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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5,785
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 533
The Ultimate Fighting Championship waved goodbye to the UFC Apex for a month with a card as strong as recent pay-per-view offerings. The 14-fight card resulted in a nearly historic 10 finishes including some shocking upsets and dominant performances. UFC Fight Night 178 concluded a record stretch of UFC cards in the same building while featuring the latest injury stoppage in UFC history as well as an unusual feat for experienced competitors.
Wanna Get Away? The UFC concluded an eight-event residency at the UFC Apex with UFC Fight Night 178. Prior to this year, the UFC had never needed to put on consecutive shows in the same arena for more than three cards in a row. The past record stood at five, between UFC on ESPN 9 to UFC on ESPN 12 from May to June.
That ESPN+ Pacing: Ten bouts ended by stoppage throughout the night. This event tied six other events for the second-most finishes in the UFC’s modern era. UFC Fight Night 55 and UFC 224 each saw 11 fights end inside the distance.
Rib-Cracking Fun: Tyron Woodley’s rib injury coming in the fifth round, it is the first match in UFC history to end by injury stoppage beyond the third frame.
Set the Reactor For 20 Minutes: At 1:19 of Round 5, referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight between Colby Covington and Woodley. The finish at welterweight is the second-latest in UFC divisional history, only ending sooner than Covington’s loss to Usman.
This Seems to Be Cropping Up A Lot Lately: Covington is the third fighter in UFC history to win and lose bouts in the fifth round. Like the two other men to achieve this feat – Glover Teixeira and Alistair Overeem – the win came in 2020 with the defeat happening sooner.
Twin Peaks: Donald Cerrone tied Jim Miller’s record for the most fights in UFC history with 36. The two have battled for the top spot this year, with both men stepping in the cage three times since January.
Draw, Cowboy: Cerrone’s 36th UFC fight ended as a majority draw when Niko Price lost a point in the first round for repeated eye pokes. As a result, “Cowboy” is the most tenured UFC fighter to ever fight to his first draw inside the Octagon. The previous recordholder was Mauricio Rua, who did so in his 20th UFC bout against Paul Craig in 2019.
Close Your Hands: The draw between Cerrone and Price was the sixth in UFC welterweight history. The division has seen more fights scored as draws than every other division besides lightweight, with 11 taking place in that weight category.
A Price Worth Paying: His fight with Cerrone is just the second time that Price had ever gone the distance. Price still has yet to lose a fight that went the full 15 minutes.
Hype Train Is Leaving the Station: Khamzat Chimaev clocked Gerald Meerschaert in the first round to improve his spotless record to 9-0. All nine of his wins have come within two rounds.
Chim Chim Cher-ee: Chimaev notched the third-quickest knockout in UFC middleweight history by finishing “GM3” in 17 seconds tied, tied with former opponent John Phillips over Alen Amedovski. Only Terry Martin’s 14-second demolition of Jorge Rivera at UFC 67 and Mark Weir’s 10-second knockout of Eugene Jackson at UFC 38 came faster.
We’ll See: Johnny Walker finished Ryan Spann with elbows and punches to earn the knockout. Fifteen of the Brazilian’s 18 career wins have come by knockout, and Walker now sports a finish rate of 94 percent.
Walking Through Opponents: Getting the job done at the 2:43 mark of the opening frame, 15 of Walker’s career stoppage victories have come in the first round.
The Unexpected Top Spot: Tapping Randa Markos with an armbar, Mackenzie Dern is one submission shy of the all-time record among women in the UFC. Dern, Cynthia Calvillo, Montana De La Rosa, Ronda Rousey and Rose Namajunas all trail Gillian Robertson, who has four on her ledger.
Dern Good Grappling: All three of Dern’s submissions in the UFC have come in the first round. Dern now owns the most first-round submission wins among all female UFC fighters.
None of Us Were Alive Then: David Dvorak took a decision over Jordan Espinosa to extend his win streak to 15 straight. The Czech flyweight’s last defeat came in May 2012, at which point 18 of the other 27 fighters on the card had yet to make their professional debuts.
The Leechman Cometh: Damon Jackson earned his first UFC win in his second stint under the promotional banner with a comeback guillotine choke over Mirsad Bektic. “The Leech” has now finished 94 percent of his foes in victory, including 14 by submission.
Chave de Braco: Tapping out Mara Romero Borella with an armbar in the first round, five of Mayra Bueno Silva’s seven wins have come by submission. Four of those have been by armbar.
Not All on Tognoni This Time: Jessica-Rose Clark clobbered Sarah Alpar after landing a knee that was considered questionable and earned a referee review. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, a referee at any time during the match can call time to review a strike as long as the bout is paused and not stopped. Referee Chris Tognoni determined the strike was legal and re-started the match, where Clark earned the stoppage shortly thereafter.
One for the Journeymen: The first win for Darrick Minner inside the Octagon came in 52 seconds over T.J. Laramie. The submission was his 22nd across 25 wins, for a stoppage rate now sitting at 92 percent.
From Nebraska With Love: Minner finished Laramie with a guillotine choke; across his career, the Nebraska native has hit 11 guillotines – accounting for half of his submission wins. His MMA debut in 2012 also ended by guillotine choke, which Minner lost.
Randy’s Hot Tonight: Earning the first clean head kick knockout under the UFC lights in 2020, Randy Costa demolished Journey Newson in 41 seconds. Two other bouts ended via head kick, but Sean O’Malley needed follow-up punches and Magomed Ankalaev’s against Ion Cutelaba was marred in controversy.
Dance Like Nobody’s Watching You, Randy: Costa scored the fifth head kick KO in UFC bantamweight history when he flattened Newson. T.J. Dillashaw scored the first two, Marcus Brimage the next and Marlon Moraes the most recent in 2018.
Don’t Become Unfocused Randy: All six of Costa’s career wins have come by first-round knockout. He has never needed more than 2:15 to win a fight, and his only career defeat went into the second round.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 178, Markos had never lost consecutive bouts (19 fights), Bektic (16 fights) and Laramie (15 fights) had never been submitted and Alpar had never been knocked out (13 fights).
Give a Toast to the Sun: Every one of Cerrone’s walks has been accompanied by “Cowboy” by Kid Rock. No other UFC fighter comes anywhere close to the number of uses of an individual song.
Thoughts Arrive like Butterflies: Jackson is now one of a small number of UFC fighters to walk out to a Pearl Jam song, as he selected “Even Flow” by the grunge band. He is the first recorded fighter to win when using Pearl Jam as a walkout artist.
True Deafening Silence: Following the trend started by Darren Till on “Fight Island,” Bektic elected to use no walkout music for his entrance. He is the second recorded fighter to have no music playing before his UFC bout; like Till, he lost.