Nikita Krylov personifies the modern kill-or-be-killed warrior, with 34 of his 38 professional appearances having resulted in finishes.
As Krylov and Spann approach their forthcoming battle at 205 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
30: Years of age for Krylov, who was born on March 7, 1992 in Khrustalnyi, Ukraine.
12: Krylov victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 41% of his career total (29). His list of UFC victims: Alexander Gustafsson, Ed Herman, Cody Donovan and Walt Harris. Krylov owns 15 other victories by submission (52%) and two more by decision (7%).
9: Sub-minute finishes on the Krylov resume, though only one of them has taken place inside the Octagon. He cut down Harris with a head kick and follow-up punches 25 seconds into their UFC on Fox 10 pairing in January 2014.
908: Total strikes landed by Krylov as a UFC light heavyweight, placing him fifth on the promotion’s active list at 205 pounds. Only Jon Jones (1,835), Jan Blachowicz (1,225), Devin Clark (1,126) and the aforementioned Gustafsson (987) have been credited with more.
.717: Cumulative winning percentage between the eight opponents—Paul Craig, Magomed Ankalaev, Glover Teixeira, Jan Blachowicz, Misha Cirkunov, Ovince St. Preux, Soa Palelei and Vladimir Mishchenko (twice)—who have defeated Krylov. They sport a combined record of 171-67-2.
31: Years of age for Spann, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on Aug. 24, 1991.
12: Spann wins by submission, accounting for 57% of his career total (21). His methods of choice: nine guillotine chokes and three rear-naked chokes. Spann holds six other wins by knockout or technical knockout (29%) and three more by decision (14%).
8: Seconds needed for Spann to punch out Larry Crowe at a Legacy Fighting Championship show on June 26, 2015. Nearly eight years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
10: Consecutive calendar years in which Spann has fought at least once. The Fortis MMA rep went 4-0 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 3-1 in 2015, 1-1 in 2016, 3-2 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-1 in 2020, 1-1 in 2021 and 2-0 in 2022.
110: Combined victories between the seven opponents—Anthony Smith, Johnny Walker, Karl Roberson, Trevin Giles, Robert Drysdale Leo Leite and Brandon Farran—who have beaten Spann. They boast a .696 cumulative winning percentage at 110-48.