Meet Nate Diaz, UFC lightweight title contender. In his third straight impressive performance since returning to the 155-pound division after a stint at welterweight, the Stockton, Calif., native outclassed Jim Miller in the UFC on Fox 3 main event on Saturday night.
With his high-volume boxing and active submission game, Diaz also fills up the MMA stat sheets. Not only is his evolution evident in his Octagon performance, it is also easily recognizable in post-fight analysis. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC on Fox 3, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
1: Opponents who have finished Jim Miller in 25 professional fights. Nate Diaz became the first person to submit the AMA Fight Club product when he locked in a guillotine choke at 4:09 of the second round in the UFC on Fox 3 main event. Miller’s previous three defeats -- Benson Henderson, Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar -- had all come via decision.
9: Post-fight bonuses for Diaz, who earned “Submission of the Night” for his efforts versus Miller. All told Diaz has won five “Fight of the Night” bonuses and four “Submission of the Night” awards during his UFC tenure.
97: Total strikes landed by Diaz in his victory over Miller -- 163 less than he landed in a unanimous decision victory against Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 in December. In that win, Diaz set a UFC record with 238 significant strikes landed. On Saturday, he connected on 46 significant strikes in less than two rounds.
717: Significant strikes landed in the 16-fight UFC career of Diaz, ranking the Cesar Gracie protégé sixth all-time in the promotion. Rich Franklin is No. 5 with 722.
19: Submissions attempted by Diaz, the 10th highest total in UFC history. Miller, who did not attempt a submission, is No. 2 with 27 submissions attempted in his career.
22: Body punches landed by Josh Koscheck in his split-decision defeat to Johny Hendricks. The former American Kickboxing Academy product connected on 18 of those strikes in round three, his most dominant frame of the fight. By comparison, Hendricks landed just three body shots over the course of 15 minutes.
26: Ground strikes landed by Koscheck in the final round, when he scored his only takedown of the fight and punished Hendricks with punches from half guard in the bout’s final minute.
40: Low kicks landed by Hendricks. The former NCAA champion from Oklahoma State University landed 16 leg strikes in round one and 21 in round two. Meanwhile, Koscheck connected on just four low kicks.
52: Clinch strikes landed by Hendricks; Koscheck landed just eight from that position.
.460: Striking accuracy for Hendricks, who landed 55 of his 120 significant strikes thrown against Koscheck. Coming into the bout, Hendricks significant striking accuracy of 54.6 percent was good for No. 9 all-time in the UFC.
0: Significant strikes landed by Rousimar Palhares in his first-round technical knockout loss to Alan Belcher. Overall, the Brazilian threw just two total strikes, while Belcher connected on 29 of 46 strikes, the majority of which came on the ground.
Lavar Johnson File photo
Johnson beat Barry down.
104: Significant strikes landed in Lavar Johnson’s first two UFC appearances -- victories over Pat Barry and Joey Beltran. That total is just 15 less than the number of significant strikes Johnson landed in his last five Strikeforce bouts combined.
67: Significant strikes landed by Michael Johnson in his unanimous decision triumph over Tony Ferguson. That total is the highest of Johnson’s UFC career; his previous best of 64 came against Shane Roller at UFC on Fox 2 in January.
14: Significant strike advantage for John Dodson in the first two frames of his flyweight encounter with Tim Elliott. The Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts representative outlanded Elliott 24 to 17 in round one and 25 to 18 in round two.
44: Significant strikes landed by Elliott in the final stanza -- nine more than he landed in the first and second rounds combined. By comparison, Dodson landed 31 significant strikes against Elliott in the third period.
21: Significant strike advantage for John Hathaway in the third round of his unanimous decision victory over Pascal Krauss. The Englishman connected on 55 of 96 total strikes thrown in the final frame and also landed one of his two takedowns in the fight.
409: Combined strikes thrown by Louis Gaudinot and John Lineker in their flyweight showdown. While Lineker outlanded the “TUF 14” alum 121 strikes to 94, it was Gaudinot who secured the victory with a guillotine choke at 4:54 of round two.
35: Total strikes by which Lineker outlanded Gaudinot in round one, when he displayed an aggressive offensive approach that included multiple shots to the body. In round two, “Goodnight” picked up the pace, outlanding his Brazilian opponent 50-42 before ending the contest with a rear-naked choke.
23: Significant strikes by which Danny Castillo outlanded John Cholish in their featherweight bout. The Team Alpha Male product landed only one takedown in the fight, his least in victory since a first-round knockout victory over Will Kerr at WEC 53, when he also had one takedown.
8: Takedowns by Dennis Bermudez in his decision triumph against Pablo Garza in a featherweight clash. The “TUF 14” alumnus scored four takedowns in the opening frame, three in round two and one in the final five minutes against “The Scarecrow.”