That is why fights do not occur on paper.
While Elliott didn’t get the win, he made Johnson work and undoubtedly raised his stock in defeat. The reigning flyweight king, meanwhile, continued his assault on the record books. Here is a by-the-numbers look at the “TUF 24” finale, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com (online betting).
9: Consecutive title defenses for Johnson, placing him one behind Anderson Silva for most in UFC history. “Mighty Mouse” moved into a tie with Georges St. Pierre for second place on Saturday night.
11: Consecutive UFC triumphs for Johnson, tying him with Royce Gracie for fourth most all-time Only Anderson Silva (16), Jon Jones (13) and Georges St. Pierre (12) have longer streaks.
64: Career takedowns landed by Johnson in UFC competition. The flyweight king landed five of seven attempts vs. Elliott to move past Clay Guida (61) and into No. 4 on the UFC’s all-time list in that category.
4: Takedowns landed in four attempts by Elliott, the most of any Johnson opponent since Ian McCall landed four in a flyweight tournament bout in March 2012.
5: Combined submission attempts by Johnson (3) and Elliott (2). Both of Elliott’s attempts came in round one, while Johnson attempted one in round three and two in round four.
110: Total strikes landed by Elliott. Johnson, meanwhile, landed 86. However, “Mighty Mouse” outlanded his opponent 28 to 24 in significant strikes.
10: Flyweight triumphs for Joseph Benavidez following his split-decision triumph over Henry Cejudo in the co-main event. That is the second-most of any UFC flyweight behind only Johnson. Benavidez is 10-2 at 125 pounds, with both of his defeats coming against “Mighty Mouse” in title bouts.
9: Unofficial media scorecards, of the 18 tracked by MMADecisions.com, that scored the flyweight bout between Benavidez and Cejudo a draw. Five media members scored the bout for Benavidez, while four others saw it in favor of Cejudo.
1: Significant strike advantage for Benavidez, who outlanded his opponent by identical 22-to-21 counts in rounds one and two. Cejudo held a 26-to-25 edge in round three.
29: Significant body strikes for Cejudo. By comparison, Benavidez landed 19.
1: Takedown landed in seven attempts by Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling in 2008.
33: Significant strikes by which Jorge Masvidal outlanded Jake Ellenberger before the welterweight contest ended via bizarre TKO after Ellenberger’s toe became stuck in the cage 4:05 into round one.
2-6: Record for Ellenberger in his last eight appearances after beginning his promotional tenure with eight victories in his first 10 fights. “The Juggernaut” has been finished in four of those losses.
.620: Significant striking accuracy for Jared Cannonier (59 of 94) in his unanimous decision victory against Ion Cutelaba at light heavyweight. That included an 84 percent success rate in round two, when Cannonier landed 21 of 25 significant strikes. Cutelaba, meanwhile, landed 45 of 142 significant strikes, a 31 percent clip.
6: Takedowns landed in seven attempts by Cutelaba. “The Hulk” failed to land a single takedown in his first two UFC appearances.
588: Days since Alex Davis’ last Octagon appearance, a second-round submission of Sarah Kaufman at UFC 186. Davis returned for the first time since her pregnancy at the “TUF 24” finale, where she was submitted by Sara McMann via arm-triangle choke 2:52 into the second stanza.
23: Professional bouts for Davis without being submitted before McMann defeated her via tapout in her 24th appearance. It was also McMann’s first finish since stopping Sheila Gaff via first-round TKO at UFC 159 in April 2013.
5: Takedowns landed in 13 attempts by Brandon Moreno in a three-round verdict over Ryan Benoit at flyweight. Moreno also outlanded his foe 78 to 25 in total strikes to earn his second UFC victory in approximately eight weeks.
34: Significant strikes by which Ryan Hall outlanded Gray Maynard in their featherweight tilt. Maynard never landed more than five significant strikes in a frame en route to losing a unanimous decision. Hall has now outlanded Maynard (46 to 12) and Artem Lobov (23 to 2) by a combined 69-to-14 count in significant strikes in two Octagon appearances.
3: KO/TKO finishes in three UFC triumphs for Rob Font, who finished Matt Schnell with a knee and follow-up punches 3:47 into the opening round of their bantamweight encounter. Font has also knocked out Joey Gomez and George Roop in UFC competition.
114: Total strikes landed by Octagon newcomer Jamie Moyle in her unanimous decision triumph over Kailin Curran at strawweight. Moyle outlanded her foe 42 to 28 in round one and 37 to 24 in round two, while Curran held a 37-to-35 edge in the third.