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After 32 appearances in South America, the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday ventured outside of Brazil to host its first event in Chile. Full of action, UFC Fight Night 129 featured the extension of an almost unimaginable streak involving takedown attempts, a fast-rising prospect who must hate fighting beyond Round 1, the fastest stoppage in a division’s history and a whole lot more.
CALIENTE RECEPTION: UFC Fight Night 129 was preceded by UFC 224 on May 12 in Rio de Janeiro, marking the first time the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization had staged consecutive events in South America.
SMOKIN’ JOE: UFC Fight Night “Maia vs. Usman” featured the stylings of former World Extreme Cagefighting announcer Joe Martinez. It was the 20th event in which he has participated in his six years with the UFC. Martinez has worked more UFC shows than any announcer other than Bruce Buffer.
MORE STUFFING THAN THANKSGIVING: In his last three bouts, Demian Maia has attempted 49 takedowns without completing one. He tried 21 against Tyron Woodley, 13 against Colby Covington and 15 against Kamaru Usman, going a combined 0-for-49.
FOUR’S COMPANY: Competing for the 28th time inside the Octagon, Maia tied Jeremy Stephens for the second-most appearances in company history. They trail Michael Bisping and Jim Miller, each with 29. All four fighters with at least 28 appearances in the UFC have at least nine losses.
DEVASTATING DOMINATOR: Dominick Reyes kept his perfect record intact when he knocked out Jared Cannonier in the first round of their light heavyweight showcase. In doing so, Reyes improved to 9-0 with eight first-round finishes.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION: The battle between Andrea Lee and Veronica Macedo was the second UFC bout involving women in 2018 -- there have been 25 thus far -- to earn a post-fight bonus, as the two flyweights picked up “Fight of the Night” honors for their efforts. The other went to Valentina Shevchenko for submitting Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Fight Night 125.
THE KGB WAITS FOR NO ONE: Lee became just the fifth woman in Ultimate Fighting Championship history to start her run in the promotion with a win and a “Fight of the Night” bonus, joining Cat Zingano, Paige VanZant, Jessica Penne and Nicco Montano.
LIGHTNING IN A BOTELHO: Poliana Botelha picked up the fastest win in the history of the UFC women’s strawweight division when she stopped Syuri Kondo in just 33 seconds. It surpassed the previous record -- Maryna Moroz’s 90-second armbar submission of Joanne Calderwood -- by nearly a minute.
SLAMMIN’ GOOD TIME: Gabriel Benitez became the first fighter with a slam-related knockout in UFC competition since Galore Bofando dispatched Charlie Ward in 2017. In fact, his finish on Humberto Bandenay represented just the 11th slam knockout in company history. Benitez, a featherweight, also became the first fighter below 170 pounds to knock out an opponent with a slam.
SHARED MISERY: Only two fighters with the first name of Humberto have competed in the UFC: Bandenay and Humberto Brown. Benitez has finished them both.
BOW BEFORE EL NINO: Claudio Puelles pulled off a comeback for the ages in the third round of his undercard clash with Felipe Silva. Down 20-17 on every scorecard entering Round 3, “El Nino” performed just the second kneebar in the history of the UFC lightweight division and the 12th overall. It was the first kneebar finish inside the Octagon since 2017 and only the second since 2013.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Entering UFC Fight Night 129, Kondo had never lost, Bandenay had never been knocked out and Alexa Grasso had never been stopped.
FEELING SO FAITHLESS: Walking out to Linkin Park’s “Numb” for the 17th recorded time in his UFC career, Maia suffered only his fifth defeat with the track … For the first time ever, a UFC fighter walked out to a song from the metal band Dio, as Lee was accompanied by “Holy Diver” … Vicente Luque has walked out to “Baby Baby” by the Brazilian dance music duo Tropkillaz for all eight of his UFC appearances. His first-round knockout of “The Ultimate Fighter Nations” winner Chad Laprise improved his record to 6-2 with the track.
Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012, and while writing for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many UFC fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.