Luke Rockhold staked his claim to a middleweight title shot in emphatic fashion, as he submitted former title contender Lyoto Machida with a rear-naked choke 2:31 into the second frame of their headlining clash at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Saturday night. With the dominant win, Rockhold’s knockout loss to Vitor Belfort feels more and more like a distant memory.
While Souza simply maintained, up-and-comers such as Max Holloway, Paige VanZant and Beneil Dariush had breakout victories earlier on the card. The intriguing crop of rising stars made for plenty of facts and figures to examine. Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC on Fox 15 “Rockhold vs. Machida,” with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
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11: Finishes by Rockhold in UFC/Strikeforce competition, tying him with Anderson Silva for most in the combined history of the two promotions.
4: Consecutive finishes for Rockhold, the second-longest active streak in the UFC behind only Ronda Rousey, who has five. In addition to Machida, Rockhold has finished Michael Bisping, Tim Boetsch and Costas Philippou during his current tear.
3: Opponents who have finished Machida in 28 professional bouts: Rockhold, Jon Jones (UFC 140) and Mauricio Rua (UFC 113).
20: Total strikes by which Rockhold outlanded Machida. The American Kickboxing Academy standout also held a 23-to-13 advantage in significant strikes landed.
11: Significant ground strikes landed by Rockhold. Machida, meanwhile, landed just one.
6:10: Total Octagon time for Souza and Camozzi in their two UFC bouts. “Jacare” secured his second short-notice submission triumph over Camozzi on Saturday with an armbar 2:33 into round one. The Brazilian submitted Camozzi with an arm-triangle choke 3:37 into their first meeting at UFC on FX 8.
5: Consecutive UFC victories at middleweight for Souza, tying him with Thales Leites and Yoel Romero for the second-longest active streak in the division. Reigning 185-pound king Chris Weidman is first with eight straight wins.
16: Career submission triumphs for Souza, who has tapped the likes of Gegard Mousasi, Ed Herman, Robbie Lawler, Matt Lindland and Alexander Shlemenko over the course of his professional career.
5: Consecutive featherweight victories for Max Holloway, tying him with Conor McGregor for the second-longest active streak in the division behind Jose Aldo (seven). Holloway, who has won six straight fights overall, submitted Cub Swanson with a guillotine choke 3:58 into round three.
26: Significant strikes by which Holloway outlanded Swanson. The Hawaiian known as “Blessed” held a 55-to-33 edge in significant strikes over the last two rounds.
24: Significant strikes to the body landed by Holloway. By comparison, Swanson landed 10.
199: Total strikes landed by Paige VanZant in her dominanting three-round verdict over Felice Herrig, a UFC strawweight record. The Team Alpha Male product outlanded her foe 45 to 21 in round one, 60 to 17 in round two and 94 to 6 in round three. “12 Gauge” also held a 67-to-28 edge in significant strikes.
12:00: Unofficial minutes of control time for Beneil Dariush in his unanimous decision triumph over Jim Miller in matchup of Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts. Dariush outgrappled his veteran foe for the majority of the lightweight contest to earn his fourth consecutive triumph.
11: Guard passes executed by Dariush during the three-round bout.
4: Combined submission attempts for Dariush (one) and Miller (three).
34: Career submission attempts for Jim Miller, who moved past Chris Lytle and into sole possession of first-place on the UFC’s all-time list on Saturday night.
1: Takedown landed by Ovince St. Preux opponents in his six UFC triumphs. Patrick Cummins became just the second man to take down OSP, landing one in three attempts, in a first-round technical knockout loss to the ex-University of Tennessee football player. Ryan Bader took St. Preux down nine times in his lone Octagon defeat last August.
4:18: Time of Gian Villante’s third-round knockout of Corey Anderson, the second latest KO/TKO in a light heavyweight bout in UFC history. Mauricio Rua’s stoppage of Mark Coleman 4:36 into round three at UFC 93 remains the latest.
111: Significant strikes landed by Anderson. “Beastin’ 25/8” held a 111-to-70 advantage overall in defeat. It was the third consecutive fight that a Villante opponent has landed at least 100 significant strikes against him.
30: Significant leg strikes landed by Villante. By comparison, Anderson landed just three. The former Hofstra University football standout consistently attacked his foe’s lead leg before an overhand right to the temple in round three set up his stoppage victory.
1: Fighters to earn an arm-triangle submission victory from bottom position after Aljamain Sterling accomplished the feat against Takeya Mizugaki in their bantamweight clash. FightMetric.com does not include Jeremy Horn’s arm-triangle sub of Chuck Liddell at UFC 19 in this category because the maneuver did not originate from the bottom.
4: Consecutive welterweight victories for Tim Means, tying him with Stephen Thompson for the second-longest active streak in the division behind Neil Magny (six). Means submitted George Sullivan with an arm-triangle choke 3:41 into the third round of their welterweight encounter.
609: Days since Diego Brandao’s last Octagon triumph. “The Ultimate Fighter 14” featherweight winner got back in the win column on Saturday with a first-round doctor stoppage victory over Jim Hettes in a preliminary featherweight contest.