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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5163
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 480
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday returned to Stockholm with a fight card that ended in dramatic fashion. UFC Fight Night 153 featured a rare fourth-round stoppage, multiple retirements and the answer to the question of the universe.
SMITH SILENCES STOCKHOLM: After taking Alexander Gustafsson into the fourth round and submitting him with a rear-naked choke, Anthony Smith has now finished his opponent in 29 of his 32 career victories. The stoppage was his first beyond the third round.
THE GOLDEN ROUND: Smith earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his Round 4 tapout of Gustafsson. Across the 25 stoppages in the fourth round since post-fight bonuses were implemented, 20 bonuses have been awarded to those fights.
TAKE THE TIME, REEVALUATE: Gustafsson opted to leave his gloves in the center of the Octagon after losing, signaling his retirement. If this is the end of his career, “The Mauler” leaves the sport with a UFC record of 10-6, having beaten the likes of Mauricio Rua, Glover Teixeira and Jan Blachowicz after almost 10 years in the organization. He may be best remembered for his “Fight of the Year”-winning war with Jon Jones at UFC 165 in 2013. Gustafsson retires as one of six light heavyweights to ever earn multiple post-fight bonuses in a victory, earning “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” for smashing Jimi Manuwa in 2014.
THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: Manuwa crashed to the canvas from an Aleksandar Rakic head kick at 42 seconds of the opening round. In his last four bouts -- all losses -- he has been finished twice at the 42-second mark.
CALL J-LO AND ICE CUBE: Makwan Amirkhani tapped Chris Fishgold with an anaconda choke in the second round, earning the third submission of its kind so far in 2019. This ties 2010 and 2017 for the most anaconda chokes executed in a calendar year. From the UFC’s inception in 1993 until 2015, 10 anaconda chokes were seen inside the Octagon. From 2015 to present, 10 more anacondas have been pulled off.
JUDGMENT-FREE ZONE: Daniel Teymur had never won a fight by judges’ verdict until he defeated the debuting Sung Bin Jo over three rounds. On the other hand, Jo had never gone the distance, finishing all nine of his previous opponents before the final bell.
TROUBLING TIMES FOR ‘TRIPLE THREAT’: Tonya Evinger dropped her third straight fight in losing a decision to Lina Lansberg. Only seven other female fighters have ever lost their first three bouts inside the Octagon.
LEO’S BACK: Leonardo Santos returned from a lengthy absence to destroy Steven Ray with one punch in the first round of their encounter. When Santos last competed at UFC 204 in October 2016, only nine of the 23 other fighters on the card were members of the UFC’s roster and three had not yet made their professional debuts.
SAYONARA, ‘SERGEANT’: After being knocked out by Frank Camacho, Nick Hein announced his retirement from MMA. He competed eight times inside the Octagon, and while he ended on a three-fight skid, he won four of his first five starts with the promotion. After he defeated Drew Dober in his UFC debut in 2014, the two men became close friends. In fact, Dober ended up marrying Hein’s sister a year later.
RANG HIS BELLUARDO: By finishing Danilo Belluardo with elbows and punches, Joel Alvarez maintained his perfect 100 percent stoppage rate across his 16 wins. The knockout was his second, with his remaining 14 wins coming by some form of choke.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 153, Fishgold had never been submitted (21 fights), Jo (nine fights) and Rostem Akman (six fights) had never been defeated and Darko Stosic had never lost on the scorecards (14 fights).
MOVIE NIGHT: Four fighters walked out to songs featured prominently on movie soundtracks. Gustafsson used “Training Montage” by Vince DiCola from “Rocky IV,” Damir Hadzovic settled on “Fight to Survive” by Stan Bush from “Bloodsport,” Camacho went with “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor from “Rocky III” and Alvarez chose “Cancion del Mariachi” by Los Lobos and Antonio Banderas from “Desperado.” While Alvarez and Camacho emerged victorious, Hadzovic and Gustafsson were not as fortunate.
THIS KID IS ALRIGHT: In five recorded uses of songs by The Offspring, Santos became the first fighter to ever win while using the band. He entered to “The Kids Aren’t Alright” and cut down Ray in the first round.
Sherdog contributing editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012 and working for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.