Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 175

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

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.

* * *

TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5,752
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 530

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned with an event once again hampered by COVID-19, starting strong but slowing as the night progressed. UFC Fight Night 175 featured one of the winningest welterweights earning arguably the biggest victory of his career, a pair of unbeaten fighters keeping it rolling and some unfortunate distinctions for the one of the defeated fighters on the card.

A VERITABLE SUB PEN: UFC Fight Night 175 began with four consecutive submissions, making it the first event since UFC Fight Night 90 in 2016 to start off in such a fashion. It is only the third in company history to begin with at least this many straight subs, with the first at UFC 7.5.

QUADRA-TAP: This event featured the first four-submission stretch in almost two years, as the first two fights of the night all ended by tapout. This last took place at UFC Fight Night 140 in 2018 – Neil Magny and Ricardo Lamas were both featured highly on that card.

STEADY AS SHE GOES: As each of the last six bouts of the evening went to a decision, this card is the first since 2016 to require judicial intervention six consecutive times to end the night. Only four previous events saw this happen: UFC Fight Night 84 in 2016, UFC Fight Night 78 and UFC 191 in 2015, and the first at UFC Fight Night 44 in 2014.

TWO MORE ROUNDS WOULD HAVE BEEN TORTURE: The headliner of Anthony Smith vs. Aleksandar Rakic only lasted three rounds as it was upgraded to the marquee position after replacing the canceled Zabit Magomedsharipov-Yair Rodriguez matchup. It is the second event this year to feature a three-round main event, following UFC Fight Night 173.

HOW MANY TO HALL OF FAME ELIGIBILITY? Overwhelming Robbie Lawler to earn a decision, Magny placed himself with the second-most triumphs in UFC welterweight history with 16. Only Georges St. Pierre holds more (19) – since Magny’s 2016 win over Johny Hendricks came in a catchweight bout.

THE BULLY’S LAST BULLYING: Lamas took a spirited decision against the debuting Bill Algeo and potentially announced his retirement. If this is the last appearance for “The Bully,” he will leave the sport as a former UFC featherweight title challenger, hanging up his gloves with a Zuffa record of 15-8 while recording one of two flying knee knockouts in World Extreme Cagefighting history, doing so against Bendy Casimir at WEC 47 in 2010.

BY GANAY MEANS NECESSARY: Impa Kasanganay stayed undefeated at 8-0 with a decision over Maki Pitolo; six of Kasanganay’s eight victories have come on the judges’ scorecards, including each of his last four.

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK: Zak Cummings rebounded from a defeat by capturing a decision over Alessio Di Chirico. Since signing with the promotion in 2013, Cummings has won two fights only to lose the third. This cycle has repeated itself four times and is has begun its fifth rotation.

EXPERIMENTS IN THE MMA LAB: Alex Caceres pulled off his first submission win since January 2014 when he tapped Austin Springer with a rear-naked choke. The last time “Bruce Leeroy” submitted an opponent, only four of the other fighters on this card were on the UFC roster. Another four had yet to make their professional debuts.

A TRIO FOR LEEROY: For the first time in Caceres’ 23-fight UFC career, he has prevailed in three consecutive bouts. Although he did briefly string together such a streak in 2012-2013, his third victory on that run was overturned when Caceres failed post-fight drug test.

SUBMISSION (SCALE) : Two fighters missed weight ahead of this event, and both lost by rear-naked choke: Springer was tapped out by Caceres, while Mallory Martin submitted the heavier Hannah Cifers. Five of the last six UFC fighters to miss weight have lost their bouts.

IT’S A BRADY THING: Sean Brady is now a perfect 13-0 as a professional, having submitted Christian Aguilera in the second round. Only three of those 13 have ended in the first five minutes.

POLY WANT A TAPPER? : Brazil’s Polyana Viana snapped a three-fight skid by tapping Emily Whitmire with an armbar. All 11 of Viana’s career victories have come by stoppage, with 10 taking place in the opening round.

FIVE IN THE BANK: Win or lose, all 10 of Martin’s career bouts have gone beyond the first round. Martin dropped a dominant first round to Cifers, and rallied back to win by submission at the 1:33 mark in the second frame.

SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM: Cifers competed for the fourth time in 2020 inside the Octagon, but unfortunately for “Shockwave,” she has dropped all four by stoppage after Martin tapped her out. She is the first member on the roster to compete four times, and may also end the year with the most defeats. No other UFC fighter has lost more than twice this year.

THE WRONG KIND OF RECORD: Cifers is the first female fighter in company history to ever drop four bouts in a calendar year. The most defeats any previous female fighter had suffered in one year was two.

A HOLLOW VICTORY: By appearing four times from January to August, Cifers became the fourth woman in company history to compete four times inside the Octagon in a calendar year. The first to do it was Cynthia Calvillo in 2017, and Angela Hill and Irene Aldana both accomplished this feat in 2019.

SORRY HANNAH: The stoppage loss was Cifers’ fifth under the UFC banner, and she now stands alone with the most defeats inside the distance in UFC women’s divisional history. The submission loss to Martin allowed Cifers to snap a tie she held with Jessica Andrade and Sara McMann.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 175, Smith had never engaged in a UFC bout where he did not land a significant strike in a full round (Round 3, 14 fights), Lamas had never landed 100 significant strikes in a Zuffa bout (23 fights) and Aguilera had never been submitted (20 fights).

ROCKETING TOWARDS WAR: All six of Rakic’s UFC walkouts have been accompanied by the instrumental version of “Ready for War” by 50 Cent. “The Rocket” has now won five of six.

HEY, GUYS, IT’S STEVIE NICKS! Whitmire made her walk to the cage with “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks playing behind her. She is the first fighter in promotional history to use a Stevie Nicks song, although Chase Sherman once walked out to “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac in 2017.