By the Numbers: UFC 235

Tristen CritchfieldMar 02, 2019

It was just another night at the office for Jon Jones, which meant it was a very bad night for Anthony Smith.

“Bones” cruised to a methodical five-round verdict over Smith in the UFC 235 headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. It wasn’t Jones’ most spectacular victory, but he was never threatened either, even as he spotted his foe a two-point deduction for an illegal knee in the fourth frame. Jones’ unbeaten streak is now at 16, dating back to his DQ loss to Matt Hamill in Dec. 2009.

Meanwhile, Kamaru Usman ushered in a new era in the welterweight division, claiming the 170-pound title with a dominant five-round triumph over Tyron Woodley in the evening’s co-main event. Usman accumulated some eye-popping totals in ending his opponent’s seven-fight unbeaten streak and four-fight title reign.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 235, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.

12: Victories in championship fights for Jones, tying him with former flyweight king Demetrious Johnson for the second-most in UFC history. Only the recently retired Georges St. Pierre (13) has more.

193: Total strikes by which Jones (238) outlanded Smith (45), the largest differential for a UFC light heavyweight title fight. The previous record of 160 occurred during Randy Couture’s (194) victory over Tito Ortiz (34) at UFC 44.

125: Significant strikes landed by Jones. The distribution: 45 to the head, 35 to the body and 45 to the legs. Jones also landed 31 significant strikes in the clinch and 30 on the ground, while Smith landed five and zero, respectively.

1,300: Career significant strikes landed by Jones, who moved from No. 10 to No. 7 all-time in that category thanks to his performance on Saturday night.

3: Takedowns landed, in eight attempts, by Jones. That’s tied for the second-most takedowns Jones has landed in any UFC bout. He landed a career-high seven against Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94.

10: UFC welterweight champions after Usman vanquished Woodley to claim the throne in the evening’s co-main event. In addition to Usman and Woodley, Pat Miletich, Carlos Newton, Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn, St. Pierre, Matt Serra, Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler have all held the 170-pound belt.

336: Total strikes landed by Usman. The new champion outlanded Woodley (60 total strikes) by 276 strikes over the course of five rounds, the largest differential for a title fight in UFC history.

192: Body strikes landed by Usman, a UFC record for a single bout.

107: Significant strikes by which Usman (141) outlanded Woodley (34). That’s the sixth-largest significant strike differential in UFC title fight history.

10: Consecutive triumphs for Usman, the fourth-longest active winning streak in the promotion behind Max Holloway (13), Khabib Nurmagomedov (11) and Tony Ferguson (11).

26: Significant strikes landed by Robbie Lawler in a bizarre welterweight matchup with Ben Askren, who failed to land a significant strike. “Ruthless” appeared on the verge of a finish after slamming his foe and unloading with ground-and-pound early, only to see Askren survive and win via controversial submission.

19: Straight pro wins for Weili Zhang, who improved to 3-0 in UFC competition with a decision win over Tecia Torres in a featured strawweight tilt.

117: Total strikes landed by Zhang. By comparison, Torres landed just 33. That included a 61-to-11 advantage in the final stanza, when Zhang took her foe down and punished her with ground-and-pound for more than two minutes.

6: Finishes in UFC competition for Pedro Munhoz following his first-round TKO of Cody Garbrandt. That ties him with Urijah Faber for the second-most finishes in the history of the bantamweight division. Only T.J. Dillashaw (eight) has more.

3: Consecutive KO/TKO defeats for Garbrandt after beginning his professional career with 11 straight victories.

5: Consecutive victories for Zabit Magomedsharipov following his unanimous verdict against Jeremy Stephens. That gives him the second-longest active winning streak in the featherweight division behind only reigning champion Holloway.

15: Career losses in the Octagon for Stephens, the most in UFC history. “Lil Heathen” now also has 11 defeats via decision, also a promotion record.

6:05:23: Total fight time for Jeremy Stephens, No. 3 all-time in UFC history behind only Michael Bisping (6:05:33) and Frankie Edgar (6:47:33). Stephens logged 15 minutes of Octagon time in his loss to Magomedsharipov.

29: Significant strikes by which Magomedsharipov outlanded Stephens. The Dagestani also landed the only three takedowns of the featherweight fight.

6: Fighters in UFC history to begin their careers with three consecutive first-round knockout victories. Johnny Walker became the sixth with his flying knee KO of Misha Cirkunov in their preliminary light heavyweight bout.

4: Light heavyweights with two finishes in UFC competition in less than one minute. By finishing Cirkunov in 36 seconds, Walker joins Ilir Latifi, Volkan Oezdemir and Anthony Johnson in this select group. Walker was coming off a 15-second stoppage of Justin Ledet at UFC Fight Night 144.

2: Light heavyweights in UFC history to earn a finish via flying knee. Before Walker joined the party, James Irvin, with his knockout of Terry Martin at UFC 54, was the only competitor to earn such a win.

18: UFC wins for Diego Sanchez, tied with Matt Hughes and Jim Miller for the fifth-most all-time. Only Donald Cerrone (22), Bisping (20), St. Pierre (20) and Demian Maia (20) have won more.

3,906: Days since Sanchez’s last finish in the Octagon, during his TKO stoppage of Luigi Fioravanti at “The Ultimate Fighter 7” finale on June 21, 2008. The New Mexico native defeated Mickey Gall via second-round TKO on Saturday in their welterweight encounter.

39: Significant ground strikes for Sanchez. By comparison, Gall landed just six.

7: Takedowns landed by Sanchez in his last two bouts, which were wins over Gall and Craig White. That’s as many as “The Nightmare” landed in his previous 12 UFC fights dating back to 2011. Sanchez’s four takedowns against Gall are the most his landed in a single fight since landing five in a win against Nick Diaz at “The Ultimate Fighter 2” finale in 2005.

987: Days since a UFC middleweight earned a KO/TKO victory in less than a minute, when Krzysztof Jotko stopped Tamdan McCrory in 59 seconds at UFC Fight Night 89. Edmen Shahbazyan became the first 185-pounder since then to accomplish the feat, stopping Charles Byrd in their preliminary matchup with elbows and punches in just 38 seconds.

1:49: Time of Macy Chiasson’s technical knockout of Gina Mazany in their preliminary bantamweight bout. That ranks as the fifth-fastest KO/TKO win in UFC women’s bantamweight history. The first four: Ronda Rousey (0:16 vs. Alexis Davis at UFC 175), Rousey (0:34 vs. Bethe Correia at UFC 190), Amanda Nunes (0:48 vs. Rousey at UFC 207) and Rousey (1:06 vs. Sara McMann at UFC 170).