Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweights primed for a breakthrough will square off when Ricky Simon meets Jack Shore in a featured UFC on ABC 3 prelim this Saturday at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. Both men are currently ranked in the Top 15 at 135 pounds, with ambitions to climb higher.
As Simon and Shore move ever closer to their confrontation, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
29: Years of age for Simon, who was born in Pendleton, Oregon, on Aug. 31, 1992.
6: Simon wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 32% of his career total (19). The aforementioned Assuncao was his first victim inside the Octagon. Simon holds three other wins by submission (16%) and 10 more by decision (52%).
41: Rounds completed by Simon as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 11 different occasions and carries a 10-1 record in those bouts.
3: Sub-minute finishes on the Simon resume. He buried Kendall Ward with punches 49 seconds into their April 19, 2014 pairing under the Main Event MMA banner, cut down Cole Milani with punches 55 seconds into their Jan. 25, 2015 encounter in the Full Contact Fighting Federation and wiped out Vinicius Zani with punches 59 seconds into their March 23, 2018 clash at LFA 36.
135: Combined victories between the seven opponents—Assuncao, Brian Kelleher, Gaetano Pirrello, Ray Borg, Rani Yahya, Montel Jackson and Merab Dvalishvili—Simon has defeated inside the Octagon. They sport a .718 cumulative winning percentage (135-51-2).
27: Years of age for Shore, who was born on Feb. 6, 1995 in Abertillery, Wales.
8: Shore victories by submission, accounting for 50% of his career total (16). His methods of choice: seven rear-naked chokes and one armbar. Shore owns four other victories by knockout or technical knockout (25%) and four more by decision (25%).
108: Seconds needed for Shore to dispatch Tyler John Thomas with a rear-naked choke in his March 5, 2016 pro debut at Pain Pit Fight Night 15. Having occurred more than six years ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.
7: Consecutive calendar years in which Shore has fought at least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2022, he went 3-0 in 2016, 4-0 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 2-0 in 2021.
.759: Cumulative winning percentage between the five opponents—Valiev, Liudvik Sholinian, Hunter Azure, Aaron Phillips and Nohelin Hernandez—Shore has beaten in the UFC. They boast a combined record of 60-18-1.