Anderson Silva went 25 minutes with Nick Diaz at UFC 183. | Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC/Zuffa/Getty
More than a year after a gruesomely broken leg left his future in doubt, Anderson Silva made a triumphant return to the Octagon on Saturday night, capturing a unanimous decision triumph over Nick Diaz in the UFC 183 headliner at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
With his work in the cage complete, Silva collapsed to the canvas in tears, the culmination of a comeback that began on an operating table in December 2013. While there is much about “The Spider’s” future that remains uncertain, he was finally able to put the memory of painful loss to Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in the past. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 183, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
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17: UFC victories for Silva, moving him past Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and Gleison Tibau and into sole possession of third place on the promotion’s all-time list. Only Georges St. Pierre (19) and Matt Hughes (18) have more.
14: UFC middleweight triumphs for Silva after Saturday night, moving him past Yushin Okami and into first place in promotion history.
3: Five-round unanimous decision triumphs in the Octagon for Silva. In addition to Diaz, the former middleweight champion also defeated Thales Leites and Demian Maia in five-round fights.
108: Significant strikes landed by Silva, 31 more than Diaz. “The Spider” outlanded his foe 21 to 19 in round one, 21 to 15 in round two, 25 to 18 in round three, 15 to 14 in round four and 26 to 11 in round five.
.490: Significant striking accuracy for Silva, who landed 108 of 217 attempts. Meanwhile, Diaz landed 77 of 223 significant strikes, a 34 percent clip.
57: Significant strikes to the head landed by Silva. By comparison, Diaz landed 39.
37: Significant strikes to the legs landed by Silva; Diaz, meanwhile, landed 27.
14: Significant strikes to the body landed by Silva; Diaz landed 11.
1,379: Significant strikes landed by Nick Diaz in his career, the most in combined UFC/WEC/Strikeforce/Pride history.
1,616: Total strikes landed by Diaz in the UFC, third most in welterweight history. Only Jon Fitch (2,039) and Georges St. Pierre (2,523) have landed more.
686: Days since Diaz’s last Octagon appearance, a unanimous decision loss to Georges St. Pierre in a welterweight title bout at UFC 158.
399: Days since Silva’s loss to Chris Weidman at UFC 168, when “The Spider” gruesomely broke his leg after Weidman checked a kick.
27: Significant strikes by which Al Iaquinta outlanded Joe Lauzon in the second round of their lightweight tussle. The Serra-Longo Fight Team member eventually stopped Lauzon 3:34 into the period to earn his sixth win in his last seven outings. In the first round, both fighters landed 21 significant strikes apiece.
6: Finishes in UFC competition for Thales Leites following his second-round submission of Tim Boetsch, tying him for fourth most in middleweight history.
2,289: Days since Thiago Alves last put together at least two consecutive victories, when he outpointed Josh Koscheck at UFC 90 for his seventh victory in a row. That win earned “Pitbull” a title shot against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100, but he would not earn consecutive wins again until his second-round KO of Jordan Mein on Saturday night (He previously defeated Seth Baczynski at UFC on Fox 11).
43: Total strikes by which Miesha Tate outlanded Sara McMann in the third round of their bantamweight tilt. McMann held a 43-to-31 advantage in rounds one and two combined, but Tate ultimately won via majority decision.
4: Fighters in the UFC’s modern era to have both a knockout and submission victory in less than a minute. With his 36-second TKO stoppage of Ed Herman, Derek Brunson joined Andrei Arlovski, Tom Lawlor and Joe Lauzon in that group. Brunson also owns a 48-second submission win over Brian Houston at UFC Fight Night “Fight for the Troops 3.”
32: Total strikes by which Ian McCall outlanded John Lineker in the opening round, when he landed his lone takedown of the fight. In rounds two and three, Lineker held a combined 40-to-33 edge in total strikes and denied five McCall takedown attempts.
4: Occasions on which Lineker has missed weight. “Hands of Stone” checked in at 130 pounds ahead of his unanimous decision triumph against Ian McCall and was fined 30 percent of his purse as a result. UFC President Dana White has said that Lineker will have to move up to 135 pounds for his next fight.
8: Takedowns landed, in 13 attempts, by Rafael Natal in his victory over Tom Watson in their middleweight bout. Watson has been taken down a total of 28 times in his six Octagon appearances.