Before a single fight actually took place, UFC on Fox 4 was one of the promotion’s most criticized cards. Now that all is said and done, it might very well go down as the year’s best event. All four of the fights on the Fox broadcast resulted in finishes, and Lyoto Machida’s knockout of Ryan Bader netted the former champion a shot at the Jon Jones-Dan Henderson winner.
142: Total strikes landed by Rua in his fourth-round TKO victory over Vera. While the former Pride Fighting Championships standout held a narrow 68-67 edge in significant strikes, his four takedowns allowed him to outland his opponent by 53 total strikes. “Shogun” was most dominant in rounds one and two, where he outlanded Vera 31 to 8 and 53 to 27, respectively.
1-4: Record for Rua in UFC bouts in the United States. All of the Brazilian’s previous losses in the promotion -- Forrest Griffin (Anaheim, Calf.), Lyoto Machida (Los Angeles), Jon Jones (Newwark, N.J.) and Dan Henderson (San Jose, Calif.) – had come on U.S. soil before he defeated Vera at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
14: Guard passes into mount by Rua in his last two fights, more than the rest of his UFC career combined. “Shogun” passed guard six times against Vera at UFC on Fox 4 and eight times against Henderson at UFC 139. His nine takedowns in those two bouts are also more than he has landed in his previous seven Octagon appearances combined.
Brandon Vera File Photo
Vera gave an excellent effort.
.580: Significant striking accuracy for Machida in his UFC career. “The Dragon” was his usual pinpoint self against Bader, landing 21 of 31 significant strikes – a 68 percent clip -- en route to a second-round knockout of the Power MMA product.
154: Significant strikes landed by Machida opponents in his 10 Octagon triumphs. More than half of those strikes were landed by Rua, who connected on 80 significant shots in a contentious five-round loss to Machida at UFC 104. Bader was outstruck 21-7 on Saturday – and outside of Rua, only Tito Ortiz has landed more than 15 significant strikes – he landed 16 – in defeat against Machida.
0: Takedown attempts by Bader. The former Arizona State University wrestler averages more than three takedowns landed per 15 minutes. However, Machida’s career takedown defense rate of 83.3 percent is No. 10 all-time in UFC history.
21: Submission attempts in the career of Lauzon, whose triangle of Jamie Varner moved him into a tie with Martin Kampmann for sixth place in UFC history in that category.
9: Post-fight bonuses earned in the career of Lauzon. The Massachusetts native took home both “Fight of the Night” and “Submission of the Night” honors for his efforts against Varner.
38: Significant strikes by which Varner outlanded Lauzon before falling victim to a triangle choke. The Arizonan outlanded “J-Lau” in each frame, including a 35-to-17 edge in round one, when he scored the only knockdown of the fight.
910: Days since Mike Swick’s last Octagon appearance, a second round submission loss to Paulo Thiago at UFC 109. Esophageal problems sidelined the American Kickboxing Academy stalwart until Saturday, when he made an inspired return by knocking out DaMarques Johnson 1:20 into round two of their welterweight clash.
272: Combined significant strikes landed by featherweights Nam Phan (129) and Cole Miller (143), a bout Phan won via split decision. Phan outlanded the American Top Team product in round one (40 to 38) and three (53 to 49). Miller authored the most dominant frame, however, outstriking the Vietnamese-American 56 to 36 in the second round.
15: Submissions among 17 career victories for Rani Yahya, who elicited a tapout from Josh Grispi with a north-south choke at 3:15 of the opening round of the featherweight affair.
10: Average significant strikes landed by Grispi in seven career fights in the UFC and WEC. “The Fluke” has never landed more than 16 significant strikes in a bout, in large part because five of those seven contests ended inside of a round.
30: Total strikes by which Philip De Fries outlanded Oli Thompson in the second round before submitting the former strongman 4:16 into the period. The 35 significant strikes landed by De Fries in the bout were more than he landed in his first two UFC appearances combined (21).
100: Percentage of Michihiro Omigawa’s seven UFC bouts that have gone the distance. The Yoshida Dojo representative is 1-6 in those bouts after dropping a unanimous decision to Manny Gamburyan on Saturday. Omigawa’s average fight time of 15 minutes ties him for sixth all-time among UFC competitors with at least five fights.
6: Takedowns landed by Gamburyan in 12 attempts against Omigawa. “The Anvil” landed four of his five takedown attempts in the bout’s final frame.