UFC 171 was short on finishes but not short on drama. MMA fans were treated to impressive performances by prospects, young veterans earning a future step up in competition, a rare submission, and an instant classic that gave us the first undisputed UFC welterweight champion not named Georges St-Pierre since 2007.
* Dennis Bermudez and Jimy Hettes entered their featherweight bout ranked no. 1 and no. 2 in takedowns landed in UFC featherweight competition, but it would be Bermudez who asserted himself the better takedown artist. Bermudez out-paced Hettes 6 to 0 in takedowns, passing Hettes for most in the division with 26. Including WEC competition, he’s third in UFC/WEC featherweight history, behind only Chad Mendes (37) and Manvel Gamburyan (28).
* Bermudez didn’t just land takedowns to separate himself from Hettes. He also landed three knockdowns en route to a third-round KO/TKO stoppage, becoming the first featherweight in UFC/WEC history to knock his opponent down three times in a single fight. There have been 23 unique UFC performances featuring a fighter dropping his opponent three times or more. Forrest Petz owns the single-fight record with five knockdowns of Sammy Morgan at UFC Fight Night 6. Bermudez’s combination of powerful strikes and powerful takedowns have earned him six consecutive wins, tying featherweight champion Jose Aldo for the longest active win streak in UFC featherweight competition.
* Coming off a 25-second head kick knockout of Walt Harris at UFC on Fox 10, Nikita Krylov made his light heavyweight debut and looked for another quick finish. But, it would be his opponent, Ovince Saint Preux, who would finish the fight in lightning quick fashion. Saint Preux pulled off the second Von Flue choke in UFC history, tapping out Krylov at just 1:29 of the first round. The quick submission is the fourth-fastest in light heavyweight history (LHW includes UFC 28 – present). Jason Von Flue introduced UFC audiences to his patented submission technique at UFC Fight Night 3 in a third-round tapout of Alex Karalexis.
* Myles Jury asserted himself as one of the bright young competitors in the UFC’s lightweight division with an efficient win over Diego Sanchez. Jury out-landed Sanchez by a count of 35 to 10 in significant head strikes, bloodying up the TUF 1 contestant and mixing in a timely takedown in each of the fight’s three rounds. Jury earned his 5th consecutive win, tying Rafael Dos Anjos, TJ Grant, and Khabib Nurmagomedov for the longest active win streak in the lightweight division.
* Few fighters have been more lauded for their toughness and tenacity than Diego Sanchez. Sanchez has now absorbed 779 significant strikes in his UFC career, the 4th most ever. At the 0:29 mark of the first round, Sanchez gained fourth place in modern UFC history with 4:22:57 of cage time. Sanchez ranks sixth all-time, just 8:12 behind Frankie Edgar in fifth place. “The Dream” fought to a judges decision for the fourteenth time in his UFC career, tying Sam Stout for the most decision fights in UFC history.
* Welterweights Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler put a bow on the festivities in Dallas Saturday night with an instant classic to decide who would become the new UFC welterweight champion. Hendricks and Lawler largely kept the fight standing through each of the five rounds, piling up gaudy striking totals in the process. They combined for 308 significant strikes, a new UFC title fight record, smashing the previous efforts of Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz (256, Most Sig. Strikes Landed in an interim title fight) and Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson (244, previous record for Most Sig. Strikes Landed in an undisputed title fight).
Hendricks and Lawler practically paced one another in output. Hendricks (158) and Lawler (150) landed the most and third-most significant strikes in a title fight, and their outputs rank fourth and sevent in UFC welterweight history in terms of single-fight performances. They combined for 728 significant attempts, the 2nd most combined attempts in a single UFC fight.
Click here for the striking and takedown totals for the fight.
Rounds two through five featured fairly clear-cut winners strictly in terms of who landed a greater number of significant strikes, especially in round four where Lawler landed 56, a new single-round record for a UFC title fight. Round one, however, was fairly close just by the raw stats as Hendricks landed 15 to Lawler’s 13. But, not all significant strikes are created equal. Who do you think won the first round?
Compiled by Fight Metric‘s Michael Carroll.