Tony Ferguson might have finally punched his ticket to a future lightweight title shot.
While dos Anjos had his moments, Ferguson never faded despite fighting five rounds for the first time in his 13-bout Octagon tenure. “The Ultimate Fighter 13” winner figures to be an interested observer when Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor square off for lightweight gold in a week at UFC 205. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC Fight Night “Dos Anjos vs. Ferguson,” with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
9: Consecutive victories for Ferguson, tying him with Max Holloway for the third longest active streak in the UFC. Only Jon Jones (13) and Demetrious Johnson (10) have more.
1: Lightweight in promotion history with that many consecutive triumphs. Ferguson become the only 155-pounder to win nine straight bouts in the division on Saturday night. Both Donald Cerrone and Gray Maynard previously had eight-bout winning streaks at lightweight.
199: Significant strikes landed by Ferguson, the second most ever in a lightweight fight behind only Nate Diaz (238) and a figure that tops his previous career best by 116.
320: Combined significant strikes landed by Ferguson (199) and dos Anjos (121), the fifth most in the history of the Las Vegas-based organization.
126: Significant head strikes landed by Ferguson; dos Anjos landed 84.
45: Significant leg strikes landed by Ferguson. Dos Anjos, meanwhile, landed 19.
3: Significant strikes by which dos Anjos outlanded Ferguson in round one. The Brazilian was then outlanded by at least 14 significant strikes in each of the next four frames.
5:24:23: Total Octagon time for Diego Sanchez, No. 4 all-time in promotion history behind Georges St. Pierre (5:28:12). Sanchez spent 15 minutes in the cage in a three-round verdict over Marcin Held to move past B.J. Penn (5:18:07).
25: UFC bouts for Sanchez following his clash with Held. That moves him into a tie with Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes for fifth most all time in the history of the promotion.
5: Featherweight finishes in UFC competition for Ricardo Lamas after “The Bully” tapped out Charles Oliveira with a second-round guillotine choke in a featured 145-pound tilt. Only Conor McGregor, Max Holloway and Oliveira — with six finishes apiece — have more in the division’s history.
8: UFC featherweight triumphs for Lamas, tying him for fourth most in the history of the division.
8: Career submission triumphs for Oliveira, a figure which ties him with Frank Mir for fifth most in UFC history. “Do Bronx” is the only one of his top 5 brethren, a list that includes Royce Gracie, Demian Maia, Nate Diaz and Mir, to lose via tapout in the Octagon.
11: Consecutive victories by Martin Bravo to begin his professional career. The 23-year-old won the latest iteration of “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” by stopping Claudio Puelles via second round technical knockout on Saturday.
35: Significant clinch strikes landed by Beneil Dariush in his three-round verdict over Rashid Magomedov at lightweight. By comparison, Magomedov landed 13 significant clinch strikes. All told, Dariush held a 60-to-41 advantage in significant strikes against his Dagestani foe.
140: Combined significant strike advantage for Magomedov in his first four Octagon appearances, all of which resulted in victory.
25: Significant strikes by which Alexa Grasso outlanded Heather Clark in her Octagon debut. The Mexican prospect outlanded her foe 30 to 22 in round one, 8 to 7 in round two and 27 to 11 in round three en route to a unanimous decision triumph in the strawweight bout. Grasso also held a 120-to-74 edge in total strikes.
693: Days since the last heel hook submission in the Octagon, when Ian Entwistle tapped out Anthony Birchak at UFC on Fox 13. Joe Soto became the first person to accomplish the feat since then when he submitted Marco Beltran with a heel hook 1:37 into the opening round of their catch-weight bot on Saturday night.
4: Spinning backfist knockouts in UFC history after Douglas Silva de Andrade used the maneuver to put away Enrique Briones in their bantamweight bout. The Brazilian finished the fight at the 2:33 mark of round three.
31: Significant body strikes landed by Briones in the bout. By comparison, Andrade landed eight.
7: Takedowns landed, in 12 attempt, by Enrique Barzola in a unanimous decision triumph over Chris Avila in a preliminary featherweight scrap, more than anyone on the UFC Fight Night 98 card.