Jeremy Stephens if nothing else offers stability in a sport often defined by its volatility.
As Stephens approaches his five-round battle with Choi, here are some of the numbers that have come to define him:
1: Loss by knockout. Yves Edwards did the deed with punches and elbows at UFC on Fox 5 in December 2012, dispatching Stephens 1:55 into the first round.
2: Wins over current or former UFC champions. Stephens knocked out onetime lightweight titleholder Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 91 in 2008 and notched a unanimous decision against former bantamweight champion Renan Barao in 2016.
3: Losses by submission. Chris Mickle, Din Thomas and Joe Lauzon were the perpetrators.
13: First-round finishes to Stephens’ credit. His list of victims includes dos Anjos, Justin Buchholz and Rony Mariano Bezerra.
10: Losses by decision. Stephens owns a puzzling 7-10 mark in bouts that go the distance. That includes split decision defeats to Melvin Guillard, Renato Carneiro and Anthony Pettis.
16: Knockdowns landed in UFC competition, per FightMetric. Only former middleweight champion Anderson Silva (18) has been credited with more.
17: Wins by knockout or technical knockout. They account for 65 percent of his career total.
26: Appearances inside the Octagon, tying Stephens with Gleison Tibau and Donald Cerrone for seventh on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s all-time list. Only Michael Bisping (29), Jim Miller (28), Frank Mir (27), Demian Maia (27), Tito Ortiz (27) and Diego Sanchez (27) have more UFC fights under their belt.
31: Years of age. When Stephens was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on May 26, 1986, the top five movies at the domestic box office were “Cobra,” “Poltergeist II: The Other Side,” “Top Gun,” “Short Circuit” and “Sweet Liberty.”
365,000: Dollars in post-fight bonus money earned as a member of the UFC roster. Stephens has drawn “Fight of the Night” honors four times and “Knockout of the Night” on three occasions.