By The Numbers: Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw

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Aljamain Sterling knew his position would require him to keep the wolves at bay and likely expected a former champion to be at or near the front of the pack.

The Serra-Longo Fight Team will defend his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight crown against T.J. Dillashaw in the UFC 280 co-headliner on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Sterling steps inside the Octagon on the strength of a seven-fight winning streak. He last appeared at UFC 273, where he took a split verdict from Petr Yan in their April 9 rematch. Dillashaw, meanwhile, has rattled off five victories across his past six outings. He last competed on July 24, when he eked out a split decision over Cory Sandhagen in their UFC on ESPN 27 main event.

As Sterling and Dillashaw take aim at one another in their struggle for supremacy at 135 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

33: Years of age for Sterling, who was born on July 31, 1989 in Uniondale, New York.

8: Sterling victories by submission, accounting for 38% of his career total (eight). His methods of choice: five rear-naked chokes, one arm-triangle choke, one guillotine choke and one kneebar. Sterling holds two other victories by knockout or technical knockout (10%), 10 more by decision (47%) and another by disqualification (5%).

52: Rounds completed by Sterling as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 12 different occasions and carries a 10-2 record in those bouts.

12: Consecutive calendar years in which Sterling has fought at least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2022, he went 5-0 in 2011, 2-0 in 2012, 1-0 in 2013, 2-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 0-1 in 2016, 2-2 in 2017, 2-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 1-0 in 2021.

.716: Cumulative winning percentage between the three men—Marlon Moraes, Raphael Assuncao and Bryan Caraway—who have beaten Sterling. They boast a combined record of 73-28-1.

36: Years of age for Dillashaw, who was born on Feb. 7, 1986 in Sonora, California.

8: Dillashaw wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 47% of his career total (17). His list of UFC victims: Cody Garbrandt (twice), Renan Barao (twice), Joe Soto, Hugo Viana, Issei Tamura. Dillashaw owns three other wins by submission (18%) and six more by decision (35%).

1,114: Significant strikes landed by Dillashaw as a UFC bantamweight, placing him second on the promotion’s all-time list at 135 pounds. Only Rob Font has connected with more (1,118).

153: Seconds needed for Dillashaw to put away Vaughan Lee with a neck crank at UFC on Fuel TV 4 on July 11, 2012. More than a decade later, it remains his fastest finish to date.

90: Combined victories between the four men—Assuncao, Henry Cejudo, Dominick Cruz and John Dodson—who have defeated Dillashaw. They sport a cumulative .763 winning percentage at 90-28.