Daniel Cormier rose to the occasion at UFC 187. | Photo: Christian Peterson/UFC/Zuffa/Getty
Daniel Cormier made the most of his second chance.
Meanwhile, Chris Weidman did his best to convince any remaining doubters to join his team in the evening’s co-main event, as he stopped Vitor Belfort with ground-and-pound 2:53 into the opening round of their middleweight title tilt. The Serra-Longo Fight Team product survived an early flurry from “The Phenom” before taking his opponent down for the emphatic finish. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 187, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
70: Total strikes landed by Cormier. By comparison, Johnson landed 28 total strikes. While both light heavyweights landed 12 total strikes in round one, Cormier dominated thereafter, outlanding Johnson 44 to 12 in round two and 14 to 4 in round three.
3: Takedowns landed, in eight attempts, by Cormier.
3: Takedowns landed by Johnson foes in his 14 prior UFC appearances.
0-3: Johnson’s record in UFC competition when he is taken down. Only Cormier, Josh Koscheck (UFC 106) and Rich Clementi (UFC 76) have been able to ground “Rumble” in the Octagon.
11: Knockdowns landed by Johnson inside the Octagon, tying him with Thiago Alves for sixth most in UFC history. The Blackzilians standout floored Cormier in the opening stanza to move past Rich Franklin on the promotion’s all-time list. “Rumble” is one of only eight fighters to have 10 or more knockdowns in UFC competition.
3: Submissions attempted by Cormier, the last of which was a fight-ending rear-naked choke in the third round. In 13 previous Ultimate Fighting Championship and Strikeforce bouts tracked by FightMetric.com, Cormier had only attempted two submissions total. Both of those came against Dan Henderson at UFC 173, a fight the new light heavyweight champ also won via rear-naked choke.
9: Consecutive victories for Weidman, the second longest active streak in the UFC. His win over Belfort moved him past Demetrious Johnson (8) and Donald Cerrone (8). Only suspended light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (12) has a longer streak.
560: Days since Belfort’s last Octagon appearance, a first-round knockout of Dan Henderson at UFC Fight Night in November 2013.
1-4: Record for Belfort in title fights following his loss to Weidman. “The Phenom” has also fallen to Randy Couture, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones in championship bouts.
43: Significant ground strikes landed by Weidman, who took Belfort down and ended the fight with a ferocious volley of ground-and-pound 2:53 into round one. All told, Weidman held a 46-to-18 edge in significant strikes.
143: Combined significant strikes landed by Donald Cerrone and John Makdessi in their lightweight matchup. Makdessi landed 72 of 129 attempts, while Cerrone connected on 71 of 171 significant strikes. “Cowboy” won the fight via technical knockout when a head kick apparently broke Makdessi’s jaw at the 4:44 mark of round two.
23: Significant leg strikes landed by Cerrone. By comparison, Makdessi landed 13.
34: Significant body strikes landed by Makdessi; Cerrone landed 5.
43: Significant head strikes for Cerrone. Meanwhile, Makdessi landed 25.
820: Significant strikes landed by Cerrone, who passed Frankie Edgar (767) and moved into No. 3 among lightweights all-time. Only Evan Dunham (863) and Sam Stout (988) have landed more.
11: Finishes for Andrei Arlovski in UFC competition, tying him with Gabriel Gonzaga for second in promotion history among heavyweights behind only Frank Mir (12). Arlovski stopped Travis Browne with punches 4:41 into the opening round of a wild heavyweight tussle.
9: Knockouts in UFC competition for Arlovski, tying him with Cain Velasquez for most among heavyweights in the Las Vegas-based promotion.
10: Knockdowns landed by Arlovski in UFC competition, tying him with Anthony Johnson for No. 5 among active fighters. Only Thiago Alves (11), Junior dos Santos (12), Lyoto Machida (13) and Anderson Silva (17) have more. The Jackson-Wink MMA representative landed one knockdown against Browne.
36: Significant strikes by which Arlovski outlanded Browne in their bout. “The Pitbull” landed 51 of 85 significant strikes, a 60 percent success rate. Browne, meanwhile, went 15 for 38, a 39-percent clip.
7: UFC flyweight triumphs for Joseph Benavidez following his unanimous decision win over John Moraga. That is the second most in the division behind only reigning 125-pound king Demetrious Johnson, who has eight.
17: Takedowns successfully defended, in 17 attempts by John Dodson in his flyweight bout against Zach Makovsky. Dodson, meanwhile, landed two of three takedowns en route to earning a three-round verdict.
135: Total strikes landed by Dong Hyun Kim in his unanimous decision triumph over Josh Burkman. By comparison, Burkman landed just 21. Kim did most of his damage in round two, when he trapped Burkman on the canvas and outlanded his foe 105-to-5 in total strikes.
16: Total strikes by which Rafael Natal outlanded Uriah Hall in their middleweight showdown. The Brazilian attacked with much greater frequency, attempting 125 total strikes to Hall’s 78.
111: Significant strikes by which Justin Scoggins has outlanded his opponents – Joshua Sampo (64 to 35), Will Campuzano (61 to 4), Richie Vaculik (27 to 2) -- in three UFC triumphs. The American Top Team product captured a unanimous decision triumph over Sampo on Saturday to halt a two-fight losing streak.