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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5,619
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 518
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday put on quite a show with UFC 250 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event featured the first fighter to ever defend titles in two divisions while still a concurrent champion, the first post-fight bonus for a longtime vet and the first use of an Eminem song this year.
THE GLOW BEGINS TO FADE: Three fighters came into UFC 250 with unblemished records: Sean O'Malley, Chase Hooper and Alonzo Menifield. Of those three, only O’Malley survived unscathed.
ALL CONOR DID WAS ‘RETIRE’: Amanda Nunes clobbered Felicia Spencer to defend her featherweight belt. In doing so, she became the first fighter in UFC history to ever defend two titles while simultaneously holding them. Although Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo defended their straps in multiple divisions, at the time of the defenses, they had vacated their other championship.
MORE HARDWARE THAN HOME DEPOT: Nunes’ victory was her eighth in a title fight, the most for any female fighter in company history. Additionally, she trails only Jon Jones (14), Georges St. Pierre (13), Demetrious Johnson (12), Anderson Silva (11), Matt Hughes (nine) and Randy Couture (nine) for the most wins in UFC championship bouts.
EVEN SHE GOES UP TO 11: The victory was Nunes’ 11th in a row, making her the 10th fighter in promotional history to compile a winning streak of such length. The only fighter on the active roster with a longer streak is lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (12).
THE UNIFIED RULES NEED UNIFICATION: Although Nunes prevailed with two scores of 50-44 and another of 50-45, if the official scores had been awarded by Sherdog.com scoring panel (50-41, 50-41, 50-42), it would have been the widest discrepancy of a five-round fight in UFC history.
WHICH ONE IS CODY 2?: The only two fighters currently on the roster named Cody competed together on this event: Cody Garbrandt and Cody Stamann. Unlike when they appeared at UFC 235 in 2019, both fighters won.
RE-GARBRANDING: When Garbrandt posted his previous win in December 2016, 12 fighters that competed at UFC 250 had yet to make their UFC debuts.
THAT TEAM ALPHA MALE POWER: Not counting his catchweight performance against Augusto Mendes in 2016, Garbrandt’s detonation of Raphael Assuncao was his fourth knockout as a bantamweight. The only 135-pounders with more are former opponent T.J. Dillashaw—who racked up two against Garbrandt—and fellow UFC 250 competitor Eddie Wineland.
THE TATTOOS GIVE HIM STRENGTH: Garbrandt’s finish of Assuncao was a clean knockout. He is now the seventh bantamweight in organizational history to notch more than one such KO win; Dillashaw is the only fighter with three.
NO LONGO, NO PROBLEM: By submitting Cory Sandhagen with a first-round rear-naked choke, Aljamain Sterling earned his 10th victory as a UFC bantamweight. He is the fourth fighter in divisional history to compile at least that many victories, joining Assuncao, Dillashaw and Faber.
STERLING SILVER: Sterling earned his first post-fight bonus in 14 appearances inside the Octagon. The record, which stands at 16 bouts before earning a first bonus, belongs to Darren Elkins. “The Damage” broke his streak in an upset of Mirsad Bektic in 2017.
MAGNYFICENT: Neil Magny pocketed a unanimous decision over Anthony Rocco Martin—his 15th win in the UFC’s welterweight division. If you include his catchweight win over a heavy Johny Hendricks, he ties Matt Hughes for the second-most all-time. The only fighter with more in company history is St. Pierre (19).
SPIN SPIN SUGAR: O’Malley boosted his record to 12-0 by smashing Eddie Wineland in the first round. With the win, “Sugar Sean” now sports a finish rate of 75 percent, with all but one of those stoppages taking place in the opening frame.
SOCK THAT AWAY SOMEWHERE: Starching Wineland earned O’Malley a “Performance of the Night” bonus—his third in his last three bouts.
LIKE WATER: Alex Caceres took a unanimous decision from Hooper on the undercard. When Caceres debuted with an armbar submission of Erick Luke in 2008, Hooper was 9 years old.
TAKE THAT CECIL PEOPLES: Featherweight Chris Gutierrez became the first male fighter below lightweight to score a leg kick finish on May 30. Flyweight Alex Perez became the first competitor below featherweight to do so when he stopped Jussier Formiga with leg kicks in the opening round of their UFC 250 prelim.
BURNING THE CANDLE ON BOTH ENDS: In a 150-pound catchweight affair, Herbert Burns tapped Evan Dunham with a rear-naked choke in 80 seconds. In becoming only the second fighter to submit the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Burns advanced his finish rate to 82 percent, with eight of his nine stoppages coming by tapout.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC 250, Nunes had never gone the distance in consecutive bouts (23 fights), Sandhagen had never been finished (13 fights) and Menifield had never reached the scorecards (nine fights).
SHE IS THE CHAMPION: For her last four fights, Nunes selected “The Champion” by Carrie Underwood ft. Ludacris for her walkout track and to great success. Nunes has won all four fights.
I’LL DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT: In his last 15 bouts, Magny has made his walk with “No Regrets” by Lecrae featuring Suzy Rock playing behind him. In winning 11 of those bouts, Magny’s winning percentage when bolstered by the track is a solid .733.
GROWING WISE TO THE CURSE: Maki Pitolo is the first UFC fighter in 2020 to walk out to an Eminem track. Using “Won’t Back Down” featuring Pink as his entrance music, Pitolo unleashed “Coconut Bombz” to secure a stoppage of Charles Byrd. The last fighter in the Octagon accompanied by Eminem was Andre Muniz in November 2019.