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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5,492
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 507
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday planted its flag in Raleigh, North Carolina, for the first time with a card headlined by a high-stakes heavyweight showdown. UFC Fight Night 166 featured a takedown record matched, an unusual occurrence for post-fight bonuses and the emergence of an exceptionally unorthodox walkout song.
IT WAS ‘SOTN’ AND ‘KOTN’ BACK THEN: UFC Fight Night 166 was the first event since UFC 107 in 2009 in which the first two bouts earned post-fight honors. Herbert Burns picked up a “Performance of the Night” bonus for finishing Nate Landwehr, while Brett Johns and Tony Gravely engaged in a “Fight of the Night”-winning battle that saw Johns secure a third-round stoppage.
A SOLID NUMBER FOUR: In taking home a win with a standing technical knockout of Junior dos Santos in the main event, Curtis Blaydes improved his finish rate to 77 percent.
A HEAVYWEIGHT WHO LIKES ROUND 2?: All 10 of Blaydes’ career stoppages have come by knockout, with more coming in the second frame than any other round.
CAIN PREPARED HIM WELL, BUT NOT WELL ENOUGH: Dos Santos thwarted all six of Blaydes’ takedown attempts, making this only the third bout in the Elevation Fight Team standout’s UFC career in which he failed to land a single takedown.
QUASE TRINTA: In facing Michael Chiesa in the co-main event, Rafael dos Anjos engaged in his 29th bout inside the Octagon. He is the eighth fighter in promotional history to appear at least 29 times. The only fighter from Brazil with more UFC fights than dos Anjos: Demian Maia (31).
WRONG SIDE, NO PROBLEM: Alex Perez picked up the fifth technical submission victory in UFC flyweight history when he put Jordan Espinosa to sleep with an arm-triangle choke in the opening round. It also marked only the second arm-triangle to come from a 125-pound fighter, with the first one executed by Wilson Reis against Scott Jorgensen at UFC 179 in 2014.
HILLING SPREE: By finishing Hannah Cifers with elbows and punches, Angela Hill has now put together the first multi-fight winning streak of her 13-fight UFC career.
NEVER BEATEN, TWICE SHY: In taking a tough decision over Darko Stosic, Jamahal Hill improved his record to 7-0 in his victorious organizational debut. He was the only undefeated fighter to appear on the card.
MONTEL WAS MONEY: Across his three-round encounter with Felipe Dias Colares, Montel Jackson landed 11 takedowns, tying the record set by the aformentioned Johns and Merab Dvalishvili for the most in any bantamweight fight in company history.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 166, dos Santos had never suffered consecutive defeats (27 fights), Burns had never won a fight by knockout (11 fights) and Landwehr had never been knocked out (15 fights).
ROCKY WAS A BOXER, THOUGH: Two fighters—dos Santos and dos Anjos—walked out to songs by Bill Conti from the “Rocky” soundtrack. Dos Santos used his staple of “Gonna Fly Now” while dos Anjos changed up his walkout tune from his standard “Fight to Survive” by Stan Bush from the “Bloodsport” soundtrack to “Going the Distance.” Both Brazilians lost, though dos Anjos did indeed go the distance.
EMBRACING HIS INNER BODYGUARD: A first for recorded walkout music, Jackson entered the PNC Arena to “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston. While fighters have used “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” four times in the past, none had ever selected this song originally written by Dolly Parton. Jackson won in dominant fashion over Colares.
THE AC/DC CURSE?: Landwehr made his debut with popular walkout track “TNT” by AC/DC accompanying him and lost by knockout. “TNT” sports the lowest winning percentage (.333) of any walkout song with over 20 recorded uses by an artist not named Eminem.