Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 42 ‘Thompson vs. Holland’

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: 6,920
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 629

The Ultimate Fighting Championship claimed the Amway Center in Orlando on Saturday with an event that started slow and built up to a dynamite crescendo. The promotion, which had its single-show record for the most knockouts tied at night’s end, saw its entire seven-fight main card end by stoppage. UFC on ESPN 42 featured several aging vets declaring they were not through yet, a tremendous striking display by a fan favorite and a fighter’s corner having the good sense to know when their athlete was done.

Good Call, Kru Bob: In the history of the promotion, only five events have concluded by corner stoppage following Stephen Thompson’s victory over Kevin Holland: UFC 21, UFC 40, UFC 94 and UFC 138. This is the first since 2011.

They Will Return: Thompson-Holland is the second UFC headliner this year to end at the conclusion of Round 4, as Cory Sandhagen forced the doctor to step in after the fourth frame against Yadong Song in September. Only four main events in UFC history have ever ended at that time.

Wonderful Wonderful: The barnburner between Thompson and Holland earned them both $50,000 checks for “Fight of the Night.” “Wonderboy” has now pocketed eight such bonuses in his UFC tenure, tying Matt Brown and Vicente Luque for the second-most in UFC welterweight history. Chris Lytle’s 10 stands above that pack.

A 20-Minute Car Crash: Holland became the third welterweight whose corner called the fight off between rounds, joining B.J. Penn in 2009 and Sultan Aliev in 2018. He and Penn are the only two in UFC history who reached the 20-minute mark before corner intervention.

RDA Don’t Play: By tapping Bryan Barberena in the second frame, Rafael dos Anjos earned his 21st win under the UFC banner. He is now the seventh fighter in company history to amass more than 20 victories on the roster.

50% of the Time, It Works Every Time: The submission came by way of neck crank, with dos Anjos getting the tap in Round 2. He elevated his career finish rate to exactly 50% with the win, by performing the second neck crank this year in the UFC – the first came from Alexandre Pantoja against Alex Perez in July.

A Full Eight-Hour Work Day: As eight minutes and 20 seconds elapsed before dos Anjos elicited the tap, “RDA” eclipsed the eight-hour mark for total cage time. In the process, he passed Frankie Edgar for the most time spent in the Octagon, with a total of eight hours, one minute and 49 seconds in total on his ledger – the most in organizational history.

Nicoloud and Clear: In the second round, Matheus Nicolau sparked Matt Schnell with punches after landing multiple knockdowns. The Brazilian picked up his first knockout since August 2014, and at the time, 23 of the 28 fighters on this event’s billing, including Nicolau and his opponent, were not on the UFC roster. A whole 13 of those 23 had yet to make their pro debuts as well.

Mean in the Cage, Kind on the Mic: Needing less than a minute to flatten Tai Tuivasa, Sergei Pavlovich recorded his fifth straight first-round knockout. His career stoppage rate stands at a tall 82%, with every one of his finishes coming by strikes.

A New Russian Challenger Has Arrived: With five knockouts in one round on his ledger as a UFC heavyweight, the Russian is already tied with several other fighters including foe Tuivasa for the seventh-most Round 1 knockouts in UFC heavyweight history. Andrei Arlovski, Cain Velasquez and Francis Ngannou hold the top spot together with seven apiece.

Camps Will Drill That Immediately: On short notice, Roman Dolidze stepped up and punished Jack Hermansson, tying him up with a calf slicer and pounding him out late into the second round. The Georgian now posts a stoppage rate of 83% as a pro, with each of his last three victories coming from strikes.

Too Bad He Missed Weight: Philip Rowe kept his career finish rate at 100% by putting Niko Price away in the third round. The stoppage coming at 3:26, Rowe had never needed to fight this long in a bout to finish an opponent.

A Tough Hill to Climb: The appearance for Angela Hill against Emily Ducote was her 21st as a UFC strawweight, adding to her own record in the division. It was her 22nd fight overall, which passes former opponent Jessica Andrade for the most of any female fighter for now.

Angie Can Make It: Beating Ducote by decision, Hill is one win away from the 115-pound record of 10 held by Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Carla Esparza. Her seven by decision are one shy of those two women as well.

The Good Kind of Overkill: Across their 15-minute ordeal, Hill worked Ducote over to land a whopping 182 significant strikes. “Overkill” breaks into the top-five leaderboard at strawweight that was maintained exclusively by Jedrzejczyk, with the fourth-most in the division now. However, all of those performances for “Joanna Violence” were five-rounders, while Hill connected that often over three rounds.

At Least It Wasn’t a Split Decision: The win on the scorecards is Hill’s 10th since turning pro in 2014. Her finish rate sits at a paltry 33% -- all by knockout – and she has gone the distance in all of her last nine outings.

This One Was a Split Decision: Defying the odds, Clay Guida snared a split decision over Scott Holtzman to earn his first win after turning 40 last year. Guida has now been involved in more split decisions (eight) than any other fighter in the history of the UFC.

The Record Is in His Sights: Guida landed four takedowns in his 15-minute battle with Holtzman, putting his total at 76. The only competitors with more in the organization are Gleison Tibau (84) and Georges St. Pierre (90).

DFE Not Going Away: In a losing effort, Darren Elkins did make his 25th appearance in a featherweight contest. This breaks his tie with Max Holloway for the most in the division’s history.

Can Still Grind: Although he fell short, Elkins added two takedowns to his total to notch 56 to grow his lead as a 145-pound UFC fighter. The next closest fighters are Dennis Bermudez (46) and Enrique Barzola (36), neither of whom are on the roster.

The Levy Was Not Dry: Natan Levy pushed Genaro Valdez to the limit and beyond, forcing the Mexican fighter to go the distance for the first time in his career. Prior to this outing, Valdez had only entered the third round one time.

Rojo Needed His Coach: Making his successful promotional debut, Francis Marshall decked Marcelo Rojo to keep his perfect record intact. Five of his seven victories as a pro have ended inside the distance.

My Love for You Is Like a Truck, Berserker: Yazmin Jauregui remained undefeated as a professional, picking up her 10th win in 10 tries. Her blitzing stoppage of Istela Nunes boosted her overall knockout – and finish – rate to a clean 70%, with three knockouts in her last five fights.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ESPN 42, Holland (32 fights) and Nunes (10 fights) had never been knocked out, Kyle Daukaus (15 fights) and Valdez (11 fights) had never dropped consecutive bouts and Marshall had never landed a knockout (six fights).

To Rock a Rhyme That’s Right on Time, It’s Tricky: Barberena opted for “It’s Tricky” by Run-DMC as his walkout song, and he succumbed to a submission by dos Anjos. Albeit ahead of a loss, Barberena is one of just four to choose Run-DMC as a walkout artist, joining Pat Barry, Alexis Davis and Pedro Munhoz.

He’ll Only Fly Away: Continuing his trend of unique entrance music, Tuivasa selected “I’m Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado, belting the song out as he walked to the cage. No fighter before Tuivasa had ever picked any track from Furtado.

Where the Skies Are So Blue: While plenty of fighters have picked various tunes by Lynyrd Skynyrd over the course of UFC history, Anders is only the second (Walt Harris) to select “Sweet Home Alabama.” Anders laid waste to Kyle Daukaus in the second round.