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The Warszawskie Centrum Atletyki Fight Team rep will defend his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title against reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the UFC 259 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Blachowicz enters the cage on the strength of four consecutive victories. He last appeared at UFC 253 on Sept. 26, when he cut down Dominick Reyes with second-round punches to capture the vacant 205-pound crown. Adesanya, meanwhile, moves up a division after terrorizing the 185-pound weight class for the better part of three years. He has not competed since he tore through the previously unbeaten Paulo Costa with punches and elbows in the second round of their UFC 253 encounter.
As Blachowicz and Adesanya march toward their blockbuster superfight, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
38: Years of age for Blachowicz, who was born on Feb. 24, 1983 in Cieszyn, Poland—nearly 6,000 miles away from UFC headquarters in Las Vegas.
9: Blachowicz wins by submission, accounting for 33% of his career total (27). His methods of choice: five rear-naked chokes, three armbars and one arm-triangle choke. Blachowicz owns eight other victories by knockout and 10 more by decision.
5: Light heavyweight champions, including Blachowicz, in KSW history. Mamed Khalidov, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Goran Reljic and Tomasz Narkun are the others.
6: Knockdowns landed by Blachowicz in the UFC, tying him with Luiz Cane for eighth on the promotion’s all-time list at 205 pounds. He trails only Chuck Liddell (14), Mauricio Rua (14), Lyoto Machida (11), Alexander Gustafsson (nine), Quinton Jackson (eight), Khalil Rountree (eight) and Ryan Bader (seven) in the category.
89: Significant strikes by which Blachowicz has outlanded his opponents—Reyes, Corey Anderson, Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold—during his four-fight winning streak. He has connected on 155 of them while absorbing only 66 in return.
31: Years of age for Adesanya, who was born on July 22, 1989 in Lagos, Nigeria, the second-largest city in Africa, with an estimated population of 21.3 million people.
15: Adesanya wins by knockout, accounting for 75% of his career total (20). In addition to Costa, his list of victims includes Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, Rob Wilkinson, Melvin Guillard and Kenan Song. Adesanya owns five other victories by decision.
7: Post-fight bonuses banked by Adesanya in his nine UFC appearances. The City Kickboxing superstar has been awarded “Performance of the Night” five times and “Fight of the Night” twice, resulting in $350,000 of additional income.
2: Fights in which Adesanya has eclipsed the 100-significant-strike plateau. He landed 119 of them against Brad Tavares at “The Ultimate Fighter 27” Finale on July 6, 2018 and connected with 109 of them in his “Fight of the Year” with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 on April 13, 2019.
.775: Cumulative winning percentage between the nine fighters—Costa, Whittaker, Brunson, Wilkinson, Gastelum, Tavares, Yoel Romero, Anderson Silva and Marvin Vettori—Adesanya has defeated in the UFC. They own a combined record of 165-47-1.