As Marvin Vettori knocks on the door to contention in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division, a proven commodity stands in his way.
Vettori on Saturday will put his three-fight winning streak on the line when he toes the line against Jack Hermansson in the UFC on ESPN 19 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The former Venator Fighting Championship titleholder enters his high-stakes duel with Hermansson on the heels of back-to-back-to-back victories over Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez and Karl Roberson. In fact, Vettori has not tasted defeat since he dropped a split decision to current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC on Fox 29 nearly three years ago. Hermansson, meanwhile, has rattled off five victories across his past six appearances, a technical knockout loss to Jared Cannonier his only misstep. He last competed at UFC Fight Night 172, where he submitted Kelvin Gastelum with a heel hook just 78 seconds into their July 18 pairing.
As UFC on ESPN 19 approaches, a look at some of the numbers the fighters on the card have generated to this point:
6: Hermansson wins by submission. His methods of choice: two guillotine chokes, two rear-naked chokes, one armbar and one heel hook.
11: First-round stoppage victories on the Vettori resume, accounting for 73% of his career total (15). They include 67-, 73-, 91- and 94-second finishes.
37: Years of age for Ovince St. Preux. The oldest fighter on the card, he was born on April 8, 1983 in Immokalee, Florida. St. Preux faces Jamahal Hill in the UFC on ESPN 19 co-feature.
1: Regional championship on Hill’s mantle. He captured the Knockout Promotions light heavyweight title with a five-round unanimous decision over Dequan Townsend in June 2018—a little more than a year before he appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series and punched his ticket to the UFC.
15: Consecutive wins to start Taila Santos’ career. Her run as an undefeated fighter ended in her promotional debut, as she wound up on the wrong side of a split decision against Mara Romero Borella at UFC Fight Night 144 in 2019. Santos, now 16-1, draws Montana De La Rosa in her latest assignment.
63: Seconds needed for De La Rosa, 0-2 at the time, to submit Colby Fletcher with an armbar at an Xtreme Fighting League show on March 20, 2015 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It remains the fastest finish of her 17-fight career.
58: Combined victories between the four men—Andre Fili, Enrique Barzola, Sodiq Yusuff and Omar Morales—who have managed to defeat Gabriel Benitez in the UFC. Benitez finds himself pitted against Justin Jaynes in a three-round lightweight showcase.
3: Sub-minute finishes to Jaynes’ credit. The Xtreme Couture export punched out Justin Zeno in 35 seconds at Total Warrior Combat 18 on May 18, 2013, put away Marcus Lamarr with punches in 52 seconds under the Xplode Fight Series banner on July 11, 2015 and cut down Frank Camacho with punches in 41 seconds at UFC on ESPN 11 on June 20.
100: Percent finish rate for the unbeaten Roman Dolidze. He has delivered all seven of his professional victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Dolidze takes on John Allan in a featured clash at 205 pounds.
4: Submission losses on the Allan ledger. He tapped to a heel hook from Cesar Fabiano Rodrigues in 2012, bowed to a Thiago Florindo arm-triangle choke in 2015, fell prey to a Michal Fijalka rear-naked choke in 2016 and surrendered to a Vinicius Moreira Castro triangle choke in 2018.
2: Promotions in which Movsar Evloev has fought as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 10-0 in M-1 Global and 3-0 in the UFC. A main-card battle with Nate Landwehr awaits the undefeated Russian featherweight.
12: Takedowns defended by Landwehr in his unanimous decision over Darren Elkins at UFC on ESPN 8 in May. Elkins was a miserable 1-for-13 on his attempts.
23: Years of age for promising featherweight Ilia Topuria. The youngest fighter on the card, he was born on Jan. 21, 1997 in Halle, Germany. The German prospect looks to improve to 10-0 overall and 2-0 in the UFC when he meets Damon Jackson on the undercard.
.753: Cumulative winning percentage between the 22 fighters scheduled to compete at UFC on ESPN 19. They hold a combined record of 307-98-3. St. Preux owns the most wins (25) and most losses (14) of any fighter on the card.