While Cormier prevailed in his first light heavyweight title defense, he took his fair share of punishment in earning a split-decision victory over “The Mauler.” Gustafsson blasted Cormier with a left hook that altered his vision in round two and nearly ended the fight with a knee in the third, but it was the American Kickboxing Academy product’s relentless work in the clinch that ultimately proved to be the difference. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 192, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
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260: Combined significant strikes landed by Cormier (140) and Gustafsson (120), the largest output for any light heavyweight fight in UFC history. It is also the second-most of any UFC championship fight in history behind only the 308 significant strikes landed by Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler in their welterweight title fight at UFC 171.
16: Combined significant strikes by which Cormier-Gustafsson surpassed the UFC 165 encounter between Gustafsson and Jon Jones , who combined to land 244 significant strikes.
219: Total strikes landed by Cormier. Gustafsson, meanwhile, landed 130 total strikes. Cormier held his largest edge in round one, outlanding his foe by a 56-to-7 margin.
48: Significant clinch strikes landed by Cormier. By comparison, Gustafsson landed 15.
102: Signficant strikes at distance landed by Gustafsson. Cormier, meanwhile, landed 86.
1: Takedown landed, in five attempts by Cormier against Gustafsson. “The Mauler” defended all but one of Jon Jones’ 11 takedown tries at UFC 165.
13: UFC victories for Ryan Bader, tying him with the man he defeated on Saturday, Rashad Evans, for the second most wins in modern light heavyweight history. Jon Jones is first with 15 light heavyweight triumphs.
27: Significant strikes by which Bader outlanded Evans. The Power MMA Team product outlanded his foe 18 to 11 in round one, 11 to eight in round two and 23 to six in round three.
4:15:55: Total fight time for Evans, No. 7 among active fighters in the promotion. “Suga” spent 15 minutes in the Octagon on Saturday night to surpass Demetrious Johnson (4:03:19), Demian Maia (4:09:11) and Lyoto Machida (4:12:15).
51: Significant strikes by which Ruslan Magomedov outlanded Shawn Jordan in their heavyweight showdown. The Russian fighter outlanded his foe in each frame to capture a unanimous decision, his third consecutive triumph in the Octagon.
1: Takedown landed, in nine attempts by Jordan. Magomedov has successfully defended all but two of the 18 takedowns attempted against him in three UFC appearances.
17: Significant strikes by which Joseph Benavidez outlanded Ali Bagautinov in their flyweight tussle. The Team Alpha Male foe landed 48 of 146 significant strikes, a 32 percent rate. Meanwhile, Bagautinov landed 31 of 121 significant strikes, a 25 percent clip.
3: Takedowns landed, in six attempts, by Julianna Pena in her three-round verdict over Jessica Eye, more than any foe has landed against Eye in her previous four UFC bouts. Pena also passed guard six times and attempted three submissions.
100: Total strikes landed by Pena. By comparison, Eye landed 77.
5: Knockdowns landed by Albert Tumenov in his last four UFC bouts. The Russian floored Alan Jouban with a left cross to earn a TKO victory 2:55 into the opening stanza of their welterweight clash at UFC 192. Tumenov also landed two knockdowns apiece in Octagon triumphs against Matt Dwyer and Anthony Lapsley.
4: Standing rear-naked choke finishes in UFC history after Rose Namajunas utilized the maneuver to submit Angela Hill 2:47 into their strawweight clash.
57: Seconds needed for Sage Northcutt to defeat Francisco Trevino, making it the fourth-fastest finish for a debuting lightweight in UFC history. Northcutt took his foe down and finished the contest with a flurry of ground-and-pound.
19: Age, in years, of Northcutt, making him the third-youngest fighter to appear in the Octagon behind only Dan Lauzon (UFC 64) and Sean Daugherty (UFC 2), who were both 18 when they made their debuts. Northcutt is one month younger than Vitor Belfort when “The Phenom” first surfaced at UFC 12 in 1997.
20: Significant strikes by which Northcutt outlanded his foe during their abbreviated encounter. The Katy, Texas, native landed 18 of his 21 significant strikes either in the clinch (eight) or on the ground (10).
13: Finishes, in 13 professional victories for Derrick Lewis, who stopped Viktor Pesta with ground-and-pound from full mount 1:15 into the third round of their heavyweight clash. Twelve of those triumphs have come via knockout or technical knockout.
1: Fighter with at least six UFC appearances that has had all of his fights end via knockout or technical knockout after Lewis’ victory over Pesta, according to MMADecisions.com. “The Black Beast” is 4-2 in those contests in the Octagon.
28: Significant ground strikes landed by Lewis over the course of the final two rounds. By comparison, Pesta landed six significant ground strikes in the whole bout.