The Continental Submission Series, the sub-only promotion that banned all lower-body submissions 18 months ago in what it called a “landmark step for athlete welfare,” announced Thursday that its August 14 flagship card will be headlined by Darian “The Mortician” Hoeft, a 31-year-old Colorado Springs grappler whose 26 of 28 professional wins have come via the banned techniques.
Hoeft, who has not tapped an opponent with an upper-body submission since a rear naked choke at a Holiday Inn Express in Dayton, Ohio, in November 2019, trains at Altitude Grappling under coach Ramiro Salcedo. His signature finishing sequence, a rolling entry to kneebar that his gym has trademarked under the name “The Eulogy,” has ended more careers than anyone in the sport at this level. His last nine opponents left the mat on crutches. Three of them left in Ubers.
The CSS enacted its leg lock ban in February 2025. Executive director Todd Wengler, 44, of Scottsdale, Arizona, said at the time that the decision followed “a thorough, science-based audit of competitive safety outcomes at the highest levels of submission grappling.” The resulting white paper, titled Protecting the Athlete: A Framework for Sustainable Competition, ran 2,400 words and cited, by name, Darian Hoeft fourteen times.
“The data was unambiguous,” Wengler wrote in the white paper’s executive summary. “A small number of competitors are exploiting heel hooks, kneebars, and toeholds to inflict injuries that end careers. We have a duty of care. These techniques have no place in our events.”
The white paper is still live on the CSS website. There is a photo of Wengler looking thoughtful next to a paragraph that quotes Hoeft’s finish rate with visible concern.
On Thursday, in the second bullet point of a press release headlined “AUGUST SHOWDOWN: FULL CARD REVEALED,” Wengler announced Hoeft would headline the event against Marcus Devereux, 26, of Austin, Texas.
The press release described Hoeft as “one of the most technically refined grapplers competing today.” It did not mention the white paper. It did not mention the leg lock ban. It mentioned, at length, that August 14 tickets start at $45 and that the event would take place at the Copper Ridge Events Center in Phoenix, which has “ample free parking.”
Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Wengler was prepared.
“Darian is absolutely aware of the ruleset going into this event, and we expect him to showcase a different dimension of his game,” Wengler said. “This is, in many ways, the ideal test case for what we’ve been trying to build. A competitor of his caliber, forced to demonstrate range. That’s compelling. That’s what sub-only should be.”
When asked to name a submission Hoeft has hit in the last two years that didn’t involve a leg, Wengler paused for a moment and said he’d have to check the record.
Hoeft’s coach, Ramiro Salcedo, was easier to reach. He picked up on the second ring.
“We don’t drill upper-body stuff,” Salcedo said. “Why would we? Darian’s a lower-body guy. His entry timing is surgical. You can’t teach that. We’ve spent five years building something really special around that wheelhouse, and now they’re telling him he can’t use it? That’s funny to me. That’s genuinely funny.”
Salcedo paused.
“He’s still gonna do it. He’s going to forget. You get in there and you’re rolling and your hands just go. It’s muscle memory. I told him: try to remember. But, you know. We’ll see.”
Hoeft’s main event opponent, Marcus Devereux, did not respond to a request for comment. Hoeft had eliminated him from the 2024 Western Grappling Open with a heel hook in fourteen seconds. Devereux spent the following six months in physical therapy. The two have not been in the same building since. Devereux’s coach, speaking on background, called the booking “a lot to process.”
The leg lock ban was not popular when it came down. Grapplers said it was an overreach. A purple belt from Fresno who runs a podcast called The Kneebar Report dedicated an entire episode to reading the white paper aloud in an increasingly agitated voice. The consensus was pretty clear: leg locks were a real and established part of the sport, and the CSS was trying to sanitize it for an audience that didn’t exist yet.
Wengler had responses to all of this in 2025. He went on three podcasts. He said “duty of care” forty-seven times across those three appearances, which was tracked by the same purple belt from Fresno.
Asked Thursday whether the Hoeft booking meant the promotion was reversing course on leg locks, Wengler pushed back.
“Absolutely not. The rules haven’t changed. Leg locks remain prohibited. This booking is fully consistent with our safety framework because Darian will not be using leg locks at this event.” He then added: “We’re actually planning a Leg Lock Safety Summit in October where we’ll have a real, nuanced conversation about the future of lower-body attacks in competition. Darian has agreed to be the keynote.”
Hoeft confirmed this by text. He added three skull emojis.
The August 14 card also features four undercard bouts, a vendor expo, and what the press release describes as “a special fan appreciation segment during intermission, details TBA.” Tickets for front-row VIP include a meet-and-greet with the main event fighters and a commemorative CSS water bottle.
At Thursday’s press conference, held in the lobby of the Copper Ridge Events Center, Hoeft arrived in a black hoodie, shook hands with Wengler in front of a CSS step-and-repeat banner, and said all the correct things about being excited to compete at the highest level and showcasing his full game.
As the press conference wrapped, a reporter from a local sports outlet asked Hoeft directly whether he planned to comply with the no-leg-lock rule.
Hoeft thought about it for a moment.
“Yeah,” he said. “For sure. One hundred percent.” He nodded. “Are those just for me, or everyone?”
Wengler, standing three feet away, stared at the middle distance.
Tickets are available at continentalsubmissionseries.com. Ample free parking.