While Rafael dos Anjos lacks the flash of an Anthony Pettis, the charisma of a Conor McGregor or the overwhelming physical tools of a Jon Jones, his results speak for themselves; and they tell the tale of one of this generation’s most accomplished fighters.
As dos Anjos prepares for his battle with Lawler and continues his pursuit of becoming a two-division titleholder, here are some of the numbers that have come to define the former lightweight champion:
1: Sub-minute finish to his credit. Dos Anjos knocked out “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 6 semifinalist George Sotiropoulos 59 seconds into their UFC 132 encounter on July 2, 2011 in Las Vegas.
2: Losses by knockout. Eddie Alvarez and Jeremy Stephens were the perpetrators.
5: Wins by knockout or technical knockout. Sotiropoulos, Donald Cerrone, Benson Henderson, Jason High and Felipe Arinelli were the victims.
7: Countries in which dos Anjos has competed as a professional mixed martial artist. They are the United States, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Mexico, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
8: Fighters other than dos Anjos who have held the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title. They are Alvarez, Henderson, Pettis, McGregor, Jens Pulver, Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar. Dos Anjos spent 481 days as champion; only Alvarez (128 days), Pulver (393 days) and Sherk (420 days) have had shorter title reigns at 155 pounds.
9: Victories by submission. They account for one-third of his career win total. Dos Anjos has won four fights by rear-naked choke, three by armbar, one by arm-triangle choke and one by kimura.
16: UFC wins on his resume, tying him with Edgar, Jones, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Gleison Tibau, Diego Sanchez and Frank Mir for eighth on the promotion’s all-time list. Only Georges St. Pierre (20), Michael Bisping (20), Demian Maia (19), Cerrone (19), Matt Hughes (18), Jim Miller (17) and Anderson Silva (17) have more.
33: Years of age. Dos Anjos was born on Oct. 26, 1984 in Rio de Janeiro.
199: Combined victories between the nine men -- Alvarez, Tibau, Stephens, Tony Ferguson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Clay Guida, Tyson Griffin, Jorge Britto and Adriano Abu -- who have beaten dos Anjos.
355,000: Dollars in post-fight bonus money for dos Anjos since he joined the UFC roster in 2008. He is a four-time “Performance of the Night” winner, a two-time “Fight of the Night winner and a onetime “Submission of the Night” winner.