Can someone explain to me how the submission is suppose to work?
Not that i'm very good at it, but i'm having some success with the following (this is for when you're performing the submission) ......
When the circular min-game appears, give a little push (don't rotate) either left or right with the right stick to get the process started (for this example imagine we've pressed right), as your slider moves clockwise to the right, the cpu slider will move clockwise to the left. Now, before the cpu slider has a chance to stop, you briefly press left on the right stick, you should either begin to overlap the cpu slider or at least almost do so - at this stage its like a see-saw. The cpu will 'counter' you by moving its slider to the right, at which stage you do the same.
I'm not sure if i've explained it well, but its an odd system. Also, the sliders have momentum - if you push for too long in a direction, you tend to lose control and pretty much have no chance.
I played many iron man matches on easy against General Adnan until I figured out the above, by the end of my sessions I was able to submit him 6 times in one match! I had no success whatsoever before my marathon practice session, so as boring as it sounds it really is a case of playing match after match until it clicks, even then its still not a great system.
PS. The post above by TheVisualizer is helpful too.