The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 239 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.
Jon Jones remains on top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight division, but his latest victory came by the slightest of margins.
“Bones” retained his light heavyweight belt with a split-decision triumph over a very game Thiago Santos in the UFC 239 headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Jones absorbed some heavy leg kicks and needed to be helped from the Octagon, which played a large part in Santos being able to be the first opponent to take a scorecard from the champion.
Meanwhile, Amanda Nunes continues to stake her claim as the top female fighter of all time, as she knocked out ex-champ Holly Holm with a head kick 4:10 into the opening frame in the evening’s co-main event. After successfully defending her bantamweight crown, “Lioness” has designs on defending the 145-pound belt next.
Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 239, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.
13: Victories in title fights for Jones, tying him with Georges St. Pierre for the most in UFC history.
59: Significant strikes landed by Jones. By comparison, Santos landed 43. Jones outlanded his foe 11 to 7 in round two, 14 to 6 in round three, 11 to 8 in round four and 16 to 11 in round five. Santos, meanwhile, held an 11-to-7 edge the opening stanza.
.650: Significant striking accuracy for Jones, who landed 59 of 90 attempts. Santos struggled to find the range against his taller foe, landing 43 of 166 attempts for a 25 percent success rate.
32: Significant leg strikes landed by Jones. Santos, meanwhile, landed 27.
16: Significant body strikes for Jones; Santos landed seven.
1: Takedown attempted by Jones in the fight, which was unsuccessful. Santos did not attempt a takedown.
6: Victories in title fights for Nunes after her first-round stoppage of Holly Holm, tying her with Ronda Rousey and Joanna Jedrzejczyk for most wins with a belt on the line.
11: Victories in UFC competition for Nunes, tying her with Jessica Andrade for the most triumphs by a fighter in the Las Vegas-based promotion.
3: Knockdowns landed by Nunes in 5:01 of cage time in her last two fights, wins over Holm and Cristiane Justino.
0:05: Official time of Jorge Masvidal’s flying knee knockout of Ben Askren in their featured welterweight clash, making it the fastest knockout in UFC history. Duane Ludwig’s recognized six-second knockout of Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 3 in January 2006 was the previous fastest.
3: Significant strikes landed by Masvidal in victory. In addition to the devastating flying knee that knocked Askren unconscious, “Gamebred” landed a pair of follow-up punches on the canvas. 23: Significant strikes landed by Jan Blachowicz at distance in a second-round knockout win over Luke Rockhold. Rockhold spent much of the fight attempting to work in the clinch, but he just outlanded his opponent by a 5-to-4 count in that area.
0: Takedowns landed in five attempts by Rockhold, who was making his first 205-pound appearance.
40: Significant strikes by which Michael Chiesa outlanded Diego Sanchez in a dominant decision triumph at welterweight. “Maverick” also held a 98-to-23 edge in total strikes.
5: Takedowns landed in six attempts by Chiesa, who also passed guard eight times. Sanchez landed one of two takedowns and passed guard once.
38: Significant ground strikes landed by Chiesa, who landed 47 significant strikes overall. Sanchez landed just four significant strikes on the floor.
6:08:58: Total Octagon time for Diego Sanchez, who is No. 3 all time. By spending 15 minutes in the Octagon on Saturday, “The Ultimate Fighter 1” winner surpassed B.J. Penn (5:56:17), Rafael dos Anjos (6:03:11), Jeremy Stephens (6:05:23) and Michael Bisping (6:05:33). Frankie Edgar is still No. 1 all-time at 6:47:33, while Demian Maia is second at 6:18:12.
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6: Consecutive victories for Arnold Allen, the second-longest active streak in the UFC featherweight division behind only reigning champion Max Holloway (12).
4: Featherweights to start their UFC career with a 6-0 mark. On Saturday, Allen joined Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor and Yair Rodriguez in that select group.
102: Significant strikes landed by Allen. By comparison, Melendez landed 23. Allen landed at a 53 percent rate, while Melendez connected at just a 20 percent clip.
0-5: Record for Melendez in UFC competition since 2014. During that prolonged slump, the former Strikeforce champion has fallen to Allen, Jeremy Stephens, Edson Barboza, Eddie Alvarez and Anthony Pettis.
6: Finishes in UFC competition for Marlon Vera following his second-round submission of short-notice foe Nohelin Hernandez at bantamweight. That ties him with Urijah Faber and Pedro Munhoz for the second-most finishes in the history of the division behind former champion T.J. Dillashaw (eight).
4: Consecutive finishes for Vera, tying him with Paulo Henrique Costa for the fourth-longest active streak in the UFC. Gregor Gillespie, Vicente Luque and Charles Oliveira are tied for first with five straight finishes.
4: Consecutive victories for Vera, tying him with Aljamain Sterling for the second-longest winning streak at 135 pounds. Russian contender Petr Yan has the longest winning streak with five.
6: Strawweight victories for Claudia Gadelha, tying her with Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres for third-most in the history of the division. Only Joanna Jedrzejczyk (nine) and Jessica Andrade (seven) have won more.
15: Significant strikes by which Gadelha outlanded (40 to 25) Markos. In her previous three promotional appearances, the Brazilian was outlanded by a combined margin of 280 to 117.
9: First-round finishes in 10 professional bouts for Dana White’s Contender Series alum Edmen Shahbazyan, who dispatched Jack Marshman with a rear-naked choke 72 seconds into their middleweight preliminary bout. The 21-year-old has only been past the opening stanza once in his career, when he took a split-decision triumph over Darren Stewart in his professional debut at “The Ultimate Fighter 28” finale.
4: Significant strikes landed by Chance Rencountre in a three-round verdict over Ismail Naurdiev at welterweight. By comparison, Naurdiev landed 21 significant strikes. The total strike totals were closer, as Naurdiev held a 56-to-48 edge. Both fighters landed two takedowns in the contest.
9:52: Total time spent in top position for Rencountre, a major reason he was able to secure the nod from the cageside judges.