Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 171, UFC on ESPN 8

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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 5,596
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 516

The Ultimate Fighting Championship treated fans to a rare Wednesday event with UFC Fight Night 171, as well as a Saturday offering with UFC on ESPN 8. Both shows took place in the promotion’s temporary holdover in Jacksonville, Florida, where there was a lot of action to cover across two nights. These events featured a fifth-round rarity, the winningest heavyweight in UFC history doing what he does best and an unusual milestone at women’s flyweight.

HI, I’M IN … JACKSONVILLE: For the third card in a row, the UFC hosted an event in the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. This is the first time since 2004 where the promotion held three consecutive events in the same arena, when the UFC put on UFCs 46, 47 and 48 all in the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

UFC Fight Night 171

FITS LIKE A GLOVE: Glover Teixeira earned his 11th finish inside the Octagon by demolishing Anthony Smith in the main event. In doing so, he set the record for the most stoppage victories in UFC light heavyweight history, breaking a tie he previously held with Jon Jones and Ovince St. Preux.

IN THE PIPE, FIVE BY FIVE: Teixeira is the second light heavyweight in promotional history to record a fifth-round stoppage. The first: Alexander Gustafsson, who battered Teixeira.

PUSHED TO THE BREAKING POINT: With the stoppage coming at 1:04 of the fifth round, Teixeira is the only fighter in UFC history to win and lose a fight in Round 5. Teixeira was previously finished by Gustafsson in the fifth frame at UFC Fight Night 109 in 2017.

SUB-90: Ben Rothwell took home his fourth career decision win by taking a split verdict over St. Preux. The heavyweight lowered his finish rate to 89 percent in victory, and it was his first win on the scorecards in almost 10 years.

DOING THIS SINCE YOU WERE IN DIAPERS: The last time Rothwell won by decision was against Gilbert Yvel at UFC 115 in 2010. At the time, nine of his fellow UFC Fight Night 171 competitors had yet to make their professional debuts.

THE TEN COUNT: Drew Dober finished Alexander Hernandez to earn his 10th career knockout win. The 31-year-old Elevation Fight Team rep has nine defeats on his resume, but on a positive note, he has stopped eight opponents in the first round. He has beaten another seven opponents on the scorecards, while tapping six others. Although he has lost by judges’ verdict five times and been stopped on four other occasions, Dober has made three fighters tap to strikes. He has twice earned third-round stoppages, and he has one no contest against Leandro Silva from 2015.

AND HE TOPPED DISCLOSED SALARIES: By pocketing a decision against Philipe Lins, Andrei Arlovski extended his record for the most wins in modern UFC heavyweight history with 18. The closest fighter still on the roster that can catch Arlovski is Junior dos Santos (15).

ECONARLOVSKI: In Arlovski’s last 10 outings, the renowned knockout artist has gone three full rounds nine times. In contrast, the first 10 UFC bouts for Arlovski all ended by stoppage.

THE EPITOME OF HEAVYWEIGHT: In addition to extending his all-time UFC heavyweight wins record, Arlovski added to his modern UFC record total of most appearances (32) by any fighter above 205 pounds. The next-closest active fighter is Stefan Struve (23).

ACHILLES’ LAST STAND: Although he was credited with a heel hook by announcer Bruce Buffer, Thiago Moises hit an Achilles lock on Michael Johnson. This was the first maneuver of its kind performed since Manny Gamburyan tapped Nate Mohr at UFC 79 in 2007, and it was only the sixth to take place across organizational history.

50/50 SPLIT: By capturing a unanimous decision against Sarah Moras, Sijara Eubanks lifted her professional record above .500 and dropped Moras down to the break-even line.

CHASING THE KNOCKOUT: In dismantling Isaac Villanueva in his return to the promotion, Chase Sherman scored a knockout in the second round. Across his 15 career wins, “The Vanilla Gorilla” has knocked out his opponent in 14 of those victories.

MAYBE HE KNOWS SOMETHING WE DON’T: Throughout his UFC tenure, Rothwell has used “Vampire Hunters” from the “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” soundtrack five times. “Big Ben” has won four of those five outings following his decision win over St. Preux.

UFC on ESPN 8

NUMBERS AREN’T EVERYTHING: Three different fights saw winners who were marginally outstruck by their opponents. Angela Hill, Edson Barboza and Darren Elkins all tallied more significant strikes than their adversaries and lost.

OVEREEM IS OVER IT: By dispatching Walt Harris in the second frame, Alistair Overeem earned his 46th career victory and 41st by stoppage, elevating his finish rate to 89 percent.

THE BIRTHDAY BOY: Overeem turned 40 about 10 minutes after his victory.

WRITING THIS UNDER PROTEST: Although it came in the form of a contentious split decision, Hill lost to Claudia Gadelha. The defeat was Hill’s eighth inside the Octagon. “Overkill” has lost more times than any other female fighter under the UFC banner.

WHAT’S GOTTEN INTO GADELHA?: Although she started her career by finishing eight of her first 11 opponents, all but one of Gadelha’s wins since she joined the UFC have come at the hands of the judges.

BAEZA BATTERS BROWN: Miguel Baeza remained undefeated by leveling Matt Brown in the second round of their bout. Seven of his nine career wins have come by knockout.

BUT HE’LL GET UP NINE TIMES: Brown suffered his eighth stoppage loss inside the Octagon, tying him with 10 other fighters for the second-most in promotional history. Only Tim Boetsch (nine) has been finished more times as a UFC fighter.

GIGA KICKED: Giga Chikadze signed with the UFC as a 7-0 prospect with a 100 percent finish rate. Since he joined the UFC roster, the Georgian kickboxer has gone the distance in all three of his appearances. That includes his unanimous decision over Irwin Rivera.

FLASHY FLYWEIGHTS: Cortney Casey picked up an extra $50,000 by tapping Mara Romero Borella in the first round. The last three women’s flyweight bouts have all earned post-fight bonuses, including a “Fight of the Night” for Maryna Moroz-Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC Fight Night 170 and a “Performance of the Night” for Priscila Cachoeira’s knockout of Shana Dobson at UFC Fight Night 168. This is the first time in the division’s history that three straight bouts have earned bonus money.

THE BEEHIVE SWARMS: By tapping Don'Tale Mayes with a rear-naked choke, Rodrigo Nascimento Ferreira pushed his unbeaten record to 8-0. “Ze Colmeia” has finished all eight of his opponents, though this was only his second fight to reach the second stanza.

SONG IS ON A JOURNEY: Yadong Song made his walk to the cage accompanied by the “Journey to the West” television show theme song, as he has done for four of his six UFC appearances. Song has not lost while walking out to this song, though his decision over Marlon Vera was seen as controversial.

DID HE EVER: For the second time as a UFC fighter, Elkins walked out to “Bleed It Out” by Linkin Park. After dropping a bloody decision to Nate Landwehr, “The Damage” fell to 0-2 when using the song.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 171 and UFC on ESPN 8, Hunter Azure had never been defeated (eight fights), Lins had never lost on the scorecards (17 fights), Anthony Hernandez had never been knocked out (nine fights) and Mayes had never lost consecutive bouts (10 fights).