By the Numbers: UFC Vegas 98

Brandon Royval had to dig deep to hand Tatsuro Taira his first career loss.

Royval and Taira went back and forth for five hard-fought rounds in the UFC Vegas 98 headliner, but it was “Raw Dawg” who ultimately earned a split-decision triumph on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Though Royval struggled with the grappling of his Japanese opponent, he was able to assert himself on the feet to earn the nod from two of the three cageside judges. While Taira’s perfect record is a thing of the past, he will likely see his stock rise in defeat.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC Vegas 98, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.

124: Significant strikes landed by Royval. Taira, meanwhile, landed 42. Royval notably outlanded his foe 56 to 5 in Round 3 and 43 to 14 in Round 5. Royval also held a 172-to-80 edge in total strikes landed.

12:13: Total control time for Taira. The majority of that occurred in Round 2 and 4, when Taira took Royval’s back and logged a combined 8:39 of control time. Royval enjoyed just 2:23 of control time in the bout.

6: Takedowns landed in 15 attempts for Taira. Royval landed all three of his takedowns and also attempted three submmissions in the fight.

7: Career UFC flyweight triumphs for Royval, tying him with Henry Cejudo, Tim Elliott and Muhammad Mokaev for 10th most in division history.

25: Octagon appearances for Brad Tavares, who fell to Jun Yong Park via split decision in the UFC Vegas 98 co-main event. Tavares surpassed Michael Bisping for the most middleweight bouts in promotion history on Saturday night.

5:22:35: Total fight time for Tavares, who also moved past Bisping to take the No. 1 position in this category on Saturday. The 36-year-old Hawaiian has been fighting in the Las Vegas-based promotion since 2010.

105: Significant strikes landed by Chidi Njokuani in a lopsided unanimous decision triumph over Jared Gooden at welterweight. Njokuani outlanded his opponent 21 to 3 in Round 1, 52 to 11 in Round 2 and 32 to 6 in Round 3.

56: Significant clinch strikes for Njokuani. By comparison, Gooden landed six.

Related » UFC Vegas 98 Round-by-Round Scoring

1: KO/TKO defeat in 20 professional appearances for Rafa Garcia, as Grant Dawson become the first person to finish the Mexican lightweight in that fashion with a second-round technical knockout victory.

39: Significant ground strikes landed by Dawson. Garcia, meanwhile, failed to land a single significant strike on the canvas. Overall, Dawson outlanded his foe 44 to 5 in significant strikes and 80 to 29 in total strikes.

123: Significant strikes landed by Daniel Rodriguez in a split-decision victory over Alex Morono at welterweight. That marks the fifth time in Rodriguez’s 12-bout UFC tenure that he has exceeded 100 significant strikes. Morono, meanwhile, landed 74 significant strikes in defeat.

5: Consecutive first-round finishes for Ramazonbek Temirov, who continued that streak in his Octagon debut with a technical knockout win over C.J. Vergara at the 2:50 mark of Round 1 in their flyweight encounter. Temirov has won his last 10 professional outings.

3: Knockdowns landed by Temirov in the opening round. That ties him with four others for the most knockdowns landed in a fight in UFC flyweight history. John Lineker twice scored three knockdowns in a bout while competing at 125 pounds.

7: Career victories via rear-naked choke for Pat Sabatini, who earned his first such triumph in the UFC with the maneuver by eliciting a tap from Jonathan Pearce 4:06 into the opening frame of their featherweight duel. Sabatini has earned 12 of his 18 professional triumphs by way of submission overall.

68: Significant strikes landed by Themba Gorimbo in a clear-cut three-round verdict over Niko Price at welteweight. Price, meanwhile, landed 16 significant strikes in defeat. Gorimbo was also successful on seven of nine takedown attempts while racking up 9:14 of control time in the bout.

28: Significant strikes by which Junior Tafa outlanded Sean Sharaf during the decisive second round of their heavyweight bout. Tafa put his exhausted opponent away at the 2:15 mark of Round 2 after being outlanded by a 46-to-35 count in the opening stanza.

32: Significant clinch strikes landed by Julia Polastri in a split-decision triumph over Cory McKenna at strawweight. By comparison, McKenna landed just five significant strikes in the clinch. The Brazilian also held a 35-to-6 edge in significant body strikes.

20: Takedowns defended out of 24 attempts by Cody Haddon in a unanimous decision triumph against Dan Argueta at bantamweight. Haddon also outlanded his opponent 140 to 54 in significant strikes.