Fight Facts is a breakdown of all the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references, and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.
A Strange New Era Has Begun
Pulling off the massive upset, Sean Strickland claimed the middleweight strap from Israel Adesanya by decision. He becomes the sixth UFC 185-pound kingpin from the United States, which is still the fewest for any division north of featherweight. Across their five-round encounter, Strickland connected with 137 significant strikes while registering the first knockdown that Adesanya had ever suffered in the Octagon. Strickland’s total of 982 at the middleweight division puts him just seven behind the fourth-most in Robert Whittaker.
Nowhere Close to the Biggest Upset in UFC History
As a +475 underdog, the challenger sprang the third-largest betting upset in the UFC this year. The top spot goes to +600 Alexa Grasso over Valentina Shevchenko(-900), while Elves Brener at +500 beating Guram Kutateladze (-650) is also above that. In the second round, Alexander Volkov landed an Ezekiel choke on Tai Tuivasa. He became the third fighter in UFC history – joining Remco Pardoel and Alexey Oleynik – to perform this submission.
Volkov elevated his career finish rate to 76% by tapping out the Aussie. It marked his first submission since he hit a triangle choke on Denis Smoldarev at an M-1 Challenge event in 2016. After three hard-fought rounds, Manel Kape and Felipe dos Santos scored “Fight of the Night” honors while Kape earned the nod on the scorecards. “Starboy” picked up just his third career victory by decision, with two of those three coming in his last two fights.
Maori Might: Justin Tafa smeared Austen Lane in 82 seconds in their rematch. The Aussie has earned all seven of his pro victories by knockout, with five coming in under two minutes. Not counting his no contest, 15 of the 16 pro outings for Lane have concluded by knockout. The lone fight ending via submission came when he tapped Brad Taylor with a rear-naked choke in 2021.
No Pleasure for the Pleasure Man: Keeping his 100% finish rate intact by smoking Anton Turkalj with punches in the first round, Tyson Pedro has now performed an equal number of knockouts to submissions (five apiece). All 10 of his pro victories have concluded in the first round. Courtesy of replay, Carlos Ulberg earned a late third-round rear-naked choke win over Da Woon Jung. The Kiwi had never before performed a submission, and he had never finished a fighter later than the second round.