Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers. * * *
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 451
Heading to Russia for the first time, the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday brought a slew of hometown fighters to Olimpiysky Arena in Moscow. UFC Fight Night 136 featured one of the oldest main events in the promotion’s history, one of the most accomplished submission artists of all-time doing what he does best and a newly signed fighter with one of the more eye-popping records in the sport.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: Planting its flag in Russia for the first time ever, the UFC has now traveled to 22 nations across the world.
FOR MOTHER RUSSIA: Fighters representing Russia capped off UFC Fight Night 136 by going 9-1, with Adam Yandiev as the sole Russian to lose.
KNOW HOW TO PICK ’EM: Betting favorites started the night 10-0 and ended at 10-2, with favorites Nikita Krylov and Mark Hunt losing by submission.
THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS: Six of the 12 betting favorites for this event came in greater than -500, among the most of any card in UFC history. All six of them won.
DANGER, YAN AT WOK: For the first time in company history, the UFC awarded three “Performance of the Night” bonuses. The bout winning “Fight of the Night” between Petr Yan and Jin Soo Son only gave half to Yan because Son missed weight. In contrast, the UFC gave both halves of the “Fight of the Night” bonus -- a total of $100,000 -- to Robert Whittaker after he won his rematch against the heavy Yoel Romero.
WHAT’S IN A NICKNAME?: Both fighters with the nickname “Pitbull” -- Andrei Arlovski and Thiago Alves -- lost, as they dropped unanimous verdicts.
NEXT VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST: With Jan Blachowicz and Jordan Johnson both winning by arm-triangle choke, UFC Fight Night 136 became the sixth event in UFC history to feature multiple submissions of that type.
AGE BEFORE BEAUTY: The bout between 44-year-old Hunt and 41-year-old Oleynik combined for the second oldest main event in UFC history, second only to Randy Couture and Mark Coleman’s combined 91 years of age when they headlined UFC 109 in 2010.
ACTUAL CHOKE ARTIST: Becoming the first man to choke out Hunt, Oleynik has registered 32 chokes in his MMA career, with more wins by choke than any fighter on the entire card had in total wins.
STARIN’ DOWN THE BARREL OF A .45: Oleynik picked up his 45th career submission victory when he tapped Hunt by rear-naked choke. He has tapped 12 fighters with that particular choke, tying his patented Ezekiel choke for the most of any type that he has performed. Despite holding an incredible number of submission wins, it is still less than one third of the 152 total submissions scored by MMA-leading Travis Fulton.
IT’S WHAT HE DO: In four of his last five wins, Oleynik has also won “Performance of the Night” bonuses. He has now stopped his opponent in 53 of his 57 career victories, good for a finish rate of about 93 percent.
BEST .500 FIGHTER EVER: With his first-round submission loss to Oleynik, Hunt’s MMA record dropped to 13-13-1, with a no contest.
PAY THE JAN: Currently riding a four-fight winning streak, Blachowicz has earned post-fight bonuses in three of those four wins. Prior to his “Performance of the Night”-winning submission over Devin Clark at UFC Fight Night 118 in 2017, Blachowicz had never earned a post-fight bonus.
DON’T KRY OVER SPILT MILK: In his 30th career bout, Krylov returned to the UFC and lost by second-round submission to Blachowicz. Krylov has still never gone the distance and has only seen the third round once. It was just the sixth time he has fought beyond Round 1.
THE TASTE OF VICTORY: Alexey Kunchenko improved his undefeated record to 19-0, tying Professional Fighters League standout Andre Harrison for the fourth-longest active undefeated record in a major MMA promotion and second-longest in the UFC. Khabib Nurmagomedov holds the best current record at 26-0, followed by former Bellator MMA heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov at 21-0 and Bellator welterweight tournament member Yaroslav Amosov at 20-0.
MURDALIZER: After a troublingly late stoppage of C.B. Dollaway, Khalid Murtazaliev has now knocked out his opponent in 13 of his 14 wins. All 13 of those knockouts have occurred in the first two rounds.
DESMOND SUNFLOWER: In each of his last eight bouts, Desmond Green has gone the distance, reaching the scorecards in 21 of his 29 career bouts account, for just above 72 percent.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 136, the UFC had never traveled to Russia, Yandiev had never been defeated (nine fights) and Johnson had never competed outside of the continental United States (nine fights).
THE VIOLENCE CAUSED SUCH SILENCE: In honor of training partner Chan Sung Jung, Son made his UFC debut accompanied by The Cranberries’ “Zombie.” Jung, aka “The Korean Zombie,” celebrates a 4-1 record inside the Octagon when using the track. Between the two of them, five of their six fights while using this song have been awarded post-fight bonuses.
WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A PRO BLUSH: In an unconventional choice of a walkout song, Johnson walked out to 1980s hit “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes and prevailed by second-round submission. No recorded fighter had ever walked out to Kim Carnes before.