Charles Johnson Lands Scottish Twister

Charles Johnson produced one of the most unusual finishes on the UFC 330 card, submitting Eduardo Chapolin with a Scottish twister at 1:36 of the third round. The finish did not come after an uncomplicated performance. Johnson was dropped by a stiff strike in the second round, survived the danger and returned for the final round looking fresher before turning a mat scramble into a rare submission. The result gave Johnson a highlight-reel response after a difficult moment and capped a fight in which Chapolin had arrived on short notice.

Chapolin stepped into the bout after Jose Ochoa withdrew during fight week, giving the Brazilian a demanding assignment on only a few days’ notice. He still created a major swing in the second round when he cracked Johnson and put him down. That sequence is central to the story of the finish: Johnson did not simply control every phase before finding an opening. He had to recover, reset and make a clear tactical change in the third. Once the fight reached the ground again, Johnson found the position he needed and closed the submission rather than allowing Chapolin to work free.

Johnson recovered before finding his opening

The official finish came at 1:36 of Round 3, when Johnson used the Scottish twister to force the submission. Twisters are described as rare in UFC competition, and the Scottish twister gave Johnson a particularly distinctive ending to the contest. The source account says Chapolin tried to work through the position during the scramble, but Johnson recognized the opening and secured the hold. Johnson’s post-fight comments framed the sequence as a prepared trap rather than an accidental scramble. “That’s my shit,” he told the broadcast before adding, “I’ve been training diligently. We worked our ass off. I kind of made him feel he could turn in and I had it.”

That explanation gives the finish added context. Johnson said he made Chapolin believe he could turn into space, then capitalized once that reaction created the opportunity. The Round 2 knockdown and the Round 3 submission therefore tell two different parts of the same fight: Chapolin had a meaningful moment after taking the bout on short notice, while Johnson showed the composure to survive it and return with a specific grappling answer. For readers watching the replay, the key detail is not only that the fight ended with a rare hold, but that Johnson described the movement leading to it as something he and his team had worked on diligently.

The win answered Johnson’s June setback

The UFC 330 victory also allowed Charles Johnson to bounce back from his June submission loss to Asu Almabayev. At 35, Johnson is now 3-2 across his past five fights. His recent resume also includes previous wins over Joshua Van and Lone’er Kavanagh. The source notes that Van is now involved in title-picture discussion following a heated UFC 331 press conference run-in with Alexandre Pantoja, adding context to an earlier Johnson victory without changing the immediate significance of UFC 330. Johnson left this event with a confirmed win, an uncommon submission and a performance he dedicated to Allan Nascimento, the UFC flyweight who died earlier in August after a heart attack.

• Chapolin entered the matchup on short notice after Jose Ochoa withdrew during fight week, then dropped Johnson with a stiff shot in Round 2.
• Johnson recovered from that scare and submitted Chapolin with a Scottish twister at 1:36 of the third round.

Charles Johnson’s UFC 330 finish stands out because it combined recovery, preparation and a rare technique. Chapolin’s second-round knockdown ensured the contest had genuine jeopardy, while Johnson’s third-round response supplied the decisive reversal. His own comments made clear that he viewed the final sequence as a trained setup, with Chapolin’s attempted turn providing the opening. For Johnson, the result was also a timely rebound from the June loss to Almabayev and a performance dedicated to Nascimento.

Sources: MiddleEasy