Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 197 ‘Holloway vs. Rodriguez’

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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: 6,383
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 585

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to its headquarters of the UFC Apex and put on a show that blew fight fans away. With stoppages in most of the battles, and what some called an instant classic in the main event, the show overdelivered from pillar to post. UFC Fight Night 197 featured the longest-ever stretch of knockouts at a single event, the victorious headliner putting more distance between himself and the rest of the pack and a prudent corner stoppage that should draw no criticism.

It’s Always the Quiet Cards: From beginning to end, the 11-fight offering saw eight bouts end by knockout. This ties the record for the most at any UFC event, shared with five other cards: UFC 92, UFC on Fox 7, UFC Fight Night 45, UFC 199 and UFC 218. Headliner Max Holloway has prevailed at three of those six shows.

All Action, All the Time: Spanning from Sean Woodson’s win to Marcos Rogerio de Lima’s triumph, seven consecutive bouts ended by technical knockout. That seven-knockout streak is the longest of its kind in UFC history.

Elbows Sharp and At the Ready: Three of the eight knockouts of the evening resulted from elbow strikes. The trio of elbow-related finishes ties UFC on Fox 6 and the TUF 17 Finale for the most at any one UFC card.

Mr. 3,000: Lumping Rodriguez up with 230 significant strikes, and 251 overall, Holloway eclipsed the 3,000 total strike mark to a tally of 3,056. He is the first fighter in company history to land at least 3,000 total strikes.

You’re Slacking, Max: Only the third-highest quantity landed in a fight for him, the 230 significant strike quantity for Holloway further separated himself from any other fighters across the history of the organization for the most ever. Holloway has now landed an eye-popping 2,848 significant strikes, good for more than 1,000 above the next highest number of Frankie Edgar at 1,799.

A Tornado of Striking: With 445, 290 and now 230 significant strikes scored on his ledger, Holloway is in possession of the most, second-most and fifth-most recorded in a fight in UFC history.

Fists to Many Faces: For the 13th time as a UFC fighter, Holloway has exceeded the 100 significant strike total. Each of his last nine outings has seen him pass this mark, and both the 13 fights and the nine-bout streak are records that Holloway set and continues to build.

He’s Got Wrestling Too: While also continuing to shatter striking records, Holloway broke his own personal maximum number of takedowns landed in an appearance. Holloway successfully grounded Rodriguez three times, a new personal best.

Technicalities That Matter: Holloway has competed 23 times as a featherweight, not counting catchweight bouts against Clay Collard and Anthony Pettis. This breaks a tie with Darren Elkins for the most in divisional history.

Don’t Forget the Catchweight: “Blessed” remains the winningest 145-pound fighter in UFC history with another victory on his record. His 17 wins in the division propel him further from the pack, as Elkins (15) is the only competitor with more than 12.

The Unbreakable Chin: Holloway has now stepped into the Octagon a total of 25 times in his career. In that time, the Hawaiian has never been knocked down. He adds to his own record of the longest stretch of UFC fights without being dropped once.

Cardio for Weeks: For the sixth bout in a row, Holloway has fought 25 full minutes. The record for the most consecutive complete five-round tilts for a UFC fighter is seven, which occurred from Georges St. Pierre’s run spanning from 2009 to 2013.

Max Money: Taking home a “Fight of the Night” bonus for his thriller with Rodriguez, Holloway pocketed his ninth post-fight bonus check. He now holds the most in UFC featherweight history, snapping a tie with Cub Swanson and Chan Sung Jung.

Give and Take: While Holloway did land 230 significant strikes, “El Pantera” returned fire with 159 successful blows of his own. This total of 389 clocks in as the third most in any UFC fight. The others above that are Holloway against Brian Ortega (400) and Holloway facing Calvin Kattar (578).

Questionable Stoppage and Then Some: Smashing Ben Rothwell in 32 seconds, Marcos Rogerio de Lima advanced his career finish rate to 84% in victory. Of his 16 career stoppages, 14 have come in the opening frame.

End of an Odd Era: By running roughshod over Rothwell to win two in a row, Rogerio de Lima concluded an 11-fight stretch where he alternated wins and losses. This put an end to the record of the longest such alternating win/loss streak in UFC history.

Easy, Herb Dean: Before his knockout loss to “Pezao,” the last time Rothwell had been stopped with strikes came at UFC 104 in October 2009 to Cain Velasquez. At that time, the only other fighters from UFC Fight Night 197 that were pros at the time were Rafael Alves and Rogerio de Lima.

A Feenom Based on Competition: Entering into a record sixth bout as a women’s featherweight, Felicia Spencer battered Leah Letson and forced a late stoppage. “Feenom” has won only half of her bouts at 145 pounds.

Manning the Gate to Nowhere: All three of Spencer’s UFC victories have come by stoppage, following her late finish of Letson. She and former foe Megan Anderson are now tied for the most wins inside the distance at their division.

It’s Not Brutality, Simply Mercy: Sealing the deal at 4:25 of the third round, Spencer’s finish of Letson became the latest in UFC women’s featherweight history.

Do a Little Turn on the Catwalk: A clean 75% of Alves’ career wins have come inside the distance, following his first-round guillotine choke of Marc Diakiese. Three of the last four victories for “The Turn” ended by guillotine.

Make Weight First: Although he missed weight by 1.5 pounds, Joel Alvarez wrecked Thiago Moises in just over three minutes. “El Fenomeno” has rattled off four finishes within two rounds since his unsuccessful UFC debut in 2019, while keeping his perfect finish rate of 100%.

No Shame in This: By battering the body and doing damage on the feet, Andrea Lee forced Cynthia Calvillo’s corner to intervene at the end of the second frame. The corner stoppage is just the second in UFC women’s divisional history, with the first in December 2020 when Sam Hughes’ corner halted her match with Tecia Torres after the first round.

Normalize Towel Throwing: Dating back to the beginning of 2019, the only two corner stoppages inside the Octagon have come for female fighters. Prior to that, the last team to throw in the towel for their fighter was Douglas Silva de Andrade, when he fell short against future champ Petr Yan at UFC 232 in December 2018.

South Korea on the Rise Again: Clobbering Kennedy Nzechukwu with standing elbow strikes, Da Un Jung forced the finish in the opening round. The surging South Korean now celebrates a career finish rate of 87%, with 73% of his wins coming due to strikes.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 197, Rodriguez had never lost on the scorecards (16 fights); Letson (six fights) and Miguel Baeza (11 fights) had never been finished and Julio Arce (21 fights), Moises (20 fights) and Nzechukwu (10 fights) had never been knocked out.

Make the Rocking World Go Round: Over the years in the UFC, many fighters have selected songs from rock band Queen’s vast library. In four of her five past fights, Spencer had gone with Queen, but at UFC Fight Night 197, she went with a different tune. Picking “Fat Bottomed Girls,” Spencer is the first fighter in company history to go with this specific cut.

Mongolian War Cries: Opting for “Wolf Totem” by Mongolian throat singing rock band The Hu, Jung came out and demolished Nzechukwu in the first round. Fighters that use tracks from this band have won 83% of their appearances in the UFC.