Fight Facts: UFC 272 ‘Covington vs. Masvidal’

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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: 6,518
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 596

The Ultimate Fighting Championship bet it all on a grudge match between two ex-teammates to sell a pay-per-view, and results were exactly as many expected. Two five-round fights, one planned and one unexpected, both went the full 25 minutes, and fans in T-Mobile Arena were dragged late into the night kicking and screaming when the card went late. UFC 272 featured a wrestler performing at his suffocating best, a polar bear mauling a football star and a feel-good win for a Ukrainian competitor.

Should Have Wrestled in College: Over the course of their 25-minute affair, Colby Covington officially secured six takedowns on Jorge Masvidal. In addition to landing the most in one fight on “Gamebred,” Covington moved himself up to second place in the UFC’s welterweight division with the most takedowns landed (67). Georges St. Pierre stands above the pack with 87.

Shallow-Water Swimmer: As a professional, Masvidal has fought beyond the fourth round four times now. He has not won any of those matches.

Exclusive Club, No Membership Papers: Handling Renato Carneiro by five-round decision, Rafael dos Anjos notched his 20th victory inside the Octagon. He is just the 10th fighter to do so across company history.

Remembering the Power: In the third round, dos Anjos dropped “Moicano” to record the only knockdown of the fight. The knockdown was his first since putting Benson Henderson away in August 2014. At that time, eight of the other 25 fighters on this card had not made their UFC debuts, while another 12 had not even turned pro yet.

Nasty Streak in Him: Grinding Edson Barboza out over three rounds, Bryce Mitchell lifted his unbeaten record to 15-0 as a pro. “Thug Nasty” started his career with eight straight submissions, but he has gone the distance in six of his last seven outings including five of six in the UFC.

Enter the Professional Athlete: In his move back to welterweight, Kevin Holland pounded Alex Oliveira out with elbows early in the second round to lift his finish rate to 82%. Five of Holland’s last six wins have come inside the distance, with his lone decision victory in that stretch over Darren Stewart in 2020.

Searching for Coca-Cola: As a professional, “The Polar Bear” Sergey Spivak notched his 12th finish across his 14 victories. This puts his stoppage rate at 86% following his first-round drubbing of Greg Hardy, which clocked in as one of the quickest wins of his career.

Web Warrior: Following his knockout of Jamie Mullarkey, Jalin Turner kept his perfect 100% finish rate intact as a pro. Every stoppage for “The Tarantula” has come within two rounds, and three-quarters of them have ended by knockout.

Russian Warship…: By strangling Mariya Agapova with an arm-triangle choke, Maryna Moroz landed her first finish since she tapped Joanne Wood with an armbar in her UFC debut back in 2015. Each of the Ukrainian’s seven bouts between the Agapova and Wood matches had gone three full rounds.

…Go Arm-Triangle Yourself: Locking down the arm-triangle choke after the midpoint of the second round, Moroz recorded only the fourth submission of its type in UFC women’s divisional history. She is the first to pull one off in a fight that did not involve Sara McMann.

It’s in the Name: Ahead of his featherweight tilt with Brian Kelleher, Umar Nurmagomedov closed as the biggest UFC betting favorite of the year with -1000 odds on him. The Dagestan native tapped Kelleher to lift his perfect record to 14-0 as a pro, cashing the largest favorite ticket since a -1250 Valentina Shevchenko demolished Lauren Murphy in September 2021.

Awkward Has Its Benefits: Springing the biggest upset of the night, Tim Elliott claimed a decision win over Tagir Ulanbekov. The former title challenger has still not notched a win by stoppage since he hit an anaconda choke on Mark De La Rosa, with that victory coming in December 2017.

No Gas Tank Issues on Short Notice: For only the second time in his career, Ludovit Klein won a fight on the scorecards. Prior to his split decision win over Devonte Smith, the Slovakian had claimed a three-round victory over Arbi Mezhidov in 2018. The first 12 triumphs for “Mr. Highlight” all came inside the distance.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 272, five different fighters had never lost on the scorecards (Carneiro, Xiaonan Yan, Kennedy Nzechukwu, Devonte Smith and Michal Oleksiejczuk), Agapova had never been submitted (12 fights) and three competitors had never suffered consecutive defeats (Yan, Nzechukwu and Smith).

You Suck: For each of his last five Octagon outings, Covington has walked out to “Medal” by Jim Johnston, also known as the theme song for former pro wrestler Kurt Angle. While he has prevailed in three of those five, the two defeats came to top pound-for-pound fighter Kamaru Usman.

My Body’s Ready, My Heart’s On Fire: Throughout recorded UFC walkout music history, the beloved combat song “Fight to Survive” by Stan Bush off the “Bloodsport” soundtrack has sounded throughout arenas 12 times following dos Anjos use of the track. Fighters using this tune ahead of their matches have won 66.7% of the time, a high rate for an individual song.