By the Numbers: UFC 221

Yoel Romero can end a fight in the blink of an eye.

The Olympic silver medalist put his explosive power on full display in the UFC 221 headliner, as he knocked out Luke Rockhold 1:48 into the third round in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night. Unfortunately for “The Soldier of God,” he failed to make weight on Friday and will not be going home with the interim middleweight title. Nonetheless, Romero could be in line for a rematch against Robert Whittaker when the undisputed champion returns to full health.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 221, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.

Related » Matches to Make After UFC 221

7: Knockouts in UFC competition for Romero, whose list of victims includes Rockhold, Chris Weidman, Lyoto Machida, Tim Kennedy and Derek Brunson. That figure ties the Cuban fighter with Michael Bisping and Chris Leben for the third most in the history of the division. Thiago Santos and Anderson Silva are tied for first place with eight.

2.7: Pounds by which Romero, who stepped in for the injured Whittaker on short notice, missed weight. That misstep on the scale cost Romero the interim middleweight crown.

45: Significant strikes landed by both Romero and Rockhold. The contest was evenly matched right up until the finish, with each fighter possibly banking a round on the scorecards headed into round three. Rockhold held an 18-to-10 edge in round one, while Romero outlanded his opponent 24 to 17 in round two and 11 to 10 in round three.

13: Significant strikes in the clinch for Romero. Rockhold, meanwhile, landed just one.

44: Significant strikes at distance for Rockhold. By comparison, Romero landed 31 strikes at range.

0: Takedowns attempted by both Romero and Rockhold.

10: Takedowns landed by Curtis Blaydes in a unanimous decision triumph over knockout artist Mark Hunt in the heavyweight co-main event. That figure ties Blaydes with Jake O’Brien for the second-most takedowns landed by a heavyweight in a UFC fight. Cain Velasquez holds the No. 1 spot with an 11-takedown performance in a win over Junior dos Santos at UFC 155. However, Velasquez’s total came over the course of five rounds.

126: Total strikes landed by Blaydes. By comparison, Hunt landed just 35. Blaydes gained momentum as the fight progressed, peaking with a 61-to-7 total strike advantage in the third frame.

29: Career takedowns landed by Blaydes in six UFC appearances. That figure is already enough for the Chicago native to rank second among heavyweights in UFC history behind only Velasquez (34).

3: Consecutive victories for Blaydes, tying him with Justin Ledet, Ruslan Magomedov and Alexander Volkov for the second-longest active winning streak in the heavyweight division. Reigning champion Stipe Miocic owns the top spot with six consecutive triumphs.

35: Significant strikes by which heavyweight prospect Tai Tuivasa outlanded Cyril Asker in their featured heavyweight encounter. The Mark Hunt training partner outlanded his opponent 38 to 3 before finishing the contest with an elbow to the head at the 2:18 mark of round one.

.740: Significant striking accuracy for Tuivasa, who landed 38 of 51 attempts. By comparison Asker landed just 3 of 11 tries, a 27 percent success rate.

7: First-round finishes in seven professional victories for Tyson Pedro, who dispatched Saparbek Safarov via kimura at the 3:54 mark of round one at UFC 221 on Saturday. Pedro also owns first-round stoppages of Paul Craig and Khalil Rountree in the Octagon.

37: Significant strikes by which Israel Adesanya outlanded Rob Wilkinson during the second-round of their middleweight encounter. “The Style Bender” landed 42 of 59 significant strikes — a 71 percent success rate — en route to a technical knockout victory at the 3:30 mark of the period.

12: KO/TKO victories in 12 professional appearances for Adesanya, who continued that streak in his UFC debut against Wilkinson. The 28-year-old Nigerian has finished all of his opponents inside of two rounds.

15: Takedowns attempted by Wilkinson. However, Adesanya was able to successfully defend all but three of his opponent’s efforts to get him to the canvas. Wilkinson went 2 for 10 on takedowns in round one and 1 for 5 in round two.

64: Significant ground strikes — of 73 total — landed by Alexander Volkanovski in a second-round technical knockout triumph over the previously unbeaten Jeremy Kennedy. All told, Volkanovski outlanded his foe 73 to 8 in significant strikes and 105 to 11 in total strikes during a dominant featherweight victory.

7: Flyweight victories for Jussier da Silva following his third-round submission of Ben Nguyen. That ties “Formiga” with John Moraga and Dustin Ortiz for third most in the division’s history. Only Demetrious Johnson (11) and Joseph Benavidez (10) have more wins at 125 pounds.

4: Consecutive victories for Jose Quinonez following his unanimous verdict over Teruto Ishihara in a preliminary bantamweight contest. That ties him with Pedro Munhoz for the second-longest active winning streak in the division behind Jimmie Rivera.