Another weekend, another UFC event in the books. Let’s take a look at who made history Saturday night in Las Vegas, courtesy of FightMetric.
* Sergio Pettis turned many heads in his UFC debut, displaying a well-rounded striking attack while also mixing in timely takedowns and aggressive submission attempts. Pettis’ striking, particularly his accuracy, really set him apart from his opponent Saturday night. Pettis connected on 81 of his 121 significant strike attempts, an accuracy rate of 67 percent. Among UFC/WEC bantamweights, it’s the second-highest accuracy rate in a single performance (minimum 100 significant attempts). TJ Dillashaw recorded the highest significant striking accuracy in a UFC/WEC bantamweight fight, connecting on 74.6 percent of his attempts against Walel Watson at UFC on FUEL TV 1. However, Dillashaw landed 76 of his 85 significant strikes while on the ground. Pettis landed 76 of his 81 significant strikes while at distance, a far more difficult place to accurately land strikes. Statistically, bantamweights are the hardest to hit, connecting on just 36.5 percent of their significant attempts in the UFC.
* Erik Perez has recently leaned heavily on a new weapon in his arsenal: takedowns. Perez landed seven takedowns Saturday night en route to a dominant decision victory over Edwin Figueroa. Demetrious Johnson (UFC 126), Dominick Cruz (UFC on Versus 6), and Brad Pickett (WEC 48) are the only bantamweights to land more takedowns in a UFC or WEC fight, landing 10 each. Perez has landed 12 takedowns in his last two fights. In his first three UFC bouts, he didn’t attempt a single one.
* Rick Story recorded one of his most active striking outputs in his UFC career. Story connected with 71 significant strikes, the second-most he’s landed in a UFC bout and most in a fight that went the distance. Story’s 71 significant strikes led him past Amir Sadollah and Thiago Alves in the welterweight record books. His 589 significant strikes landed are the fifth-most in UFC welterweight history.
* Donald Cerrone earned his seventh submission victory under the Zuffa banner, tying Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon for second-most submission victories in UFC/WEC lightweight history. Nate Diaz leads the list with 10 tapout wins at 155 pounds. In addition, Cerrone earned his twelfth post-fight bonus in UFC/WEC competition, tying Anderson Silva and Joe Lauzon for the most in Zuffa history.
* Rashad Evans made short work of Chael Sonnen, earning a ground and pound knockout at 4:05 of round one. It was Evans’ first stoppage win in the opening frame of a fight since his TKO of Bryan Pardoe in 2004, three bouts before he joined the season two cast of The Ultimate Fighter. For Evans, it was his sixth KO/TKO victory as a UFC light heavyweight, earning him sole possession of second place in 205-pound history. Chuck Liddell has the most knockouts since the advent of the 205-pound division with nine. Evans also earned his thirteenth victory in the division, tying Jon Jones and Chuck Liddell for most wins in light heavyweight history.
* Finally, Georges St-Pierre re-wrote the record books and passed two of his greatest rivals in the process. St-Pierre needed just 40 seconds to pass BJ Penn for most fight time in UFC history. He has now fought a UFC record 5:28:12. St-Pierre also passed Matt Hughes with his nineteenth UFC win, a new record.