TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5,151
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 479
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday took a trip to Rochester, New York, for the first time and promoted a card with some terrific action. UFC Fight Night 152 featured the best way to make a first impression, the emergence of an unbeaten featherweight contender and a surprising discovery about post-fight bonus awards between genders.
THE NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES: Dating back to UFC Fight Night 129 in Chile roughly one year ago, 11 post-fight bonuses have been awarded to female fighters, this after the Aspen Ladd-Sijara Eubanks rematch was awarded “Fight of the Night.” This accounts for about 13.4 percent of all female fights in that span earning bonuses, or less than half the rate for men’s bouts (27.3 percent).
I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START OR WHERE TO BEGIN, MAN: UFC Fight Night 152 started with five fights that ended before the final horn, becoming the first event to begin with at least five consecutive stoppages since “The Ultimate Fighter 26” Finale in 2017.
KNEE-DEEP IN THE DEAD: With two fighters scoring knockouts from knee strikes, the event joins 15 others for the second-most knee knockouts at a single event in company history. Only UFC 164 holds more with three.
DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE NEED THE MONEY?: As all three post-fight bonuses went to fighters on the preliminary portion of the card, this event is the second in UFC history where no fighters on the six-fight main card earned bonus money. This first occurred at UFC Fight Night 121 in 2017.
FOUR-FOUR: By tapping out Kevin Lee with a fourth-round arm-triangle choke, Rafael dos Anjos picked up the first Round 4 stoppage in 2019 and the first since Max Holloway finished Brian Ortega at the end of the fourth stanza at UFC 231.
NEXT STOP, ‘CYBORG’: After improving her undefeated record to 7-0 by submitting Megan Anderson in the first round, Felicia Spencer has stopped five of those opponents before the final bell. All four of her submission wins have come by rear-naked choke.
TIME FOR THE QUADRILOGY: The author of six knockout victories prior to joining the UFC, all 13 of Charles Oliveira’s finishes inside the Octagon had come by submission prior to his technical knockout of Nik Lentz. The stoppage was his 25th among 27 career wins.
RUMBLE IN ‘DO BRONX’: Oliveira scored his 14th stoppage victory under the UFC banner, tying Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva for the second-most finishes in company history. Only Donald Cerrone has more with 16.
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: Ladd went the distance with Eubanks and, in victory, raised her unblemished record to 8-0. Although she has procured six stoppages in those eight bouts, the only two times she has reached the scorecards have been against Eubanks.
DECISION DES: Desmond Green earned a decision victory over the debuting Charles Jourdain, and he has now gone the distance in about 71 percent of his career bouts, including nine of his last 10.
DAREDEVIL: In landing a flying knee with a follow-up punch to knock out Danny Roberts, Michel Pereira became the seventh fighter in UFC history to score a flying knee knockout in an Octagon debut. “Demolidor” is the second welterweight to do so, as it was a feat first performed by Brad Blackburn against James Giboo at UFC Fight Night 14 in 2008.
HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD: With Pereira picking a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his handiwork, about 81.3 percent of all eligible flying knee knockouts have earned post-fight bonuses.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 152, the promotion had never traveled to Rochester (478 events), Jourdain had never lost a non-title bout (10 fights) and Trizano (eight fights) and Giles (11 fights) had never been defeated.
THE NATURAL DISASTERS: Two fighters -- Ian Heinisch and Ed Herman -- walked out to songs containing the word “Hurricane” in their titles and both sprang sizeable upsets. Heinisch, nicknamed “Hurricane,” walked out to “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan, while Herman used “Rock You Like A Hurricane” by Scorpions. Additionally, Austin Hubbard chose “Tsunami” by Russ and lost on the scorecards.
KUMITE KUMITE KUMITE KUMITE: In each of his last seven Octagon appearances, dos Anjos has walked out with “Fight to Survive” by Stan Bush from the “Bloodsport” soundtrack playing behind him. Overall, fighters using the track celebrate a recorded winning percentage of .750.
WHY DON’T YOU PICK ONE: Walking out to a mashup of four different songs in his Rochester homecoming, Green is the second recorded fighter in promotional history to use four different walkout songs for his entrance. Chris Weidman did so first at UFC 205 in his home state of New York, as well, and both men used “Coming Home” by Diddy - Dirty Money featuring Skylar Grey as part of their music.
COIN-FLIP CURSE: Making his walk to the cage with “Till I Collapse” by Eminem, Davi Ramos captured a decision verdict over Hubbard. This song has the highest recorded winning percentage of any Eminem track with at least 15 uses, with fighters accompanied by it going 14-14-1.
Sherdog contributing editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012 and working 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.