UFC 238: By The Numbers

UFC 238: By The Numbers

By: Ivan Surlina

The main event of UFC 238 in Chicago saw current flyweight champion Henry Cejudo take out #1 contender Marlon Moraes to become the bantamweight champion. Cejudo is now just the fourth fighter in the promotion’s history to hold two belts simultaneously, including Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, and Daniel Cormier. However, Cejudo is the only UFC fighter to ever win an Olympic gold medal and go on to hold two UFC titles at the same time.

In the Co-main event of the evening, women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko made quick work of challenger Jessica Eye, winning via head kick knockout early into the second round. It was one of the most brutal knockouts you will ever see.

Preceding the two title fights was what most fans considered to be the “People’s Main event”, Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. The fight carried on as promised, with both fighters landing heavy strikes on one another and not giving up an inch of space. The fight would end in some controversy as the doctor stopped the before the start of the third round due to one of Cowboy’s eyes being swollen shut. This gave Ferguson the TKO victory and his 12th straight win inside the octagon.

Anyway, you’ve seen the recaps, you’ve read the reviews, but now it’s time to take a closer look at the numbers from UFC 238.

12: After Saturday night’s victory, Tony Ferguson has now won 12 UFC fights in a row. The lightweight contender has 15 UFC wins overall, with his lone loss coming against Michael Johnson back in May of 2012.

5: The United Center played host UFC 238 which was comprised of 13 fights in total, with 5 of them being women’s bouts. That is the most for any UFC card that wasn’t an Ultimate Fighter Finale card.

0: UFC 238 had zero submission victories. Out of thirteen fights, eight went to decision, while the other five ended via KO/TKO.

65: Number of head strikes landed by Blagoy Ivanov. Of his 81 total strikes landed, 65 were to the head of Australia’s Tai Tuivasa. Ivanov grinded out the decision win (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

7:49: Amount of control time for strawweight contender Tatiana Suarez. Of the fifteen minutes, America’s Suarez had top control for 7:49, just over half the duration of the bout.

4: Henry Cejudo is now just the fourth fighter in the promotion’s history to hold two belts simultaneously, including Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, and Daniel Cormier.

1: However, Cejudo is the one and only UFC fighter to ever win an Olympic gold medal and go on to hold two UFC titles at the same time.

2: Knockdowns for Russia’s Petr Yan. Yan scored a knockdown in each of the first two rounds to earn himself a unanimous decision victory over #7 ranked bantamweight Jimmie Rivera.

4: China’s Yan Xiaonan earned her fourth straight victory inside the UFC octagon by defeating veteran Angela Hill by unanimous decision.

3: “The Messenger” Henry Cejudo punched his way to his third straight UFC title fight victory at UFC 238. The previous two came against former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.

10: Saturday marked the 10th post-fight bonus for “El Cucuy” Tony Ferguson as he and Donald Cerrone were awarded fight of the night honors. Of the 10 bonuses, 3 were fight of the night, 5 were performance of the night, 1 was submission of the night, and his first bonus was knockout of the night to win “The Ultimate Fighter” season 13 finale.

30: Number of significant strikes landed by Nina Ansaroff in the third round against Tatiana Suarez. Through the first two rounds, Ansaroff only landed 18 significant strikes. Ansaroff went on to lose 29-28 on all three judges’ scorecards.

10: Aljamain Sterling’s decision victory over Pedro Munhoz was his 10th under the UFC banner.

175: Number of significant strikes landed by Aljamain Sterling, which is now the new UFC record for most significant strikes landed in a bantamweight contest.

5: Yan, Suarez, and Chookagian all picked up their 5th UFC win at UFC 238.

148: Number of significant strikes landed by Alexa Grasso in her decision victory over Poland’s Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Grasso now holds an 11-2 MMA record, and her striking looks sharper than ever.

4:15: Total control time for Valentina Shevchenko in her first flyweight title defense versus Jessica Eye. The Kyrgyzstan native held control for 4:15 of the 5:26 that the fight had lasted.

7: The total number of knockdowns on the card. 2 from Yan, 2 from Wineland, 1 from Kattar, 1 from Ivanov, and 1 from Shevchenko.

172: Number of combined significant strikes from Tony Ferguson and Donald Cerrone. Of the 172, Ferguson had the edge with 104, while Cowboy added 68. The fight was halted after round 2 via doctor stoppage.

11: Number of UFC/WEC wins for Eddie Wineland. The inaugural WEC bantamweight champion Wineland knocked out Grigory Popov late in the 2nd round.

16,083: Total Attendance for UFC 238 at the United Center in Chicago, IL.

$2,034,387: Live gate from UFC 238 on Saturday night.

$50,000: Ferguson and Cerrone each took home an extra $50k for earning fight of the night honors. Cejudo and Shevchenko also pocketed $50k for their performances, finishing their opponents via strikes en-route to title fight victories.