Some heavyweights age gracefully in mixed martial arts—a fate Mauro Cerilli and Amir Aliakbari undoubtedly hope awaits them.
As Cerilli and Aliakbari prepare to butt heads, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
39: Years of age for Cerilli, who was born on March 22, 1983 in Terracina, Italy.
9: Cerilli wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 64% of his career total (14). His list of victims includes Vagabov, Alain Ngalani and Karl Moore. Cerilli owns one other win by submission (7%)—he put away Giancarlo Grasselli with a first-round keylock in his 2012 professional debut—and four more by decision (29%).
18: Rounds completed by Cerilli as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on five different occasions and carries a 4-1 record in those bouts. Only current One Championship heavyweight titleholder Arjan Singh Bhullar has managed to outpoint Cerilli.
2: Sub-minute finishes on the Cerilli resume. He cut down Istvan Ruzsinszki with punches in 56 seconds at Magnum Fighting Championship 1 on March 11, 2017 and wiped out Moore with a knee strike and follow-up punches in 15 seconds at Cage Warriors 92 on March 24, 2018.
49: Combined victories between the four opponents—Bhullar, Brandon Vera, Stefan Croitoru and Prince Aounallah—who have beaten Cerilli. At 49-23-1, they sport a .671 cumulative winning percentage.
34: Years of age for Aliakbari, who was born on Dec. 11, 1987 in Jamalabad, Iran.
7: Aliakbari victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 70% of his career total (10). His list of victims includes Shelton Graves, Denis Smoldarev and Geronimo dos Santos. Aliakbari holds three other victories by decision (30%).
17: Seconds needed for Aliakbari to dispatch Hyung Chul-Lee with punches at a Full Metal Dojo event on Oct. 31, 2015. Nearly seven years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
5: Countries in which Aliakbari has suited up as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 6-1 in Japan, 2-0 in Russia, 0-2 in Singapore, 1-0 in Thailand and 1-0 in Azerbaijan.
.794: Cumulative winning percentage between the three opponents—Malykhin, Ji Won Kang and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic—who have defeated Aliakbari. They boast a combined record of 54-12-2.