Fight Facts: UFC 293 ‘Adesanya vs. Strickland’

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: 7,337
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 663

The Ultimate Fighting Championship brought forth a pay-per-offering that some held their nose at on paper but delivered when it mattered most. With new storylines to contemplate and dramatic results to celebrate, there was plenty to offer for local fans and the community as a whole. UFC 293 featured a challenger that defied impressive but not historic odds, an extremely rare choke from a Russian knockout artist and back-to-back blistering stoppages on the main card.

A Strange New Era Has Begun: Pulling off the massive upset, Sean Strickland claimed the middleweight strap from Israel Adesanya by decision. He becomes the sixth UFC 185-pound kingpin from the United States, which is still the fewest for any division north of featherweight.

Many Fists in Many Faces: Across their five-round encounter, Strickland connected with 137 significant strikes while registering the first knockdown that Adesanya had ever suffered in the Octagon. Strickland’s total of 982 at the middleweight division puts him just seven behind the fourth-most in Robert Whittaker.

Nowhere Close to the Biggest Upset in UFC History: As a +475 underdog, the challenger sprang the third-largest betting upset in the UFC this year. The top spot goes to +600 Alexa Grasso over Valentina Shevchenko (-900), while Elves Brener at +500 beating Guram Kutateladze (-650) is also above that.

Big Guys, Long Arms: In the second round, Alexander Volkov landed an Ezekiel choke on Tai Tuivasa. He became the third fighter in UFC history – joining Remco Pardoel and Alexey Oleynik – to perform this submission.

Sean Sheehan Nailed This Flier: Volkov elevated his career finish rate to 76% by tapping out the Aussie. It marked his first submission since he hit a triangle choke on Denis Smoldarev at an M-1 Challenge event in 2016.

Skipping Contender Series to Become a Contender: After three hard-fought rounds, Manel Kape and Felipe dos Santos scored “Fight of the Night” honors while Kape earned the nod on the scorecards. “Starboy” picked up just his third career victory by decision, with two of those three coming in his last two fights.

Maori Might: Justin Tafa smeared Austen Lane in 82 seconds in their rematch. The Aussie has earned all seven of his pro victories by knockout, with five coming in under two minutes.

Under, All Day: Not counting his no contest, 15 of the 16 pro outings for Lane have concluded by knockout. The lone fight ending via submission came when he tapped Brad Taylor with a rear-naked choke in 2021.

No Pleasure for the Pleasure Man: Keeping his 100% finish rate intact by smoking Anton Turkalj with punches in the first round, Tyson Pedro has now performed an equal number of knockouts to submissions (five apiece). All 10 of his pro victories have concluded in the first round.

Ex Post Facto: Courtesy of replay, Carlos Ulberg earned a late third-round rear-naked choke win over Da Woon Jung. The Kiwi had never before performed a submission, and he had never finished a fighter later than the second round.

Brawls in Bunches: During their back-and-forth battle, Nasrat Haqparast and Landon Quinones combined to land 319 significant strikes. This matchup clocks in just 15 sig strikes behind Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone’s lightweight non-title leading 334 back in 2011 at UFC 141.

A Throwback Fighter: It took Gabriel Miranda 59 seconds to strangle Shane Young with a rear-naked choke. The Brazilian still posts a 100% finish rate, with 16 of his 17 triumphs coming by submission.

Another Ding for Ireland: Ulberg was not the only fighter on the card to pull off his first submission as a professional. In the card opener, Kevin Jousset snagged a rear-naked choke on Kiefer Crosbie as well. Before that result, the Frenchman by way of New Zealand celebrated half his wins by knockout and the other half via the judges.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 293, dos Santos had never been defeated (eight fights), Turkalj (10 fights) and Jack Jenkins (14 fights) had never been knocked out and Young had never been submitted (20 fights).

Eminem Eminem Eminem: Throughout the event, three different competitors selected music from Eminem. Jenkins, Young and Jousset all tempted fate, with the final rap battle from “8 Mile,” “Till I Collapse” and “Not Afraid” chosen, respectively. With Jousset the lone fighter coming out unscathed, this marks the first event since UFC on Fox 27 in 2018 to feature three Eminem tracks.

Do You Get It? Tafa became the second recorded fighter in organizational history to walk out with a song from John Denver playing behind him. Joining Cody Stamann from back in 2019, both of them went with “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and both men ended up prevailing.

Take ‘Em to the Chorus: Still the only fighter to pick “SexyBack” as his entrance music, Turkalj went 0-3 with Justin Timberlake when Pedro knocked him out. Other Timberlake songs have been selected by other fighters over the years, but Turkalj lays sole claim to this one.