Ovince St. Preux needed less than a minute to destroy Shogun Rua. | Photo: Leonardo Fabri/Sherdog.com
Ovince St. Preux saw a small opening, and he took advantage of it.
It was the second consecutive knockout loss for Rua, who was felled by a counter left hook from his opponent. St. Preux, meanwhile, rebounded from a five-round decision defeat to Ryan Bader this past August. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC Fight Night “Shogun vs. St. Preux,” with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
9: Significant strikes needed by St. Preux to hand Rua the fourth KO/TKO defeat of his career. Three of Shogun’s setbacks have come within the last four years.
3: UFC victories for St. Preux in which he has landed less than 10 significant strikes. In addition to his win over Rua, OSP has taken an economical approach in dispatching Cody Donovan (six significant strikes landed) and Nikita Krylov (one). Those three fights lasted a combined 4:10.
499: Significant strikes landed by Rua in his UFC career, moving him past Keith Jardine (497) and Chuck Liddell (498) and into sole possession of sixth place among UFC light heavyweights. Tito Ortiz is No. 5 with 555 significant strikes landed. Rua landed just two significant strikes on Saturday night.
3-5: Record for Rua since losing the light heavyweight title to Jon Jones at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011. “Shogun” has been finished in his last three losses.
27: Significant strike advantage for Alan Jouban during the third round of his unanimous decision defeat to Warlley Alves. The first two rounds were more closely contested, as Jouban landed a combined 34 significant strikes, while Alves landed 29.
12: Media scorecards, of the 13 tracked by MMADecisions.com, that scored the fight for Jouban. Meanwhile, all three cageside judges submitted 29-28 scorecards in favor of Alves.
6: Takedowns landed, in eight attempts, by Dhiego Lima in his three-round verdict over Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira, the most of anyone on Saturday’s card. “The Ultimate Fighter 19” runner-up also attempted four submissions during the bout, but was unable to score a finish against Oliveira, a natural lightweight who took the fight on short notice.
47: Significant strikes by which Lima outlanded Oliveira. The American Top Team Atlanta representative held a 52-to-14 advantage in significant strikes in rounds two and three combined.
32: Combined significant strikes landed by Diego Rivas and Rodolfo Rubio Perez in their 15-minute featherweight clash. Only once did either man exceed 10 significant strikes landed in a single frame in a lackluster contest won by Rivas via unanimous decision.
2: Fighters in modern UFC history to earn consecutive finishes in less than a minute each. Caio Magalhaes joined Mike Swick as the only fighters to accomplish the feat when he knocked out Trevor Smith in 31 seconds. In his previous outing, “Hellboy” stopped Luke Zachrich in 44 seconds at UFC on Fox 11.
7: Occasions in which Charlie Brenneman has been finished in the UFC, tying him for second most in promotion history behind Tank Abbott, who was finished eight times during his tenure with the organization. “The Spaniard” has suffered four KO/TKO defeats and three submission losses in the Octagon, including his first-round rear-naked choke setback to Leandro Silva. Brenneman is in good company, as Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Jason MacDonald, Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir, Pat Barry and Melvin Guillard have all been finished seven times during their UFC careers.
12: Consecutive finishes combined between Friday’s UFC Fight Night in Sydney and Saturday’s card before the bantamweight clash between Thomas Almeida and Tim Gorman went to the judges. Almeida remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision triumph.
16: Finishes in 16 professional appearances for Almeida prior to his UFC debut. The Brazilian, who entered the Octagon with 13 KO/TKO and three submissions victories to his credit, went the distance for the first time in his career against Gorman.
120: Significant strikes landed by Almeida, who landed at a 55 percent success rate. Gorman, meanwhile, landed 67 significant strikes at a 35 percent clip. Almeida outlanded his foe 32 to 25 in round one, 43 to 18 in round two and 45 to 24 in round three.
14: Guard passes in two UFC appearances for American Top Team prospect Colby Covington, who submitted Wagner Silva with a rear-naked choke 3:26 into round three of their welterweight bout.
6: Fighters who made their UFC debuts on Saturday. Thomas Almeida, Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira, Diego Rivas, Rodolfo Rubio Perez, Nina Ansaroff, and Leon Edwards all made their initial Octagon forays at UFC Fight Night “Shogun vs. St. Preux.”