Fight Facts: UFC 290 ‘Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,225
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 654

The Ultimate Fighting Championship blew everyone away with a spectacular showing in the T-Mobile Arena. In what will likely stand as one of if not the best fight card of the year, the night came with high drama, thrilling finishes and memorable moments. UFC 290 featured a historic number of quick finishes, a shocking pattern involving the number 38 and one of the best retirements a beloved veteran could ever ask for.

Like No Other Night: Setting a modern era record, four finishes in under a minute took place by night’s end. The only past UFC cards with that many were UFCs 1, 8 and 12.

Rock & Roll Strategy: All four of those quick stoppages came via knockout. This ties UFC 8 for the most knockouts in under one minute at any UFC show.

38 Special: Both Bo Nickal and Robbie Lawler ran through their foes in exactly 38 seconds. This marks the third time that UFC events have featured two sub-minute stoppages that occurred at the same second. UFC Fight Night 44 in 2014 and UFC 235 in 2019 were the first two, and those two cards each had a pair of 38-second finishes as well.

Back on the Track: By putting away Yair Rodriguez, Alexander Volkanovski has now won 11 straight fights at the featherweight division. Still unbeaten at that weight category, he sits just two behind former foe Max Holloway for the 145-pound record.

Stone Cold Believer: Unifying his featherweight strap with interim beltholder Rodriguez, “The Great” has now emerged victorious in six 145-pound championship contests. This surpasses Holloway for the second-most in the weight class, behind only Jose Aldo’s eight.

Wild-Eyed Southern Boys: Recording the finish in the third round, Volkanovski joins a small group of under two dozen UFC fighters that have registered stoppages in Rounds 3 and 4 in the tenures. Membership of this pack includes Georges St. Pierre, Jon Jones and Islam Makhachev, to name a few.

Hittin’ and Runnin’: When the dust settled, Volkanovski had landed 66 significant strikes en route to his finish. This brings his total at 145 pounds to 1,320, passing Cub Swanson to claim the no. 2 spot. Holloway’s lead was cut down to a little under 1,500 with that UFC 290 performance.

Back Where You Belong: Snagging the flyweight throne from rival Brandon Moreno, Alexandre Pantoja put Brazil back on the championship map again. The UFC had been without a champ from the South American nation for about a month, since Amanda Nunes relinquished her thrones.

Second Chance: In the unofficial trilogy match between them, Pantoja had his hand raised for the third time, albeit with closer margins each pairing. The first came on “The Ultimate Fighter” in a two-round exhibition that Pantoja won by submission, and the second in the Octagon went to the scorecards in 2018.

Heart’s on Fire: The win for Pantoja was his 10th at 125 pounds, passing Moreno to put him tied with Deiveson Figueiredo for the third-most in the division’s history. Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson are tied for that top spot.

Money Honey: With the two earning “Fight of the Night” honors for their 25-minute scrap, both Pantoja and Moreno moved up on the flyweight leaderboard. While Moreno’s seven puts him two behind all-time leader Johnson, Pantoja has now earned five, putting him in third place along with Kai Kara-France.

Tell Everybody: Pulling off one of the larger betting upsets this year, Dricus Du Plessis ran roughshod over Robert Whittaker to procure a middleweight title shot. As a pro, 19 of the 20 career wins for “Stillknocks” have come inside the distance, including five of his six UFC victories.

Long Time Gone: Whittaker fell short for the first time in a non-title fight since he relocated to the middleweight division in 2014. Before getting stopped by Du Plessis, Whittaker had only lost to champion Israel Adesanya in five-round affairs.

Comin’ Down Tonight: After three close rounds, Dan Hooker edged the heavy Jalin Turner by split decision. So far this year, UFC fighters to miss weight post a winning percentage of .333.

Chain Lightnin’: In under a minute, Nickal decked Valentine Woodburn to perform the finish. A perfect 5-0 as a pro, Nickal has posted all five of his career victories in the first round.

Throw Out the Line: Ahead of his pairing with Woodburn, Nickal closed as a massive -1400 betting favorite. He is now the first fighter in organizational history to come in that highly favored or more on multiple occasions.

Has There Ever Been a Good Goodbye: Saying farewell to the sport, Lawler obliterated Niko Price in less than 40 seconds. This marked his first win in the opening round since his return to the promotion over 10 years ago when he shellacked Josh Koscheck at UFC 157. At that time, Whittaker was the only other fighter from UFC 290 on the roster, while 16 of the remaining 24 had yet to make their professional debuts.

One in a Million: Lawler ends his career with 15 victories inside the Octagon, as one of just six welterweight champs to register multiple defenses. He and Justin Gaethje are the only two fighters in the history of the sport to lay claim to three “Fight of the Year” awards from Sherdog.

You Keep Runnin’ Away: Overcoming late replacement Edgar Chairez at 130 pounds, Tatsuro Taira elevated his unbeaten record to 14-0. The Japanese fighter picked up a decision win, and in the process, reduced his finish rate to 71%.

Fantasy Girl: It took Denise Gomes just 20 seconds to put Yazmin Jauregui away. This stoppage clocks in the fastest in UFC women’s strawweight history, leapfrogging Poliana Botelho’s 33-second body kick finish of Syuri Kondo in 2018.

Rebel to Rebel: This blitzing of Gomes checks in as her second knockout as a 115-pounder. This puts her just one behind Jessica Andrade and Amanda Lemos for the most in the division’s history, while boosting her overall knockout rate to 75%.

Hold On Loosely: In their rematch of a draw from February, Alonzo Menifield throttled Jimmy Crute with a guillotine choke in the second round. Overall, “Atomic Alonzo” has performed 13 finishes in his 14 pro wins, and this time of 6:55 is his latest among those stoppages.

Back to Paradise: Late into the third round, Vitor Petrino put Marcin Prachnio away with an arm-triangle choke. A perfect 9-0 as a professional, seven of his nine victories have come inside the distance.

Teacher, Teacher: Cameron Saaiman schooled Terrence Mitchell and picked up the first-round knockout to elevate his ledger to a clean 9-0. Of his nine triumphs, seven took the judges out of the equation.

First Time Around: One punch from Jesus Santos Aguilar separated Shannon Ross from his consciousness. This knockout slots in as the second-quickest in UFC flyweight history, behind Dustin Ortiz’ 15-second demolition of Hector Sandoval in 2017.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 290, Woodburn (seven fights) and Jauregui (10 fights) had never been defeated, Prachnio had never been submitted (22 fights) and Aguilar had never won by knockout (10 fights).

The Sound of Your Voice: In each of his last six appearances, Volkanovski has selected “Down Under” by Men at Work to enter the arena, and ended as the winner of five of those. Ross could not say the same, picking a cover of that song performed by Luude earlier on the billing.

Caught Up in You: For only the second time after 15 walkouts accompanied by “Can’t Be Touched” by Body Head Bangerz, Whittaker lost. It goes in the books as his first knockout defeat following that particular entrance music.

One Time for Old Times: The debuting Mitchell selected Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” as his walkout song, famously known as the entrance music of wrestler-turned-UFC fighter Phil Brooks. Like “CM Punk” in either of his pro outings, Mitchell did not prevail.