By the Numbers: UFC 279
If it really is goodbye, then Nate Diaz exited the Ultimate Fighting Championship in style.
Facing Tony Ferguson in a makeshift headliner, Diaz forced his opponent to tap to a guillotine choke 2:52 into Round 4 of their welterweight bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. After the fight, the Stockton, California, native hinted that a transition to professional boxing could be in the cards — and then he’ll be back to make another run at UFC gold. No matter what the future holds for Diaz, there’s no doubt it’ll be interesting.
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6: Submission wins from the bottom position for Diaz in UFC competition, the most in the history of the promotion. With his guillotine choke of Ferguson, Diaz passed Paul Craig for the top spot.
10: Career submission victories in UFC competition for Diaz, tying
him with Royce Gracie
for the fourth most in promotion history. Only Charles
Oliveira (16), Demian Maia
(11) and Jim Miller
(11) have more.
4,712: Days since Ferguson’s last submission defeat, when he succumbed to a first-round triangle choke against Jamie Toney at MMA at the Hyatt 3: Redemption on July 17, 2009.
101: Significant strikes landed by Diaz. Ferguson, meanwhile, landed 80. Diaz outlanded his opponent 22 to 19 in Round 1, 28 to 20 in Round 2 and 25 to 11 in Round 4. Ferguson held a 30-to-26 advantage in significant strikes in Round 3.
71: Significant head strikes for Diaz. By comparison, Ferguson landed just 23 significant strikes to the head of his opponent.
34: Significant leg strikes for Ferguson, who impaired Diaz’s movement with his low kicks. Diaz, meanwhile, landed nine significant strikes to the legs.
0-5: Ferguson’s UFC record since 2020. His last victory came in a second-round TKO of Donald Cerrone at UFC 238 on June 8, 2019.
4: UFC bouts in which Khamzat Chimaev has not absorbed a single significant strike from his opponent. On Saturday, Kevin Holland joined a group that includes Jinliang Li, Gerald Meerschaert and Rhys McKee. Chimaev submitted Holland with a brabo choke 2:13 into Round 1 of their 180-pound catchweight bout.
21: Unofficial media scorecards, of the 23 tracked by MMADecisions.com, that awarded the catchweight clash between Jingliang Li and Daniel Rodriguez to Li. Cageside judges Michael Bell and Douglas Crosby saw things different, as both submitted 29-28 tallies for Rodriguez, giving “D-Rod” a split-decision triumph.
88: Significant strikes landed by Rodriguez. Li, meanwhile, landed 78. Rodriguez outlanded his opponent 34 to 24 in Round 2 and 34 to 27 in Round 3, while Li held a 27-to-20 edge in Round 1.
54: Significant head strikes for Rodriguez. By comparison, Li landed 25.
30: Significant leg strikes for Li. Rodriguez landed 17 significant strikes to the legs. “The Leech” also held a 23-to-17 edge in significant body strikes.
3: Upkick knockouts in UFC history, after Irene Aldana’s heel kick to the liver dispatched Macy Chiasson 2:21 into Round 3 of their 140-pound catchweight encounter. Only Niko Price (vs. James Vick at UFC Fight Night 161) and Jon Fitch (vs. Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 5) have previously used the maneuver to achieve victory in the Octagon.
21: Total strikes by which Chiassion outlanded Aldana. The Fortis MMA product also landed the three of eight takedowns and logged 3:28 of control time to Aldana’s 1:00.
1,995: Days since Johnny Walker’s last submission victory, a guillotine choke of Luis Guilherme de Andrade in the Katana Fight “Gold Edition” main event on March 25, 2017. Walker showed off his ground game at UFC 279 by tapping Ion Cutelaba with a rear-naked choke in the opening stanza of their featured light heavyweight tilt.
152: Total strikes landed by Julian Erosa in a unanimous decision triumph against Hakeem Dawodu in a 150-pound catchweight clash. By comparison, Dawodu landed 90 total strikes. Erosa also held a 92-to-74 edge in significant strikes landed.
17: Finishes among 17 professional victories for Jailton Almedia, who tapped out Anton Turkalj with a rear-naked choke 4:27 into the opening round of their 220-pound catchweight bout. That ledger includes nine triumphs by way of rear-naked choke.
3: Consecutive first-round finishes in UFC competition for Almeida, the second-longest such streak in the Las Vegas-based promotion.
54: Combined significant strike advantage for Almeida in first three UFC appearances, wins over Turkalj, Parker Porter and Danilo Marques. Turkalj is the only one of the three to land a significant strike against “Malhadinho.”
51: Significant strikes landed by Denis Tiuliulin in the second round of his technical knockout victory against Jamie Pickett. The Russian veteran landed two knockdowns in the period in route to a stoppage at the 4:52 mark. Pickett landed 25 significant strikes in the frame.
2: Heavyweights in UFC history to miss weight. Chris Barnett, who checked in at 267 pounds on Friday, joined Justin Tafa,, who tipped the scales at 267 pounds for a win over Harry Hunsucker at UFC Fight Night 199. Barnett defeated Jake Collier via second-round TKO in their preliminary clash at UFC 279.
26: Significant strike deficit for Barnett in Round 1. Collier also dropped “Huggy Bear” in the opening stanza.
29: Significant strike advantage for Barnett in the second frame, when he finished Collier with punches from mount at the 2:24 mark.
55: Total strikes by which Norma Dumont outlanded experienced amateur boxer Danyelle Wolf in their preliminary featherweight encounter. The Brazilian also held a 52-to-20 edge in significant strikes and scored the bout’s only knockdown.
.210: Significant striking accuracy for Wolf, who was successful on just 20 of 95 attempts. Dumont, meanwhile, connected on 52 of 110 significant strikes — a 47 percent success rate.
6:41: Total control time for Dumont, who went 2-for-2 on takedowns. Wolf did not have any control time in the bout.
10: Combined significant strikes landed by Yohan Lainesse in Rounds 2 and 3 of his welterweight bout against Darian Weeks. Lainesse nonetheless emerged with a split-decision triumph despite facing a 44-to-23 deficit in significant strikes landed overall.
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