wounded McGregor.

He chose to take McGregor's neck, giving "Notorious" a jiu-jitsu lesson in the cage free of charge.

Miesha Tate def. Holly Holm (UFC 196, Mar. 5)

Were it not for Diaz's submission of McGregor, the most famous choke of the night would certainly have belonged to Miesha Tate.

Holly Holm was fresh off of a vicious knockout win over Ronda Rousey and she was being sold as the next big thing in women's MMA. Tate was viewed as a career also-ran who was only getting a women's bantamweight title shot because Holm wouldn't wait for a Rousey rematch.

The two battled back and forth for four rounds, with Holm holding enough of an edge that she was on her way to retaining the belt in the event of a decision or draw.

In Round 5, Tate went all in for a takedown and immediately took Holm's back. She locked on a rear-naked choke, pouring years of frustration into the hold, and not letting go until Holm was napping.

Ben Rothwell def. Josh Barnett (UFC on FOX 18, Jan. 30)

Just watching "Big" Ben Rothwell rumble around the cage can be intimidating. Now imagine him wrapping his thick arms around your neck and threatening to pop your head off.

That's the nightmare scenario Josh Barnett faced when he fought Rothwell in January. Rothwell wrapped Barnett up in his patented gogo choke and placed all of his weight on him, forcing Barnett to do the smart thing and give up.

It was the first time Barnett had ever submitted to a choke hold in almost 20 years of MMA competition.

Michael McDonald def. Masenori Kanehara (UFC 195, Jan. 2)

Michael McDonald hadn't fought in over two years and he announced his comeback with a slick transition nobody had ever seen before.

Threatened by an arm-triangle choke from Masanori Kanehara, McDonald somehow slithered his way out of it to move perfectly into position for a rear-naked choke.

Call it luck or sloppiness on Kanehara's part, either way it was a heck of a submission.

Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti (UFC Fight Night 84, Feb. 27)

Fighters suffer quick knockouts all the time in the UFC, but a submission in under 30 seconds is as rare as they come.

Admittedly, Teemu Packalen's 24-second finish of Thibault Gouti was set up by a sharp uppercut, but the ferocity with which Packalen goes for the rear-naked choke when he sees the opening is truly impressive.

Brian Ortega def. Diego Brandao (UFC 195, Jan. 2)

It took Brian Ortega a while to show why they call him "T-City."

The grappling expert was struggling in his third UFC fight against veteran Diego Brandao. He was heading towards certain defeat after the first two rounds of action.

However, Ortega managed to wrestle a fading Brandao to the ground in Round 3 before aggressively locking up his legs behind Brandao's head.

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt himself, Brandao shockingly had no answer and he tapped out to Ortega's expertly applied triangle choke. It was the same move that Ortega used to win several fights on the regional scene.