Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski won Fight of the Night at UFC 284 | Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
A deep dive into the statistics from UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski Before UFC 284, the most strikes anyone l…
Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski won Fight of the Night at UFC 284 | Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
A deep dive into the statistics from UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski
Before UFC 284, the most strikes anyone landed against Islam Makhachev in a UFC fight was Charles Oliveira with 19. Alexander Volkanovski, the reigning UFC featherweight champion, outstruck Makhachev, the UFC lightweight titleholder, 70 significant strikes to 57. Despite landing more significant strikes than Makhachev on Saturday night, Volkanovski fell short on the judge’s scorecards, losing out on his chance to become a two-division UFC champion.
In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez’s aggressive striking and fearless offense helped him to overwhelm — and eventually submit — Josh Emmett to claim the interim UFC featherweight title.
Also on the main card, a possible star in the making for the Australian market, Jack Della Maddalena, ran over Randy Brown to extend his streak of UFC first-round finishes to four straight.
Below, we take a deep dive into the stats from the UFC 248 fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
The real winners and losers from UFC 284 In what might be remembered as the best champion vs. champion fight in UFC history, UFC lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev defeated the promot…
Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
The real winners and losers from UFC 284
In what might be remembered as the best champion vs. champion fight in UFC history, UFC lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev defeated the promotion’s featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski by decision. The contest served as the main event of Saturday’s UFC 284 pay-per-view card.
What was noteworthy about the fight was that both men proved more adept at the facets of the fight game that were perceived as their weaknesses heading into this matchup. Makhachev, hailed for his wrestling acumen and ability to control his opponents on the mat, used his power and counterstrikes to surprise Volkanovski on several occasions. As for the 145-pound champ, his defensive wrestling was better than expected and his cardio never faltered against his larger opponent. The bout was a technical affair that should leave both fighters in a better position in the eyes of the fans and the UFC brass than how they entered the evening.
In the co-main event, Yair Rodriguez, who has been with the UFC since 2014, fought what might have been the most complete and dominant fight of his career in submitting Josh Emmett to become the interim featherweight champion. Rodriguez’s victory and the way Volkanovski performed at lightweight should leave fans looking forward to the 145-pound title unification bout that will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.
Also on the pay-per-view portion of the card, the young and rising welterweight Jack Della Maddalena won his fourth consecutive fight under the UFC banner via first-round stoppage.
What follows are the winners and losers from UFC 284, which took place at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The main card streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Winners:
Islam Makhachev:
I’m unsure if Islam Makhachev decided to throw out his standard ground control game plan at UFC 284 or if his team told him to do so, but whoever made that call, it was the right one.
At some point not too long into the five-round affair, Makhachev — or his team — realized that his size and power were giving Volkanovski problems and with that, they employed an effective mix of counter strikes, takedowns and ground control. For this fight at least, that was the right call.
Makhachev’s win on Saturday should give him more confidence going forward for a few reasons. First, he earned the victory without Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner. Second, he fought in a style that was not typical for him. Third, he showed the willingness to take what his opponent gave him and work with that instead of doing everything he could to overwhelm Volkanovski with a wrestling-heavy game plan.
Before UFC 284 we knew that Islam Makhachev was an excellent fighter, but coming out of the card there is a chance that he will be a more well-rounded fighter — something other than a competitor who can execute what his coaches have drilled into him over years of gym time. That will make him a more dangerous and dynamic fighter.
Alexander Volkanovski: Alexander Volkanovski came up short in his effort to become a two-division champion. However, that should not distract from the fact that he gave the lightweight champion a very tough fight, which was not a runaway victory for Islam Makhachev.
I expect Volkanovski and his team will use this loss as motivation in future featherweight title fights to get another crack at the lightweight title.
I also expect that team Volkanovski will do whatever it can to avoid taking any strengths of his future opponents too lightly and that spells trouble for the featherweight division.
Yair Rodríguez: Yair Rodríguez might be the most dynamic striker in the UFC’s featherweight division. He employed a dizzying array of striking techniques that left Josh Emmett with little hope of leaving the octagon in Perth as the interim champion. Not only did Rodriguez carry the day with his striking, he took calculated risks and even when he was on his back, he kept producing offense, picking up his first submission win as a member of the UFC roster.
Rodriguez’s performance on Saturday should set up a big title unification bout. If the UFC is wise, it will book a double title fight in Mexico with Brandon Moreno defending his flyweight title on the same card.
Jack Della Maddalena: Jack Della Maddalena took another step up the welterweight ladder on Saturday night with a fantastic first-round finish of Randy Brown. Della Maddalena gave up four inches in height and five inches in reach to Brown. Yet, despite those physical disadvantages, Della Maddalena stayed calm, kept moving forward and when he found his opening, he dropped Brown and then opened up with ground strikes, which provided the space for a rear-naked choke submission.
The 26-year-old Della Maddalena is unbeaten in four fights in the UFC with four first-round finishes. I’m not always a fan of rushing young fighters up the rankings before they are ready, but Della Maddalena looks prepared and able to test himself against a ranked opponent.
Justin Tafa: Given the opportunity, Justin Tafa will take advantage of it. That happened when Parker Porter exposed his chin and Tafa connected with a nasty left hook. The win gave Tafa his first two-fight winning streak with the UFC. Both those wins have come via first-round knockout.
Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield: I wouldn’t call this one a high-level scrap, but it was entertaining. In the early going, Jimmy Crute did a superb job of preventing Alonzo Menifield from scoring with his heavy strikes by forcing Menifield to fight in close. However, Crute’s cardio failed him for parts of the late first and second round, which allowed Menifield to come back and score with some big blows that seemed to have Crute on the edge of unconsciousness. Then, in the third round, Menifield’s cardio failed, allowing Crute to return to the pressuring style he employed in the first round.
Marc Goddard: Nice work from referee Marc Goddard for taking a point from Alonzo Menifield in the third round when Menifield grabbed the fence to prevent a takedown.
Joshua Culibao: Joshua Culibao showed some incredible situational awareness in getting the finish of Melsik Baghdasaryan. A striking exchange sent Baghdasaryan to the mat. Before Baghdasaryan could reset or regain his senses, Culibao grabbed his opponent’s neck and set his hooks, securing the rear-naked choke submission win.
The victory puts the 28-year-old on a four-fight UFC unbeaten streak. Culibao, who fights out of Australia, has only had one fight per year since 2021. His camp should keep him busy coming off this win and get him another matchup as soon as possible.
Kleydson Rodrigues: Kleydson Rodrigues overwhelmed Shannon Ross on the prelims of UFC 284. The former Jungle Fights champion showed superb finishing instincts once he hurt Ross and wrapped things up within the first minute.
Jamie Mullarkey: Jamie Mullarkey picked up a workmanlike win over Francisco Prado on the prelims. Mullarkey, who was coming off a win over Michael Johnson in July 2022, should have been given a bigger-name opponent on this card.
Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis: This was a fun scrap that showcased the toughness of Don Shainis and the talent of Jack Jenkins. Jenkins was the better striker of the two and used his higher-level skills to pick up the win. His striking skills and fast pace make him a fighter to watch. If there was one weakness Jenkins showed, it was his defensive ground work, but outside of that, UFC 284 was a good UFC debut for Jenkins.
Loma Lookboonmee: Loma Lookboonmee did an excellent job recovering from a rough spot in the first round of her strawweight fight against Elise Reed. After getting swept following a takedown, Lookboonmee did not allow her adversary to take the upper hand after she scored a takedown in the second stanza. Instead, Lookboonmee quickly took Reed’s back, established hooks and locked in the rear-naked choke that finished the fight.
Lookboonmee’s sense of urgency in the second round and her awareness on the mat after she was reversed in the first stanza was noteworthy.
Blake Bilder: The 32-year-old Blake Bilder made his UFC debut on Saturday. The former Cage Fury featherweight looked good in winning a decision over the more experienced Shane Young. Bilder showed good movement, a solid top game when the fight hit the mat, and he managed his energy well throughout the contest.
This fight should serve as a good launching point for Bilder’s UFC career and I expect to see a better performance from him in his next outing since, in his post-fight interview, he said he did keep something in reserve to avoid running out of gas.
Elves Brenner: Judging from social media, Elves Brenner was gifted a win in his UFC debut against Zubaira Tukhugov. Brenner came to fight more than his foe did in this matchup. That’s not part of the scoring criteria, nor is it a defense of the judging, but he got the win.
Josh Emmett: Josh Emmett’s best bet to defeat Yair Rodriguez was to catch Rodriguez with an unexpected power shot. He failed to find that opening on Saturday. With that, he was on the wrong end of the fight, tapping to a triangle choke in the second stanza. At 37, this was likely Emmett’s first, best and last chance at UFC gold.
Francisco Prado: At 20, Francisco Prado did not look UFC-ready, at least not against a more experienced opponent in Jamie Mullarkey. His offense was one-dimensional and his ground game was nothing to write home about.
Shane Young: Shane Young returned to action for the first time in nearly two years at UFC 284 and on the first two-fight losing skid of his MMA career. Young struggled early with landing his strikes, but once he got the range and timing of his opponent, Blake Bilder, he had some success.
Young was on the wrong end of a decision in this featherweight matchup. The UFC should give Young at least one more shot, but that fight needs to come as soon as possible because the time off since his last outing did not help Young on Saturday.
Zubaira Tukhugov I: Zubaira Tukhugov was very calm in the early stages of the fight. He seemed confident in his striking offense and defense and, I don’t want to say dismissive of his opponent, Elves Brenner, but he didn’t seem to have any fear of the offense that was coming back at him. In short, this fight felt like a mismatch on paper. With that in mind, Tukhugov willingly fought down to his level of competition instead of fighting to his strengths. Unfortunately, with the way he fought on Saturday and the fact that he missed weight, this was not a memorable performance from Tukhugov and will do little to elevate him as a lightweight threat.
Zubaira Tukhugov II: It’s never a great sign when a fighter moves up a weight class and then comes in heavy on the scale. That’s what happened to Zubaira Tukhugov, who was set to make his UFC lightweight debut on UFC 284. Instead of fighting at 155 and earning a full payday, Tukhugov faced Elves Brenner at a catchweight of 157.5 and gave up 30 percent of his pay.
UFC I: The UFC didn’t have an interpreter on hand for Brazilian fighter Kleydson Rodrigues? C’mon now.
UFC II: The two title fights at the top of the UFC 284 card gave fans something to look forward to, but outside of that, the other fights on the main card lacked in big-fight feel. The UFC pay-per-view prices increased again this year, but the promotion has not improved the quality of fights it provides for that added cost. Outside of the top two fights, the UFC 284 fight card felt very much like an ESPN card designed for the Australian market and that’s not what a pay-per-view event should be about.
Neither:
Tyson Pedro vs. Modestas Bukauskas: The UFC was probably hoping for another first-round finish from Tyson Pedro in this one. What it got was a win from late replacement Modestas Bukauskas in a fight that lacked a high work rate. This was not a bad fight, but it was not an ideal contest to close the prelims before a pay-per-view card.
On a positive note, the win was a big one for Bukauskas, who had a 1-3 run in the UFC before the promotion released him in 2021.
Dana White’s Power Slap League ratings hit a new low in Week 4 | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
The White/Fertitta spinoff show continues to lose the bulk of its AEW lead-in audience. Four weeks into its run on TBS, Dana…
Dana White’s Power Slap League ratings hit a new low in Week 4 | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
The White/Fertitta spinoff show continues to lose the bulk of its AEW lead-in audience.
Four weeks into its run on TBS, Dana White’s Power Slap League continues to slide in the ratings. Despite the continued strong lead-ins from AEW Wrestling, the slap fighting league failed to crack the top 60 shows on Wednesday night’s original cable telecasts.
According to ShowBuzzDaily, AEW Wrestling had 899,000 viewers in the 8 p.m. slot and a .30 rating in the 18-49 demographic—with a .24 rating with 18-34-year-old viewers. That put the sports-entertainment promotion in fifth for the night in original cable telecasts. ESPN’s NBA game at 10:05 p.m. between the Dallas Mavericks and the LA Clippers led the night’s overall cable ratings on Wednesday with 1.602 million viewers and a .58 rating among 18-49 year-olds and .52 in the 18-34 demographic. The 899,000 lead-in from AEW was the lowest number the TBS wrestling broadcast garnered since Power Slap debuted on the network on January 18.
For the February 8 broadcast, Power Slap came in at No. 68 for the night with 275,000 viewers and a 0.08 share in the 18-49 age range. That number is a new low for White’s latest attempt to break into something other than MMA, dropping from last week’s previous low of 284,000 viewers and a 0.09 share among 18-49 viewers.
Shows that performed better than Power Slap with 10 p.m. starts included South Park (Comedy Central), the Ingraham Angle (FOX News), Watch What Happens Live (Bravo), House Hunters (HGTV), 1000-lb Best Friends (TLC) and Kingdom Business (BET).
Power Slap pulled 295,000 viewers in its debut. That week AEW provided the broadcast with a lead-in of 969,000 viewers. In Week 2, Power Slap had an amazing lead-in from AEW Wrestling, compliments of that broadcasts tribute to the late Jay Briscoe. Power Slap finished that nightwith 413,000 viewers off a lead-in of 1.003 million.
Power Slap was initially scheduled to debut on Wednesday, December 11. White addressed the delay of the show’s first episode at the UFC Vegas 67 post-fight press conference saying, “We pushed it back a week because I was supposed to come back (from vacation) and do this whole media tour, which obviously wasn’t going to happen when I got back.”
Ahead of Power Slap’s debut, White told potential viewers who were critical of the “sport,” “Nobody’s asking you to watch this! Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch The Voice.”
Serghei Spivac submitted Derrick Lewis in the first round of their UFC Vegas 68 fight | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
A running tally of important stats for all UFC events in 2023 – updated after UFC V…
Serghei Spivac submitted Derrick Lewis in the first round of their UFC Vegas 68 fight | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
A running tally of important stats for all UFC events in 2023 – updated after UFC Vegas 68 – Spivac vs Lewis
The third UFC event of 2023 went down on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. In the main event of that card, Serghei Spivac forced Derrick Lewis to tap out before the end of the first round. In the process of earning his submission win, Spivac scored six takedowns on eight attempts. While he racked up that number in less than a round, Spivac’s wrestling skills gave him the most takedowns in a single UFC fight in 2023. He wasn’t the only fighter at the event who put their name at the top of a statistical category for the year.
For this coming year, we plan is to do an event-by-eventlook back after every card, along with keeping a running total of pertinent UFC statistics. Below is the post-UFC Vegas 68 update for data in 2023.
With UFC Vegas 68 in the books, the UFC has put on 37 fights, with 14 of those contests going the distance and 23 ending before the final bell. As we get deeper into 2023 the finishing methods are increasing in number. Following Saturday’s events, UFC fighters have registered 10 different types of KOs/TKOs and racked up five different submission techniques while topping more than 3,100 significant strikes landed.
Take a look at all the numbers we’ll be keeping track of as the year goes on.
The next event on the UFC schedule is UFC 284, which takes place on Saturday, February 12 from RAC Arena in Perth Australia. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Shortest Three-Round Fight: Rinya Nakamura KOs Toshiomi Kazama at 0:33 of Round 1 via punch to head at distance at UFC Vegas 68.
Latest Finish in a Three-Round Fight: HyunSung Park submits SeungGuk Choi via rear-naked choke at 3:11 of Round 3 at UFC Vegas 68.
Most Takedowns Landed: Serghei Spivac lands six of eight takedown attempts on Derrick Lewis at UFC Vegas 68.
Most Submission Attempts: HyunSung Park three submission attempts against SeungGuk Choi at UFC Vegas 68.
Most Knockdowns Landed: Rinya Nakamura scores two knockdown on Toshiomi Kazama at UFC Vegas 68.
Most Significant Strikes Landed in a Three-Round Fight: Jessica Andrade lands 231 of 369 significant strike attempts in unanimous decision win over Lauren Murphy.
Shutouts: Serghei Spivac prevents Derrick Lewis from landing any strikes or takedowns during their UFC Vegas 68 main event fight.
Jamahal Hill lands 232 significant strikes in a UFC light heavyweight fight for a new UFC LHW single-fight record. Hill defeated Glover Teixeira to by unanimous decision to win the UFC light heavyweight title.
Jessica Andrade lands 231 significant strikes in a UFC women’s flyweight fight for a new UFC women’s flyweight record. Andrade defeated Lauren Murphy via unanimous decision.
Jessica Andrade tied Amanda Nunes or most wins in women’s UFC history with her 15th victory with the promotion.
Serghei Spivac blanked Derrick Lewis on the stat sheet at UFC Vegas 68 | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
A deep dive into the statistics from UFC Vegas 68: Lewis vs. Spivac After a week away, the UFC ret…
Serghei Spivac blanked Derrick Lewis on the stat sheet at UFC Vegas 68 | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
A deep dive into the statistics from UFC Vegas 68: Lewis vs. Spivac
After a week away, the UFC returned to action on Saturday, February 4, with the UFC Vegas 68 fight card. In the main event, the rising heavyweight Serghei Spivac scored the biggest victory of his career with a first-round submission win over former UFC title challenger Derrick Lewis.
Spivac controlled the fight from the start. The 28-year-old didn’t allow Lewis, who entered the contest as the No. 7 ranked fighter in the official UFC heavyweight rankings, to land a single strike. On the way to his arm triangle submission win at 3:05 of the first stanza, Spivac racked up an event-high six takedowns on eight attempts and managed to go 12 for 21 in significant strikes. The victory should give Spivac, who was ranked at No. 12 on fight night, a considerable bump when the rankings are updated for the division. As for Lewis, the setback puts him on the first three-fight losing skid of his UFC career.
In another noteworthy performance on the UFC Vegas 68 card, Tatsuro Taira moved to 13-0 as a pro and 3-0 in the UFC with his second consecutive submission win. The 23-year-old earned his second “Performance of the Night” bonus thanks to his triangle armbar at the 4:20 mark of the first stanza. If Taira was not on your radar prior to Saturday, he is a flyweight to watch.
Below, we take a deep dive into the stats from UFC Vegas 68, which streamed on ESPN+.
Dana White’s Power Slap League ratings hit a new low in Week 3 | Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
After seeing solid gains in week 2 thanks to a strong lead-in from AEW wrestling,…
Dana White’s Power Slap League ratings hit a new low in Week 3 | Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
After seeing solid gains in week 2 thanks to a strong lead-in from AEW wrestling, Power Slap ratings hit a new low.
Dana White’s Power Slap League saw a big jump in viewers last week with a strong lead-in from an AEW Wrestling broadcast that featured a tributeto the late Jay Briscoe and the promotional debut of Mark Briscoe. In Week 3 of its scheduled 8-episode run, the slap fighting reality show again received a strong lead-in from AEW, but the broadcast ended up way down at No. 51 for Wednesday night on cable.
According to ShowBuzzDaily, AEW Wrestling had 901,000 viewers in the 8 p.m. slot. AEW had a .31 rating in the 18-49 demographic and a .22 rating with 18-34-year-old viewers. With those numbers, AEW finished in second for the night in original cable telecasts. ESPN’s NBA game at 7:43 p.m. led the night’s overall cable ratings on Wednesday with 1.036 million viewers and a .34 rating among 18-49 year-olds and .27 in the 18-34 demographic.
This week, Power Slap finished six slots lower than their debut at no. 45, with 284,000 viewers. The 10 p.m. broadcast on February 1 had a 0.09 rating among 18-49-year-olds. Power Slap’s numbers were 617,000 viewers less than AEW’s.
For the second episode of Power Slap: Road to the Title on TBS, AEW Wrestling had 1.003 million viewers in the 8 p.m. slot. That strong lead-inprovided the pseudo-sport promotion a bump last week, landing Power Slap at no. 30 with 413,000 viewers. Episode 2 captured a .13 rating among 18-49-year-olds and .08 in the 18-34 demographic.
The debut episode of Power Slap—which TBS delayed a week after White was caught on video slapping his wife, while on a family vacation in Mexico—was No. 45 in the top 50 cable telecasts for Wednesday, January 18, 2023. The debut episode pulled a reported 295,000 viewers and a 0.10 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
