One look at Abusupiyan Magomedov was enough for Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmakers to give him a crack at the middleweight elite.
As Magomedov and Strickland make final preparations for their forthcoming encounter at 185 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
32: Years of age for Magomedov, who was born in Argun, Russia, on Sept. 2, 1990.
14: Magomedov victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 56% of his career total (25). Stoltzfus, Anderson Goncalves, Danillo Villefort and Jessin Ayari highlight his list of victims. Magomedov owns six other victories by submission (24%) and five more by decision (20%).
1: Stalemate for Magomedov. He battled to a majority draw with Gasan Umalatov in the 2018 Professional Fighters League quarterfinals.
6: Sub-minute finishes to Magomedov’s credit. In addition to his aforementioned rout of Stoltzfus, he took out Nicola di Loreto with a guillotine choke in 30 seconds at an Outsider Cup show on Feb. 26, 2010, buried Donovan Panayiotis with punches in 56 seconds at German MMA Championship 6 on April 18, 2015, wiped out Manuel Garcia with punches and a follow-up knee strike in 40 seconds at a Merseburger Fight Night event on Oct. 3, 2015, wrecked Mathias Schuck with a punch-elbow combination in 53 seconds at Superior Fighting Championship 15 on Oct. 29, 2016 and dispatched Slavis Simeunovic with a kimura in 47 seconds under the Elite MMA Championship banner on May 4, 2019.
.734: Cumulative winning percentage between the four opponents—Louis Taylor, Mikkel Parlo, Rafal Moks and Andreas Stahl—who have defeated Magomedov. They sport a combined record of 56-20-1.
32: Years of age for Strickland, who was born on Feb. 27, 1991 in New Bern, North Carolina.
10: Strickland wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 39% of his career total (26). His list of UFC victims: Brendan Allen, Nordine Taleb and Alex Garcia. Stricklands holds four other wins by submission (15%), all via rear-naked choke, and 12 more by decision (46%).
186: Significant strikes landed by Strickland in a five-round unanimous decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 17 finalist Uriah Hall at UFC on ESPN 28 in July 2021. It established a personal high-water mark for the former King of the Cage champion that stand to this day.
77: Rounds started by Strickland as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 15 different occasions and carries a 12-3 record in those bouts.
97: Combined victories between the five opponents—Jared Cannonier, Alex Pereira, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Kamaru Usman and Santiago Ponzinibbio—who have beaten Strickland. They boast a .795 cumulative winning percentage at 97-25.