Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 239 ‘Tuivasa vs. Tybura’

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: 7,577
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 683

The Ultimate Fighting Championship held up its end of the bargain with ESPN by putting on a fight card, and it overperformed relative to expectations. Across the 13-fight showcase, underdogs sprang several upsets while many grapplers landed impressive finishes. UFC Fight Night 239 ended as a rare evening with multiple technical submissions while featuring a record-breaker at 205 pounds and a mustachioed man tying a longstanding record held by Anderson Silva.

Tap ‘Em If You Got ‘Em: When the event ended, six fights ended by way of submission. This total ties several other fight cards for the fourth-most of any UFC event. UFCs 2, 4 and Fuel 10 hold the joint record of eight apiece.

Apex Daze: Two of the six subs performed throughout the evening saw the defeated fighter lose consciousness. This show is now one of 14 in company history to feature multiple technical submissions, and the only card with three is UFC on ESPN 5.

Sleep Now: The only two fighters on the roster nicknamed “Bam Bam” competed at UFC Fight Night 239: Tai Tuivasa and Bryan Barberena. Both men were rendered unconscious with submissions.

Dom Cruz Called It: Late in the first round, Marcin Tybura put Tuivasa to sleep with a rear-naked choke. This marked the first submission for the Polish heavyweight since 2014, and it was only his second attempt in the Octagon—the first came against Derrick Lewis in 2018.

Still Hitting Upsets at This Age: Via split decision, Ovince St. Preux picked up his 15th win in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. He is now tied for the third-most victories in divisional history with Ryan Bader. Both trail Glover Teixeira (16) and Jon Jones (20).

Wisdom-Enhanced Substance: St. Preux has now made 25 appearances as a 205-pounder in the promotion. This sets the new record for the most fights in the history of the weight class.

Oss, OSP: Landing 143 significant strikes on Kennedy Nzechukwu, “OSP” nearly doubled his personal best of 76 across his UFC and Strikeforce tenures—spanning 33 bouts to that point.

Got You Again: Macy Chiasson rematched and submitted former foe Pannie Kianzad in the same way she won their previous 2018 meeting: via rear-naked choke. The two submissions against Kianzad account for two of Chiasson’s three career tapout victories.

A Good Streak to End: In losing by sub, Kianzad snapped a nine-fight streak during which she heard the final bell every time. This stretch encompassed the entirety of her second stint in the UFC until this defeat.

Right Over the Jaw: Gerald Meerschaert throttled Barberena with a face crank and made him pass out from the maneuver. His is officially the first technical submission via face crank in UFC history, although not the first among all major MMA promotions. Yusuke Yachi performed one in February against Rikuto Shirakawa at Rizin Landmark Vol. 8.

A Record on the Books Since 2012: By finishing Barberena, Meerschaert tied the UFC middleweight record held by Anderson Silva for the most stoppage victories with 11.

How Very Gracie of You: Ten of Meerschaert’s 11 UFC wins inside the distance have come via submission. His triumph further distances him from the next closest fighter of Brendan Allen’s six. He is now the sixth fighter in organizational history to land at least 10 submissions, joining Royce Gracie, Nate Diaz, Demian Maia, Jim Miller and Charles Oliveira.

Veteran with a Mustache: “GM3” entered his 20th fight as a middleweight on the UFC roster when facing Barberena. He is now the eighth fighter to reach this distinction, while being four appearances behind divisional leaders Michael Bisping and Brad Tavares.

The Levy Was Dry: Mike Davis put Natan Levy away with an arm-triangle choke to push his win streak in the Octagon to four. It marked the second submission of his pro career, with his first a kimura of Carlos Guerra five years ago.

That Move Was Not Taught in the Bible: Jafel Filho wrangled Ode Osbourne with a rear-naked choke in the opening round to improve his high finish rate to 94%. Seven of the Brazilian’s 10 submission victories have come via RNC.

How Very Murilo Bustamante of You: It took Jaqueline Amorim 98 seconds to tap Cory McKenna with an armbar, including a near-stoppage by referee Mike Beltran. Her submission is the fourth-fastest in the UFC’s strawweight division, and four of the seven subs in under two minutes for the 115-pound division have come via armbar.

Don’t Sleep on Her Jitz: Amorim kept her finish rate at 100% with her tapout of McKenna. Seven of her eight pro wins have taken place in the opening frame.

Can’t Choke? Just Kick: Thiago Moises dispatched Mitch Ramirez with leg kicks early into the third round. The Brazilian notched his first knockout since 2018 while claiming the third leg kick stoppage in the UFC’s lightweight division. Edson Barboza performed the first two over Mike Lullo and Rafaello Oliveira.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 239, Isaac Dulgarian had never been defeated (six fights), Levy (nine fights) and McKenna (10 fights) had never been finished and Joshua Culibao had never dropped consecutive bouts (14 fights).

I Break Tradition: In all 15 walks to the UFC cage, Tuivasa has picked a unique walkout song that had often never been selected. This time around, the Aussie went with “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield, a first in the UFC for the song and artist but he did not emerge victorious.

Dun Dun Dun-Dun: For the second time in a row, Amorim chose the Pride Fighting Championships Theme composed by Yasuharu Takanashi. Like her previous outing, the Brazilian picked up a stoppage win.