Fabricio Werdum served Cain Velasquez a beatdown in Mexico City. | Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/UFC/Getty
Not only is Fabricio Werdum the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s current undisputed heavyweight champion, but he now has a legitimate claim to being the greatest of all time.
On such a historic evening, there are plenty of facts and figures to review. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 188, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
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6: Consecutive victories for Werdum, tying him with Andrei Arlovski for the longest active winning streak in the division.
96: Significant strikes landed by Werdum, the most Velasquez has absorbed in his UFC tenure. The most any opponent had landed against the American Kickboxing Academy product prior to Saturday night was when Junior dos Santos landed 57 significant strikes against him at UFC 155. Velasquez landed 88 significant strikes in defeat.
79: Significant strikes to the head landed by Werdum. By comparison, Velasquez landed 54.
28: Significant leg strikes for Velasquez. Werdum landed five.
3: Brazilian champions in the UFC: Werdum, Rafael dos Anjos and Jose Aldo. Two others, Bethe Correia and Renan Barao, will challenge for gold later in 2015.
9-1: Record for Werdum since he was cut by the UFC in 2008. During that time, he has posted victories over Antonio Silva, Emelianenko, Roy Nelson, Nogueira, Travis Browne, Mark Hunt and Velasquez.
4: Takedowns landed, in five attempts, by Velasquez. The last takedown proved fatal, however, as Werdum was able to instantly turn it into the fight-ending guillotine choke. Werdum landed one of three takedown attempts.
33: Career takedowns landed by Velasquez, most in UFC heavyweight history. Randy Couture is second with 25.
1,374: Total strikes landed by Velasquez in his career, the most in UFC heavyweight history (Cheick Kongo is No. 2 at 1,025) and No. 6 among active fighters overall. Velasquez landed 117 total strikes against Werdum.
668: Career significant strikes landed by Velasquez, No. 2 among all UFC heavyweights behind only Junior dos Santos (708).
22: Submission attempts for Werdum over the course of his last 24 professional fights, which includes stints in Pride Fighting Championships, Strikeforce and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
602: Days since Velasquez’s last Octagon appearance, a bludgeoning of Junior dos Santos that ended in the fifth frame at UFC 166.
50: Total strikes by which Gilbert Melendez outlanded Eddie Alvarez in their lightweight showdown. Melendez outlanded his foe 15 to 8 in round one, 26 to 18 in round two and 52 to 17 in round three. Melendez also outlanded Alvarez 37 to 31 in significant strikes.
3: Takedowns landed, in 11 attempts by Alvarez. The Blackzilians representative took Melendez down once in round two and twice in round three.
33: Significant head strikes landed by Melendez; Alvarez landed 16.
1-5: Record for Nate Marquardt since he defeated Tyrone Woodley for the Strikeforce welterweight title in 2012. The 36-year-old Colorado native lost via TKO to Kelvin Gastelum after he retired on his stool prior to the third round of their middleweight scrap. It was Marquardt’s third loss via KO/TKO during his current skid.
102: Total strikes by which Gastelum outlanded Marquardt. Gastelum held an 80-to-7 edge in total strikes during the second stanza.
1: Takedown landed, in 15 attempts, by Henry Cejudo against Chico Camus in their flyweight bout. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling was nonetheless able to outwork his foe to capture a unanimous verdict. Cejudo landed six takedowns in his previous victory against former title challenger Chris Cariaso.
133: Total strikes landed by Cejudo. By comparison, Camus landed 59.
2,093: Days since Efrain Escudero last earned consecutive wins in the Octagon, when he bested Cole Miller and Phillipe Nover in his first two promotional appearances in 2008-09. “The Ultimate Fighter 8” alum defeated Drew Dober with a first-round guillotine choke at UFC 188, a victory which followed a decision triumph over Rodrigo Goiana de Lima at UFC Fight Night in February in February.
23: Seconds needed by Patrick Williams to submit Alejandro Perez via guillotine choke, making it the fastest bantamweight finish in UFC/World Extreme Cagefighting history. Scott Jorgensen’s 31-second guillotine of Chad George at WEC 47 previously held the mark.
1: Modern era UFC event to feature two submissions in less than a minute after Escudero and Williams both accomplished the feat at UFC 188. Prior to that, UFC 12 saw Jerry Bohlander (39 seconds) and Justin Martin (14 seconds) secure tapouts in less than a minute.
38: Combined significant strikes landed by Cathal Pendred and Augusto Montano in their uneventful welterweight scrap, which Pendred won via unanimous decision. Neither fighter landed more than nine significant strikes in a single frame. For perspective, Andrei Arlovski landed 51 significant strikes in his wild encounter with Travis Browne at UFC 187, a fight Arlovski finished inside of a round.
.560: Significant striking accuracy for Gabriel Benitez, who landed 60 of 106 attempts in winning a unanimous decision over Clay Collard. Collard, meanwhile, connected on just 34 of 158 significant strike attempts, a 21 percent clip.
30: Significant strikes to the body landed by Benitez, who battered his opponent’s ribs repeatedly with kicks. By comparison, Collard landed just five body strikes.
6: Fighters on Saturday’s card in Mexico City who were born in Mexico: Yair Rodriguez, Efrain Escudero, Alejandro Perez, Francisco Trevino, Augusto Montano and Gabriel Benitez.