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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 4,979
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 465
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday brought an incredible card to Fortaleza, Brazil, for its second effort on ESPN Plus. UFC Fight Night 144 featured multiple spinning strike knockouts, the breaking of several submission records and a true finisher who more than likely punched his ticket for a title shot.
PARA ORDEM E PROGRESSO: UFC Fight Night 144 became only the second of 34 events held in Brazil to be headlined by two Brazilian fighters. This first occurred at UFC on Fuel TV 10, where Fabricio Werdum met Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the main event in 2013.
SPIN DOCTORS: Before this event, no single UFC card had ever seen more than one spinning strike stoppage. UFC Fight Night 144 gave fans two, as Said Nurmagomedov stopped Ricardo Ramos with a spinning back kick and Johnny Walker laid waste to Justin Ledet with a spinning backfist.
VALLEY OF SNAKES: This event became the first in company history to ever feature two anaconda chokes, with one performed by Charles Oliveira and the other by Markus Perez.
SITTING ON A BEACH, EARNING 20 PERCENT: Five fighters came in to this event undefeated: Sarah Frota, Anthony Hernandez, Taila Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Felipe Dias Colares. Only Rozenstruik maintained his unbeaten record by the time the show was over.
HARDEST WAY TO MAKE AN EASY LIVING: By tapping Raphael Assuncao with a guillotine choke and winning a “Performance of the Night” bonus, Marlon Moraes kept alive an astounding streak. All 13 fighters who won with guillotine chokes in UFC main events since post-fight bonuses were instituted have earned post-fight bonuses.
STOP WASTING TIME: In his last three bouts combined, Moraes has competed inside the Octagon for a combined 4:57, as he has finished Aljamain Sterling, Jimmie Rivera and now Assuncao.
FOR THIS PURPOSE I CAME: In just his fourth bout under the UFC lights, Moraes tied Erik Perez, Ivan Menjivar, Mitch Gagnon and current champion T.J. Dillashaw for the third-most first-round finishes in UFC bantamweight history. They all trail Iuri Alcantara and Pedro Munhoz, who have four each.
TWENTY IS PLENTY: Demian Maia’s win over Lyman Good was his 20th inside the UFC, tying Michael Bisping and Georges St. Pierre for the second-most all-time behind Donald Cerrone (22).
MAIA GOODNESS: After submitting Good, Maia tied Royce Gracie for the second-most submissions performed in UFC history with 10.
BRAZILIAN BACKPACK: In tapping Good with a rear-naked choke, Maia earned his seventh UFC win with a rear-naked choke, tying Kenny Florian’s record for the most rear-naked chokes performed in UFC history.
AGELESS WONDER: With his 29th appearance under the UFC banner, Maia tied Bisping and Jeremy Stephens for the third-most fights in UFC history. They trail Cerrone with 30 and Jim Miller with 31.
GOOD LUCK CATCHING THAT: Oliveira extended his own record for the most submissions performed in UFC history to 13 by tapping David Teymur in the second round of their bout.
VIOLENCE COMES IN MANY FORMS: By stopping Teymur, Oliveira earned his 13th finish inside the Octagon, tying him for the fourth-most all-time with Matt Hughes and Frank Mir. They trail Cerrone (16), Anderson Silva (14) and Vitor Belfort (14).
MANY-TRICK PONY: Although he has six career knockout wins to his credit, every time Oliveira has finished an opponent inside the Octagon, it has been by submission. In his 14 UFC victories, he has forced 13 of them to tap, with his lone decision win coming against Jeremy Stephens at “The Ultimate Fighter 20” Finale in 2014.
SNAKE EYES: When he performed an anaconda choke on Teymur, Oliveira earned his second UFC win with that type of submission. He became only the second fighter in promotional history to tap two opponents with an anaconda choke, joining Phil Davis.
A TRUE PERFORMER: Oliveira earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus by submitting Teymur. It was his eighth in the UFC -- the most of any fighter in company history. He has earned a “Performance of the Night” award in each of his last five wins.
HEAVY SPIN MODE: By knocking out Ledet in 15 seconds with a spinning backfist, Walker earned the sixth spinning backfist knockout victory in UFC history. It was the first to come from a fighter heavier than welterweight and represented the quickest finish of its kind.
JOHNNY B. GOODE: In finishing Ledet, Walker picked up his 16th career victory. He has now finished 15 of his opponents, including 13 in the first round.
LIVE BY THE SPIN …: Nurmagomedov scored the fifth spinning back kick knockout in UFC history when he stopped Ramos with one in the first round.
… DIE BY THE SPIN: Ramos became the first fighter in UFC history to ever win and lose a fight with a spinning strike. Previously, Ramos knocked out Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 217 with a spinning back elbow.
SEVEN POUNDS: Frota missed weight by seven pounds, coming in at 123 for her 115-pound bout, and lost to Livinha Souza. She tied Mackenzie Dern for the biggest weight miss in UFC women’s divisional history, as Dern also weighed 123 pounds before she fought Amanda Bobby Cooper at UFC 224.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE: As first pointed out by ESPN's Greg Rosenstein, Thiago Alves has never lost three consecutive bouts in his career and snapped a two-fight losing streak by narrowly defeating Max Griffin. All four times he has dropped back-to-back fights in his career, the subsequent fight was a victory for Alves.
NOT JUST GREAT KICKBOXERS: In making a successful Octagon debut by finishing Junior Albini with a head kick, Rozenstruik became the first fighter from Suriname to ever compete in the UFC.
IT’S ALIVE!: One week after the bout between Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo was unofficially set to close out the UFC’s flyweight division, two more flyweights met at this event. Rogerio Bontorin defeated Magomed Bibulatov in thrilling split decision, and it was only the second time in 17 fights that Bontorin reached the scorecards. The promotion has at least two more 125-pound bouts scheduled later in 2019, with the next one coming between Kai Kara-France and Raulian Paiva at UFC 234.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 144, Renato Carneiro (14 fights) and Albini (18 fights) had never been knocked out, Good (24 fights) and Ledet (11 fights) had never been finished and Assuncao (18 fights) had never served as a headliner in a Zuffa-owned organization.
FEEL IT COMIN’ IN THE AIR: Jose Aldo has walked out to “Run This Town” by Jay-Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West for all but one of his Octagon appearances, electing to walk out to “Somos Gente de Zambada” by Lenin Ramirez featuring Regulo Caro in his second bout against Max Holloway at UFC 218. Aldo now owns a record of 10-2 when accompanied by “Run This Town.”
HOW OMINOUS: Ledet walked out to 50 Cent’s “I’m Supposed to Die Tonight” and was knocked out in 15 seconds. This song has been used one other recorded time in the UFC: by Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night 64 in 2015. Edwards subsequently knocked out Seth Baczynski in eight seconds.
YOU’RE DOING IT ALL WRONG: After 32 recorded uses of Queen songs prior to this event, Albini walked out to a live version of “Don’t Stop Me Now,” with Adam Lambert on vocals, and became the first fighter in UFC history to use a Queen song without Freddie Mercury. Albini went on to lose by second-round knockout.
Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012, and writing for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on Twitter at @jaypettry.