Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 24

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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: 6,107
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 562

The Ultimate Fighting Championship limped across the finish line with a card that lost several fights within 24 hours of the event itself. The nine fights that remained were still relatively entertaining while answering several questions for fans and analysts alike. UFC on ESPN 24 featured a victor one win away from tying a nigh-unbreakable record, a peculiarity among technical submissions and a disheartening tally of knockout losses for one legend.

Where Everything’s Made Up and the Wins Don’t Matter: The fight coming together on short notice, Marina Rodriguez and Michelle Waterson competed outside of their normal weight class and up at flyweight. Neither woman had ever fought at 125 pounds, although Rodriguez had engaged in a 121-pound catchweight contest in 2017 while Waterson was an atomweight from 2012 to 2014. The larger Rodriguez won by decision.

Not Just Carrying the Water: While Rodriguez’ headliner was her first, Waterson has now fought in four UFC main events, winning two. “The Karate Hottie” tied Valentina Shevchenko for the fourth-most marquee matchups in UFC women’s divisional history, trailing Amanda Nunes (five) and Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm (six each).

Six Six Six, The Fighter of the Beast: By trouncing Donald Cerrone with punches in the first round, Alex Morono evened his career distribution for his method of victory. Morono has scored six knockouts, six submission and won another six on the scorecards. He also picked up a disqualification win in 2014 when Rashid Abdullah bit him.

Not A Lot of Tread on the Tires: In a losing effort, Cerrone tied the record for the most appearances in UFC history with former foe Jim Miller. Both men have competed inside the Octagon 37 times.

Cowboy Tipping: The knockout loss was Cerrone’s eighth under the UFC banner, tying the record for the most all-time. He joins Gabriel Gonzaga, Frank Mir, Alistair Overeem and Stefan Struve as the only non-heavyweight on the list.

Extremely Unlucky 13: Cerrone has suffered 13 losses with the UFC, tying B.J. Penn, Diego Sanchez, Michael Johnson and Ross Pearson for the fifth-most in company history. Clay Guida and Andrei Arlovski both have lost 14 times, Miller 15 and Jeremy Stephens the most with 17.

The Judge Whisperer: Neil Magny won his 12th decision with the promotion by overcoming Geoff Neal. In doing so, he tied Diego Sanchez and Georges St. Pierre for the most decision victories in UFC history.

Magnyficent: The win for Magny in the welterweight division was his 18th overall, placing him one shy for the 170-pound record held by St. Pierre. One of those matches officially took place at a catchweight after Johny Hendricks missed weight, but Magny clocked in for it at 171 pounds.

Gifted Indeed: Putting Diego Ferreira away in the second round in a thriller, Gregor Gillespie lifted his career finish rate to 86 percent. The last six wins for “The Gift” have all come inside two rounds.

Flushing Money Down the Toilet: Ferreira is the 10th fighter in organizational history to miss weight and engage in a “Fight of the Night” bout. The heavier fighters have lost eight of those 10, but not every single on-weight FOTN participant was paid $100,000 for the full bonus like Gillespie.

His Next Fight Is Already Booked: After smashing Jakob Malkoun in 18 seconds, Phil Hawes went on to win a decision over Nassourdine Imavov in February. At UFC on ESPN 24, Hawes beat Kyle Daukaus by unanimous verdict. These two decision wins are the only ones of his career that began in 2014.

No Way Was That 28-28: In a surprising majority decision, Tafon Nchukwi lost for the first time in his young career. The Cameroon native started off with four consecutive knockouts, then beat Jamie Pickett on the scorecards in his UFC debut.

Hello There: The first fight of the night saw Carlston Lindsay Harris make his successful debut by putting Christian Aguilera to sleep with an anaconda choke. Harris is the fourth fighter in UFC history to introduce himself to the promotion with this choke, joining Yoshiyuki Yoshida in 2008, Gerald Meerschaert in 2016 and Alex Perez in 2017.

Sleeping on the Job: The last two losses for Aguilera have come by technical submission, as Sean Brady put him out with a guillotine choke at UFC Fight Night 175 in 2020. Aguilera is now the fifth fighter in promotional history to suffer multiple technical submission defeats, joining Nathan Coy, Al Iaquinta, Josh Neer and Ovince St. Preux.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ESPN 24, Rodriguez had never competed beyond the third round (16 fights), Neal had never dropped consecutive bouts (16 fights) and Ludovit Klein had never lost on the scorecards (19 fights).

Shipwrecked, Your Destiny! Swapping his traditional artist of Amon Amarth, Morono walked out to “Shipwrecked” by pirate metal band Alestorm. He is the first fighter in UFC history to use any song from this band.

Ironic: Ferreira, winner of the 2018 Sherdog Walkout Song of the Year award, changed his walkout song to something less fun and fanciful. The Brazilian picked “Can’t Be Broken” by Lil Wayne, and he went on lose by knockout in the second round.

You’re Bound to Lose Control: In another first for UFC walkout music, Daukaus elected to use “The Rubberband Man” by The Spinners. Although he lost, it is the first time any fighter has ever gone with The Spinners for their entrance theme.