Conor McGregor's rise has been meteoric. | Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa/UFC/Getty
Despite the lack of a true eye-catching headliner, UFC 178 was a smashing success.
Oh, and Demetrious Johnson didn’t do so bad either, making short work of Chris Cariaso in the evening’s official main event. It was a card that lived up to -- and exceeded -- the hype. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 178, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
Related: Matches to Make After UFC 178
5: Consecutive flyweight title defenses for Johnson. The promotion’s only 125-pound king has bested John Dodson, John Moraga, Joseph Benavidez, Ali Bagautinov and Cariaso during his reign.
603: Significant strikes landed by Johnson at flyweight, most of anyone in the division. “Mighty Mouse” outlanded Cariaso 27 to 6 in significant strikes.
7: Consecutive victories for “Mighty Mouse,” the most in the history of the 125-pound weight class. That is also the third-longest active streak among all UFC fighters, behind Jon Jones (11) and Chris Weidman (8).
12: Lightweight victories for Cerrone, No. 3 among all 155-pounders in the UFC behind Jim Miller (13) and Gleison Tibau (15).
8: Knockdowns landed by Cerrone in his UFC career, tying him with Yves Edwards, Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza for No. 2 among all lightweights. The World Extreme Cagefighting veteran was credited with a knockdown in the third round of his bout with Alvarez after battering his foe with a steady diet of leg kicks.
88: significant strikes landed by Cerrone, most of anyone on the UFC 178 card. By comparison, Alvarez landed 48 significant strikes. The former Bellator MMA lightweight king outlanded Cerrone 23-19 in round one, but “Cowboy” held a 27-to-16 edge in round two and 42-to-9 in the final stanza.
26: Significant strikes to the legs landed by Cerrone. By comparison, Alvarez landed two.
28: Significant strikes to the body landed by Cerrone. Alvarez, meanwhile, landed 10.
655: Career Significant strikes landed by Cerrone, who moved past Benson Henderson (597), Spencer Fisher (599), Nate Diaz (611) and B.J. Penn (640) to No. 4 among all UFC lightweights on Saturday night. Evan Dunham is No. 3 with 711 significant strikes landed.
12: First-round finishes for McGregor, who knocked out Poirier 1:46 into the initial stanza of their featherweight tilt. “The Notorious” Irishman has also finished Marcus Brimage and Diego Brandao inside of a round in the Octagon.
55: Combined significant strikes landed by McGregor’s four UFC opponents. Poirier, who outlanded his Irish foe 10-9 in the abbreviated scrap, became the first person to land more significant strikes than McGregor in the Octagon. Overall, “The Notorious” holds a 101-to-55 edge in significant strikes on his four UFC adversaries.
28: Days until UFC 179, where McGregor is expected to fly to Rio de Janeiro to witness the featherweight title clash between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.
3: Victories by KO/TKO in the third round in UFC competition for Yoel Romero, who defeated Tim Kennedy via technical knockout 58 seconds into the third stanza of their middleweight encounter. Randy Couture has five such finishes, the most in promotion history.
16: Significant strikes by which Kennedy outlanded Romero in round two. The Jackson-Wink MMA product appeared to be on the verge of a stoppage when the bell sounded to end the frame.
17: Significant strike advantage for Romero in the final period. After a delayed start to the round, the American Top Team representative dropped Kennedy twice and put him away with punches on the canvas.
93: Total strikes landed by Cat Zingano in her technical knockout triumph against Amanda Nunes. The Colorado native put Nunes away with ground-and-pound 1:21 into the final frame, her second third-round stoppage in as many UFC appearances. By comparison, Nunes landed 36 total strikes in the bantamweight clash.
26: Combined significant strike advantage for Zingano in the third rounds of her two UFC bouts. “Alpha” outlanded Nunes 17-0 on Saturday and also held a 10-to-1 edge in significant strikes against Miesha Tate at “The Ultimate Fighter 17” finale.
32: Total strikes landed by Nunes in round one, when she battered Zingano with heavy leather from top position.
4: Total strikes landed by Nunes in rounds two and three combined. Zingano, meanwhile, landed 79 of her 93 total strikes during that time.
Related: UFC 178 Video -- Cruz Beats Down Mizugaki
1,092: Days since Dominick Cruz’s last Octagon appearance, a five-round unanimous decision victory over Demetrious Johnson in a bantamweight title defense at UFC Live 6. The Alliance MMA representative returned to action on Saturday in emphatic fashion, scoring a first-round TKO victory over the world-ranked Takeya Mizugaki.
10: Combined bantamweight victories in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and WEC for Cruz, tying him with Scott Jorgensen for most wins within the two promotions.
24: Significant strikes by which Cruz outlanded Mizugaki during their 61 seconds in the Octagon. A fearsome volley of unanswered right hands put an end to the bout shortly after it began.
9: Octagon appearances without being finished for Mizugaki before falling to Cruz in his 10th promotional outing at UFC 178. The last person to finish the Japanese bantamweight inside the distance was Uriah Faber, who tapped Mizugaki with a rear-naked choke in the opening stanza at WEC 52.
4: Consecutive victories for Stephen Thompson, tying him with Neil Magny and Ryan LaFlare for the longest active streak in the welterweight division. Thompson earned his fourth straight victory by outpointing Patrick Cote in a preliminary 170-pound affair.
0: Takedowns landed, in eight attempts, by Cote. The Canadian’s career takedown success rate in the UFC is 20 percent.
5: Fighters to earn victories in three different weight classes in the UFC. Manny Gamburyan became the fifth with his second-round guillotine choke submission of Cody Gibson at bantamweight. “The Anvil” also owns wins at lightweight and featherweight in the Octagon.