Twister downs ‘Kilapino’

In pro wrestling, the clinching hold is known as the finisher. In mixed martial arts (MMA), it’s the submission move. Whatever it’s called, the maneuver that forces a tap-out or surrender is deadly.

The abdominal stretch is one of pro wrestling’s dreaded finishers. It’s a kind of a corkscrew twist where you stretch an opponent’s lower body with a leg triangle lock towards one direction and you crank the neck to turn the upper body towards the other direction. If an opponent doesn’t cry uncle on time, his or her neck could get broken or the spine could crack in two. In mixed martial arts, the counterpart move is the twister, essentially the same as the abdominal stretch, only it’s performed on the ground. The submission tactic is also called the cobra twist or the guillotine or the spine lock. In pro wrestling, the abdominal stretch is often clamped from a standing position.

Wilbur Snyder, a former football player who was a pro wrestler from 1953 to 1969, is widely considered the creator of the abdominal stretch, his signature move. He was often referred to as one of the most scientific matmen ever. Other pro wrestlers who employed the abdominal stretch were Dick Hutton and Danny Hodge.

In MMA, the twister is rarely executed because it’s not easy to perform. In 2011, Chan Sung Jung (The Korean Zombie) did it to Leonard Garcia and it went down in history as the first twister ever to finish a fight in UFC history. Jung said he borrowed a page from Brazilian jiu jitsu expert Eddie Bravo’s stylebook to perform the twister.

According to Nate Wilcox in SBNation, Gerard Strebendt executed the first twister finish in MMA history when he did it to Dave Eliott in 2004. Jason Chambers also went to the twister in defeating Billy Stamp in 2005. Shayna Baszler took to the twister in trouncing Keiko Tamai at EliteXC in 2008. In 2009, Shuichiro Katsumura used a twister variation called the exorcist.

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Wilcox said Bravo, an American, wrote an entire book on the submission move called “Mastering the Twister.” Wilcox noted, “The twister of the title is a neck crank submission Bravo brought to jiu jitsu from wrestling where it’s known as the guillotine. As a beginning jiu jitsu student under Jean Jacques Machado, Bravo built his entire game around this submission since he’d mastered it as a wrestler and few of his jiu jitsu opponents were aware of it.”

Last November, Vancouver-born Angela Lee introduced the twister to ONE Championship in Singapore and her victim was half-Filipina Natalie Gonzales Hills. Lee’s father was born in Singapore and mother in South Korea. She’s based in Hawaii.

Hills started her pro MMA career auspiciously, halting Samantha Manderson with a rear naked choke in the third round of a Brace For War (BFW) bill in Australia in 2012. She went on to beat Lizza Gebilagin, also with a rear naked choke, in another BFW card in 2014. Hills scaled 110 pounds for Manderson and 105 for Gebilagin. In women’s MMA, the 110-pound division is called the catchweight and the 105-pound, the atomweight.

Hills, dubbed the “Kilapino” (for “killer” and “Filipino”), has since lost three in a row after starting off at 2-0. Curiously, she fought her last three fights as a strawweight with a limit of 115 pounds. Hills, 27, was recently signed to a contract by ONE Championship and will now campaign strictly as an atomweight.

Hills took her loss to Lee in stride, particularly as before the twister came, “Kilapino” appeared to be dominating. Hills got the better of the striking exchanges with Lee then made the fatal error of taking her down to the ground. Hills was initially on top of Lee but the situation was quickly reversed. Lee, who’s more experienced in the ground-and-pound style, knew Hills would be at a disadvantage on the canvas. Hills tried to buck and bridge herself out of trouble, managed to get Lee to disengage but couldn’t get back on her feet. Lee dove at Hills and took a half-guard then went for a side headlock. As Hills desperately tried to wiggle out of trouble, Lee executed the twister.

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“I knew Angela’s ground game was stronger but when I got the takedown, I was in top position and I was supposed to finish it from there,” said Hills, who was born in San Antonio, Cavite to a Filipina mother and an English father, in a quote by Carlos Cinco. “I respect her ground game. She won by submission but I felt I could have won if I hadn’t made the mistake of following Lee to the ground. I felt my neck was trapped and I tried to turn in and at that point, I knew the twister was already on. I used the wrong escape and it was too late. While I know it’s easy to say what could have happened after the fight but I feel that when I was winning the exchanges and my strikes were landing, she was out of her comfort zone on the feet.”

Hills has a university degree in history and literature. Once a “nomad ninja” traveling the world before settling in Australia, she began training in MMA at the age of eight. She has an office job working 34 hours a week and is also a personal trainer. Hills works out early in the morning or in the evening around her office hours.

Hills’ first discipline is muay thai then karate, MMA, Brazilian jiu jitsu, capoeira (a Brazilian martial art combining the elements of dance, acrobatics and music) and Filipino arnis. She learned muay thai in Thailand and for three months in 2011, mastered arnis under her “punong guru” Henry Cerilla training thrice a day. In 2013, Hills returned to the Philippines and stayed for two months immersing herself more in arnis and yawyan with Arnis Eskrima De Cavite becoming her second home.

Aside from Fil-Am Ana Julaton, local MMA fans are now drawn to cheering for Hills who’s proud of her Filipino heritage. “I would be honored to gain a following in the Philippines,” said Hills. “My mother always told me I was stubborn, ‘matigas ang ulo’ or in Chavacano, ‘duro cabeza.’ It’s true. I take that attitude into my fighting. I’m very aggressive and keep pushing forward. I also have the Filipino flag tattooed on my elbow and on my wrists, I have the words ‘Kilalanin mo ang iyong sarili, Igalang mo ang iyong sarili’ to remind me of my roots and to keep me grounded.”

Although she’s coming off three losses in a row, Hills is far from finished as an MMA fighter. She’ll learn from her mistakes and with her decision to campaign as an atomweight from now on, the future is just opening up for the “Kilapino.”