Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 248 ‘Yan vs. Figueiredo’

Jay PettryNov 25, 2024

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.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,955
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 714

The Ultimate Fighting Championship made getting up early to watch fights worth it for the most part on Saturday morning. A low-key show in China scheduled for local fans proved to be most interesting, with fighters shining with multiple knockouts worthy of year-end consideration. UFC Macau featured a stunner that will serve as the biggest betting upset of the year, a lifelong spinner that cannot change his nature and a short newcomer getting a head kick way up there.

Thought I’d Something More to Say: Petr Yan established himself as a top bantamweight contender by turning away Deiveson Figueiredo after five hard rounds. The Russian has heard the final bell in his last six occasions, while leaving the first round in every bout since his promotional debut in 2018.

Barely in the Fight: Needing all three rounds to get past Tabatha Ricci, Xiaonan Yan deftly outlanded the Brazilian en route to victory. Ten of the former strawweight title challenger’s 12 bouts in the UFC have gone to the scorecards.

China Top Team: A winner in China for the first time since 2018, Yan has still never lost when competing on home soil. She celebrates 11 wins and a no contest when fighting in the People’s Republic.

One Knockout Dating Back to 2016: With seven of eight wins for “Fury” coming at the hands of the judges, she is one decision victory shy of the UFC strawweight record. That total of eight is shared by five different competitors: Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Carla Esparza, Tecia Pennington, Angela Hill and Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

Old Dog, Old Tricks: With a spinning wheel kick, Muslim Salikhov laid waste to Kenan Song in the first round. His is the second knockout of that type, as he previously put Andre Fialho away with one in 2022. This makes the 40-year-old “King of Kung Fu” the first fighter in UFC history to land multiple wheel kick knockouts.

She Wang Conged Tonight: As a mammoth +725 underdog, Gabriella Fernandes shocked the masses and Cong Wang when she clubbed and subbed the overwhelming favorite in the second stanza. Her victory over the -1300 Wang is the largest betting upset in the Octagon since +900 Shana Dobson mollywhopped Mariya Agapova (-1375) at UFC on ESPN 15 in 2020.

Knocking Off Contenders: Unable to put Volkan Oezdemir away, Carlos Ulberg settled for the win by decision. This triumph extended his overall win streak to seven, while putting an end to his impressive five-fight finish stretch.

A Tried-and-True Slugfest: Keeping his 100% finish rate intact, Mingyang Zhang blasted Osman Diaz with an elbow and follow-up punches to seal the deal. “Mountain Tiger” has finished his foe in each of his last 11 appearances, while still achieving all of his stoppages in the first five minutes.

Team All-Korea: Su Young Yu prevailed in the Road to UFC 3 tournament at bantamweight to earn a UFC contract. Five South Koreans have now earned deals in this fashion across its three seasons, and every time one has faced a foreign adversary, they have won.

Oh Dip: Just after the midpoint of the first round, Dong Hun Choi clobbered Kierandip Singh Sahota with his fists. All three flyweight winners of the Road to UFC tourneys so far—Choi, Rei Tsuruya and Hyun Sung Park—have won in their finals via stoppage. It is the lone division where every tournament champ notched a finish in the finals.

Happy Feet: Ming Shi put the strawweight division on notice by leveling the far taller Xiaocan Feng with a head kick. It marked just the second knockout for the Chinese catch wrestler, while she serves as the first female tournament winner out of Road to UFC.

The Rise of Lonny: Elevating his record to 8-0 in his UFC debut, Lone'er Kavanagh outhustled fellow unbeaten Jose Ochoa across three rounds. The Brit has alternated wins by stoppage and decision for his last six outings.

Jiu-Jitsu Is for Suckers: While putting himself on his first win streak since 2020, Nikolas Motta dropped Maheshate Hayisaer twice and went the distance. “Iron Motta” has now earned two-thirds of his victories by knockout, while never needing a submission to get the job done.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 248, Figueiredo had never lost a bout that entered Round 5 (28 fights), Feng (12 fights) and Quang Le (nine fights) had never been knocked out and Wang (six fights), Nyamjargal Tumendemberel (eight fights) and Ochoa (eight fights) had never been defeated.

Up Above the Daily Hum: Selecting home country band The Hu featuring Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, Tumendemberel walked out to “Wolf Totem” and is the fourth fighter in UFC history to do so. He is the only one of those four to not earn at least one win when accompanied by the Tuvan throat singers.

Not So Amazing: Going with Kanye West’s “Amazing” for his entrance tune, Le suffered a knockout loss to Long Xiao. The winning percentage of that track is now a low .364, as Le has picked it twice and lost twice in the Octagon.