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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 6,468
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 592
The Ultimate Fighting Championship hopped back on the ESPN+ airwaves presenting a bakers’ dozen fights that exceeded expectations. Several hot prospects and recent signings picked up big wins and propelled themselves closer to contention, while one middleweight contender put himself in the title picture in victory. UFC Fight Night 200 featured an increasingly common spinning kick knockout, a $100k check clearing and an unfortunate distinction for a longtime vet.
Middleweight Max Holloway: In the main event, Sean Strickland and Jack Hermansson connected on one another with 290 significant strikes. This five-round total now checks in as the second-most in UFC middleweight history, and the record holder is Strickland’s last fight against Uriah Hall (293).
Natural Weight Class: At 185 pounds, Strickland has still yet to taste defeat as a pro. All three of his career losses came at welterweight, while “Tarzan” posts a 19-0 record when hitting the scales at middleweight or higher.
Grind Firmly Embraced: Over the course of three rounds, Nick Maximov took Punahele Soriano down 11 times. This ties the UFC middleweight record set by Marvin Vettori over Kevin Holland in 2021, but that match took place across 25 minutes, while Maximov needed only 15.
His Power is Not Maximov: Maximov kept his young record perfect at 8-0 after defeating Soriano. Since joining the major stage at Dana White's Contender Series and including his two UFC appearances, Maximov has won by decision. The first five fights of his career all ended by stoppage.
Rakhmonov Beats Chimaev, Change My Mind: Stopping Carlston Harris in the first round, Shavkat Rakhmonov is 15-0 as a professional, with all 15 of his outings ending inside the distance. Nine of his wins have come in the opening frame.
More and More of These Lately: The method of victory for Kazakhstan’s Rakhmonov was a spinning hook kick and follow-up punches. When lumped in with spinning wheel kicks, his finish is the 14th of its kind in the history of the promotion.
Rear-Naked Rider: Tapping Sam Alvey in the second round with a rear-naked choke, Brendan Allen advanced his high finish rate to 83% as a professional. Ten of his 15 stoppages have come by tapout, and seven of those resulted from rear-naked chokes.
Nothing to Smile About: Succumbing to the choke, Alvey suffered his third loss in a row while extending his winless streak to eight. Alvey has not gotten his hand raised since June 2018, tying the UFC record set by B.J. Penn for the longest stretch of fights without a win.
TUF 29: Closed: Bryan Battle handed Tresean Gore his first career defeat after emerging victorious by unanimous decision. Gore was initially slated to face Battle in the finals of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 29, but Gilbert Urbina replaced an injured Gore.
Knock-Down Drag-Out Slobberknocker: Although not officially a featherweight contest as Steven Peterson missed weight, his clash with Julian Erosa combined for 303 significant strikes landed. This tally is outside of the UFC’s top 10 among all divisions, but 303 at 145 pounds it clocks in one higher than Alexander Volkanovski-Brian Ortega for the sixth-most in its category.
Juicy Check: A symptom of Peterson missing weight by three pounds, Erosa took home both halves of their “Fight of the Night” bonus for a total of $100,000. Erosa is the fifth fighter in company history to get both parts of a FOTN check, joining a group that includes Ryan Benoit, Robert Whittaker, Tristen Connelly and Gregor Gillespie.
Junior Lightweight Contender: In three of Erosa’s last five Octagon appearances, he has competed in a nonstandard weight division at 149 or 150 pounds. “Juicy J” has won all three of those catchweight fights.
“Chapo” is Sleeping with the Fishes: In the third round, John Castaneda put Miles Johns to sleep with an arm-triangle choke to record the victory. His technical submission with that maneuver is the ninth of its kind in UFC history, the first for a bantamweight and the first to take place after the second round.
Chidi Chidi Bang Bang Indeed: Chidi Njokuani announced himself to the promotion by knocking Marc-Andre Barriault out in 16 seconds. The knockout debut for “Chidi Bang Bang” is the second-quickest in UFC middleweight history, with only Mark Weir’s 10-second blitzing of Eugene Jackson at UFC 38 occurring faster.
Decision Davis: Needing three full rounds to beat Julija Stoliarenko, Alexis Davis earned a unanimous call from the judges. “Ally-Gator” has gone the distance in each of her last eight fights dating back over five years.
Invicta FC Can Use You: In four UFC appearances, Stoliarenko has lost four times. She joins Jodie Esquibel as the only other woman to go 0-4 after four trips to the Octagon.
They Call That Being “Punked”: Jailton Almeida blew Danilo Marques out of the water, securing the finish at 2:57 of Round 1 while not allowing Marques to get in a single strike, takedown or submission attempt. “Malhadinho” retained his 100% stoppage rate in victory.
Rowe House: Coming back to pound Jason Witt out in the second round, Philip Rowe kept a perfect finish rate of 100% with his win. All but one of his triumphs have come in the first two rounds.
Get Some Bondo: In 82 seconds, Denys Bondar’s arm snapped and he verbally submitted to his injury. It was the fifth time UFC history that the opening fight ended due to injury, joining Tiki Ghosn, Joao Marcos Pierini, Jason MacDonald and Roger Zapata.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 200, Johns had never been submitted (13 fights), Michael Trizano had never lost on the scorecards (10 fights) and Barriault had never been finished (18 fights).
Tonight I Feel Like More: Making his walk to the cage accompanied by “Digital Bath” by Deftones for the second time, Maximov ground out a win over Soriano. Maximov is the only fighter in organizational history to earn more than one victory after using a Deftones song.
No Pretenders Left When I’m Done: Soriano fell short to Maximov following his walkout with “Streets of Siam” by Stan Bush from the “Kickboxer” soundtrack. Every fighter in recorded UFC walkout music history has lost after selecting “Streets of Siam.”