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Who takes the Ortiz-Griffin bout this Saturday at UFC 106?
   Ortiz via KO / Sub
   Ortiz via Decision
   Griffin via KO / Sub
   Griffin via Decision
   Draw

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Unofficial Half-Year Awards - Submissions
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Unofficial Half-Year Awards - SubmissionsYesterday, we here at Fightline.com covered the half-year knockout awards, which featured James Irvin's KO of Houston Alexander in the top position. Today we analyze the slick and crafty submissions that have made the top of the list for the first six months of 2008. The top five is as follows:

5 -- It's a tie in fifth position between underdog Kevin Burns and his triangle choke of Roan Carneiro, and former "TUF" cast member Cole Miller and his triangle choke of Jorge Gurgel respectively. For Burns, no one was expecting the Wells Fargo employee to beat the more experienced Carneiro who holds a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but at 2:53 into the second round he shocked the MMA world and did just that. Completely frustrated by the active guard of Burns, Carneiro tried numerous times to pass, all the while absorbing elbow strikes to the head. Shortly after Burns opened a cut on the head of Carneiro, the blue belt from Iowa threw up his hips and cinched in one of the biggest upsets of the year.

Tied with Kevin Burns is Cole Miller, a Georgia native who trains with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Miller is long, lean, and in my humble opinion, underrated. In his loss to Jeremy Stephens at UFN 12 in January, Miller admits he was lackadaisical and couldn't get excited in the fight. Miller has publicly stated that's a loss he wants to someday avenge. One fight that Cole won't need to avenge is his recent victory over black belt Jorge Gurgel. In a fight where many feel Miller was on the way to losing by decision, he effectively played possum in the closing minute of the third round, only to surprise Gurgel with a burst of energy with less than 30 seconds to go, and secure a very deep triangle choke, forcing Gurgel to tap, a feat no one had accomplished in almost five years.

4 -- "Big Nog" guillotines "Big Tim". Nogueira once again proved that he can absorb more damage than a crash test dummy, being dominated on the feet and at one point even dropped by the "Maine-iac" Tim Sylvia. All Nogueira needed was one little opening to capitalize on, and a minute and a half into the third round of abuse, he found it. Sylvia needed only feel the smothering force of Nogueira's guillotine for about one second before he knew he had to tap. As a reward for the win, Nogueira became the interim heavyweight champion of the UFC, and will be a coach on "TUF" this fall against Frank Mir. Sylvia went on to leave the UFC, and will now face a man that beaten Nogueira twice and is considered to be the best heavyweight of all-time, Fedor Emelianenko.

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