It took a little longer than expected, but at long last, Khabib Nurmagomedov is the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s new lightweight king.
Elsewhere, Rose Namajunas got the job done for a second time against Joanna Jedrzjeczyk in the evening’s co-main event. Only this time, she needed five rounds instead of one. Blending crisp striking with outstanding head movement and footwork, “Thug” Rose was able to hold off her hard-charging Polish opponent to become the second person in UFC history — along with Jedrzejczk — to successfully defend the strawweight crown.
Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 223, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
Related » UFC 223 Round-by-Round Scoring
10: Consecutive UFC triumphs for Nurmagomedov, tying him with Tony Ferguson for the fourth-longest active winning streak in the promotion. Only Demetrious Johnson (13), Georges St. Pierre (13) and Max Holloway (12) have longer streaks.
93: Significant strike advantage for Nurmagomedov. “The Eagle” outlanded Iaquinta 13 to 0 in round one, 19 to 3 in round two, 37 to 7 in round three, 35 to 15 in round four and 30 to 16 in round five.
34: Significant ground strikes landed by Nurmagomedov. Iaquinta did not land a single strike on the ground.
6: Takedowns landed, in 15 attempts, for Nurmagomedov. The American Kickboxing Academy representative landed five of his six takedowns within the opening two frames. Iaquinta, meanwhile, failed on his only official attempt.
7: Guard passes executed by Nurmagomedov.
10: Undisputed lightweight champions in UFC history following Nurmagomedov’s win over Iaquinta. The Dagestani fighter joins a group that includes Conor McGregor, Eddie Alvarez, Rafael dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn, Sean Sherk and Jens Pulver.
145: Significant strikes landed by Jedrzejczyk. By comparison, Namajunas landed 105. Jedrzejczyk outlanded her opponent 24 to 21 in round one, 25 to 20 in round two, 30 to 19 in round three, 38 to 22 in round four and 28 to 23 in round five.
54: Significant leg strikes landed by Jedrzejczyk; Namajunas landed just five.
85: Significant head strikes landed by Namajuas. Jedrzejczyk, meawhile, landed 64.
27: Significant body strikes for Jedrzejczyk. Namajunas landed 15.
4-1: Record for Jedrzejczyk in five-round fights. The Polish fighter went down for the first time in a 25-minute affair on Saturday night.
38: Significant leg strikes landed by Renato Carneiro in a clear-cut decision triumph over Calvin Kattar at featherweight. Kattar, meanwhile, landed just one significant leg strike. All told, Carneiro outlanded Kattar by a 116-to-41 count in significant strikes.
80: Significant strikes by which Chris Gruetzemacher outlanded Joe Lauzon in a featured lightweight affair. Gruetzemacher outlanded his foe 53 to 35 in round one and 75 to 13 in round two before Lauzon’s corner called off the bout.
51: Significant clinch strikes landed by Gruetzemacher. By comparison, Lauzon landed 11.
45: Significant body strikes landed by Gruetzemacher; Lauzon landed just seven.
.650: Significant striking accuracy for Gruetzemacher, who landed 128 of 196 attempts. Lauzon, meanwhile, went 48 for 137, a 35 percent rate.
2: Opponents, in his last 15 Octagon appearances, that Lauzon has held a striking advantage against. Lauzon has only outstruck Diego Sanchez and Takanori Gomi during that time. Lauzon is 6-9 over the course of those 15 contests.
5: Strawweight triumphs for Karolina Kowalkiewicz following her split-verdict over Felice Herrig in a preliminary affair. That ties her with Jessica Andrade and Herrig for fourth most in the history of the division. Only Joanna Jedrzejczyk (eight), Tecia Torres (six) and Rose Namajunas (six) have won more.
253: Combined significant strikes landed by Kowalkiewicz in her last two bouts, three-round triumphs over Herrig and Jodie Esquibel.
337: Total strikes attempted by Ashlee Evans-Smith in a three-round verdict over Bec Rawlings at flyweight. Rawlings, meanwhile, attempted 196 total strikes in the 15-minute affair — a difference of 141.
121: Total strikes landed by Evans-Smith. By comparison, Rawlings landed 89 — a 33-strike gap.
7: Takedowns landed in 11 attempts by Devin Clark in a unanimous decision triumph over Mike Rodriguez in a light heavyweight bout. Clark iced his win by landing four of five takedown tries in the final stanza.
167: Total strikes landed by Clark. By comparison, Rodriguez landed 66.
7: Events since 2014 with nine or fewer fights. UFC 223 joined that group in large part due to the actions of Conor McGregor, who threw a dolly at the window of a bus that was transporting a group of UFC fighters. As a result, both Michael Chiesa, who was slated to face Anthony Pettis, and Ray Borg, who was scheduled to meet Brandon Moreno, were pulled form the card due to the incident. Additionally, a proposed bout pitting Al Iaquinta against Paul Felder was scratched when Iaquinta was promoted to the evening’s headliner.