Fight Facts: Bellator 292 ‘Nurmagomedov vs. Henderson’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities 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 BELLATOR FIGHTS: 3,278
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 294

Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California, on the 17th anniversary of the first-ever Californian MMA fight card, with Scott Coker at the helm then and now. The marathon event dwindled to an even 10 matches, and half of the quarterfinals of the lightweight grand prix are in the books. Bellator 292 featured one of the biggest betting favorites seen in a title fight, a groin shot that wasn’t and the disappointing swan song for a beloved longtime great.

Heir to the Nurmagomedov Throne: Atop Bellator 292, Usman Nurmagomedov registered the first defense of his lightweight belt by strangling Benson Henderson. He becomes the fourth 155-pound champ in Bellator history to notch at least one title defense, joining Eddie Alvarez, Michael Chandler and Will Brooks.

The Future Is Yours: The 24-year-old from Dagestan, Russia, moved to 17-0 as a professional with the win. Among all competitors to fight for major promotions, he is tied for the second-best unbeaten record, behind Bellator welterweight king Yaroslav Amosov (27-0).

Young and Hungry: Across his 17 wins, Nurmagomedov has now performed 14 finishes. Eleven of those stoppages have come in the opening frame.

Cyborgian Line: Nurmagomedov closed as an astronomical -2000 betting favorite before running roughshod over the +1100 Henderson. The Russian now claims the second-highest favored line for any championship match in company history, tied with Cristiane Justino’s -2000 against Leslie Smith and beneath her -3500 odds against Sinead Kavanagh in 2021.

One of the WEC’s Last Warriors: After his loss, Henderson called it a career. The former World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder remains the lone fighter in the sport’s history to vie for WEC, UFC and Bellator titles.

Incidental Contact: Moving his win streak to eight straight including four in a row under the Bellator banner, Alexandr Shabliy put Tofiq Musayev away with a body kick that partially struck the groin. “Peresvet” recorded his 19th finish across 23 wins, for a stoppage rate of 83%.

TBA vs. TBD: Nurmagomedov and Shabliy advances to the semifinals with their victories on Friday night. The former will put his belt on the line against the winner of the Mansour Barnaoui-Brent Primus bout that happens in May, while Shabliy takes on the winning party of A.J. McKee vs. Patricky Freire at an undetermined date.

Now a Big Swarm: In his sixth walk to the cage as a heavyweight, Linton Vassell avenged his only loss in the division by wrecking Valentin Moldavsky. Across his five wins, four have come by knockout, already placing the Brit in a tie for the fourth-most knockouts in Bellator divisional history with Cheick Kongo and Fedor Emelianenko.

Major Damage: It took Michael Page 26 seconds to destroy Goiti Yamauchi’s knee and record the stoppage win. This technical knockout earned Page the top spot for the most knockouts landed in Bellator history, breaking a tie with Patricio Freire.

Worst One of All: Over the years, nine fights have ended inside the Bellator cage via leg kick, following Page’s demolition of Yamauchi. Welterweights have accounted for more than any other division, with three taking place at 170 pounds by Douglas Lima, Rashard Lovelace and now Page.

Back to the Old Ways: Breaking his first career losing streak, Enrique Barzola topped Erik Perez on the scorecards to get the win. Spanning 15 fights and dating back to 2015 including his whole Bellator and UFC runs, “El Fuerte” has heard the final bell in 13 of those encounters.

Ring My Bell: Ahead of their bantamweight bout, Cass Bell clocked in at 145.2 pounds, or 9.2 pounds above the 136-pound limit. Bell lost after surrendering 50% of his purse to Josh Hill, registering as one of the more egregious weight misses in Bellator history. The worst for a fight that still continued came in 2018, when Willie Whitehead weighed 200.2 pounds for his middleweight match with Romero Cotton.

No Murdalizing: Khalid Murtazaliev needed all three rounds to defeat Tony Johnson by decision. The Russian has seen two of his three decision victories occur across his last three victories, who started his career with knockouts in his first 11 wins.

Spell Yagshimuradov: The finish rate of Turkmenistan’s Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov dropped to 80% after his fight with Julius Anglickas. “Dov Yags” needed 15 full minutes to get his hand raised.

Same Age as Usman: Laird Anderson’s pro record moved to 4-0 when he put Rogelio Luna to sleep with a rear-naked choke. The new Fortis MMA trainee has recorded his last three wins by stoppage.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 292, Musayev had never been knocked out (24 fights), Moldavsky (14 fights) and Yamauchi (33 fights) had never been finished and Page had never finished a fight with low kicks (12 knockouts).