By the Numbers: Makwan Amirkhani vs. Chris Fishgold

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A battle of submission specialists will take place June 1 in Sweden as Finland’s Makwan Amirkhani takes on England’s Chris Fishgold. Which prospect will improve his record? Find out at UFC Fight Night 153. Here’s a preview of that fight in numbers.

Octagon experience

Amirkhani and Fishgold are both in their formative years in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The former has appeared five times while the latter has only made two Octagon appearances. Amirkhani turned in one of the most explosive debuts in UFC history when he knocked out Andy Ogle in eight seconds. For his next bout, he choked out Masio Fullen at 1:41 in the first round. His next three fights, however, lasted the full three rounds.

Fishgold didn’t have the most impressive debut as he was stopped in the first round by Calvin Kattar. He did bounce back big time, however, after choking out Daniel Teymur in his second bout.

Total number of takedowns

In his UFC debut, which lasted a little less than five minutes, Fishgold landed one takedown. For his second fight, he scored five takedowns after more than six minutes inside the Octagon. Amirkhani, on the other hand, landed one takedown in his first two fights. He unleashed his wrestling smarts in his next three fights by completing a total of 11 takedowns.

Significant strikes landed

Fishgold has so far landed 34 significant strikes after two UFC fights. He landed 20 on Kattar and 14 on Teymur. For Amirkhani, the man they call “Mr. Finland” landed only six significant strikes in his debut, but all of them contributed to the demise of his opponent Ogle. He opened up with a flying knee and followed it up with a few punches to seal the deal.

Amirkhani never threw a single strike on his second bout. But that’s because he finished it early by rear-naked choke. In his next three fights, though, he blasted Mike Wilkinson with 32 significant strikes, Arnold Allen with 17 significant strikes and Jason Knight with 27 significant strikes.

Submission victories

The fight between Amirkhani and Fishgold is pretty much characterized by the 22 submission stoppages between them. Amirkhani holds nine submission wins, three by rear-naked choke, two by anaconda choke, two by heel hook, one by triangle choke and one by guillotine choke.

The 26-year-old Fishgold from England owns 13 wins by tapout. His favorites are the rear-naked choke, which he used seven times and the guillotine choke, which he used five times. He also has one submission by armbar.

Career losses

Fishgold is the younger fighter but he has a little more professional experience than Amirkhani. After 20 pro fights, he has lost only twice, and these are to Gi Bum Moon at PRO Fighting - PRO FC 10 and the aforementioned Kattar at UFC Fight Night 138.

Amirkhani has suffered three setbacks in 17 professional bouts. He was submitted by Viktor Tomasevic at Karkkila Fight Night 1, decisioned by Adam Ward at Cage 24 - Turku 3 and decisioned by Allen at UFC Fight Night 107.