Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 218 ‘Lewis vs. Spivak’

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: 6,982
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 634

The Ultimate Fighting Championship concluded its “Road to UFC” tournament in all four divisions, sticking the finals matches on the prelims of a nondescript Fight Night event. All four contract winners impressed in some fashion, with four new rostered competitors that show great promise. UFC Fight Night 218 featured an overwhelming grappling attack that would make Daniel Cormier proud, a pair of countries now on the map in the Octagon and a puppy-earning performance.

Followed DC’s Strategy to the Letter: In the opening frame of their headliner, Sergey Spivak smothered and submitted Derrick Lewis. As a pro, the Moldovan sports a stellar finish rate of 87%%, with 10 of his stoppages coming in Round 1.

Panserbjorn: Spivak becomes the seventh competitor in UFC history to land an arm-triangle choke in a main event. Five of them, including “The Polar Bear,” have pocketed $50,000 checks for their handiwork. His was the fastest of those seven.

As the Kids Say, “Punked”: In the span of three minutes and five seconds, Lewis did not manage to land a single significant strike. This marks the first time “The Black Beast” has been blanked in the Octagon after 26 walks. His previous low was one, against Matt Mitrione in 2014.

Fast Approaching the Cliff: All nine of Lewis’ UFC defeats have come by stoppage, tying him with Clay Guida, Donald Cerrone and Tim Boetsch for the second-most in promotional history. Andrei Arlovski leads that category with 10.

Get This Man a Puppy: In the co-headliner, Devin Clark outworked Da Woon Jung en route to a unanimous decision. Since joining the roster in 2016, seven of Clark’s eight wins have come on the scorecards.

Golden Retriever, Preferred: Clark’s seven decisions put him tied with Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans and Corey Anderson for the third-most in the UFC light heavyweight division. Ryan Bader (nine) and Jon Jones (10) stand above them.

What Is It with Seven: Needing all three rounds to get by Blagoy Ivanov, Marcin Tybura earned his seventh win by decision as a UFC heavyweight. “Tybur” is alone in second place in his weight class, but he trails Arlovski (12) by a wide margin.

Heavyweight Endurance: All seven of Ivanov’s UFC appearances have ended in the hands of the judges, win or lose. This is a first for a heavyweight with the organization, to have their first seven matches go to decision.

Use Replay More Often: Doo Ho Choi and Kyle Nelson ended up scored as a majority draw due to a point-reducing headbutt from Choi. The South Korean has not won since July 2016, and at that time, only two of the other 21 fighters at UFC Fight Night 218 had fought for the UFC.

No One Told Him the Odds: With a barrage of elbows, Adam Fugitt put Yusaku Kinoshita away in the first round. The Oregon native has earned eight of his nine wins by stoppage.

Jubilant Victor: Anshul Jubli became the second Indian-born fighter—after Bharat Khandare—to compete for the UFC, and the first to record a win. He put Jeka Asparido Saragih away in the second frame to claim the UFC contract at lightweight.

Inspirational Moral Victory: Even in defeat, Saragih also made history. He became the first Indonesian competitor to set foot inside the Octagon.

Luck Was on His Side: For the second time in his professional tenure, Jeong Yeong Lee reached the third round. “The Korean Tiger” claimed a close decision over Zha Yi to pick up his 145-pound “Road to UFC” contract.

Hair on Fire-Type: Rinya Nakamura blazed through Toshiomi Kazama in 33 seconds to prevail in the bantamweight bracket. His contract-winning victory moved his spotless record to 7-0, with five finishes coming in Round 1.

Korea on Korea Violence: Late into the third round, Hyun Sung Park throttled Seung Guk Choi with a rear-naked choke to take home the top prize of the flyweight Road to UFC portion. The Gyeonggi, South Korea, native is a perfect 8-0, with seven stoppage wins to his credit.

Ta Ta for Now: Leading off the card, Tatsuro Taira remained undefeated as a pro at 13-0 by hitting a triangle armbar on Jesus Santos Aguilar. He is the second fighter to perform such a submission in the opening fight of a UFC event, with the first being Genki Sudo against Mike Thomas Brown at UFC 47 in 2004.

Towering Odds: Taira closed as an enormous -1250 betting favorite against Aguilar, and promptly submitted him as a result. The Japanese prospect came in as the loftiest favorite since Alexander Romanov brought with him -2000 odds against Chase Sherman at UFC on ESPN 35 in 2022.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 218, Kinoshita had never been finished (seven fights), Saragih had never been knocked out (15 fights) and S.G. Choi had never been submitted (seven fights).

라키: For the second card in UFC history, two fighters selected songs composed by Bill Conti from the “Rocky” soundtrack. D.H. Choi went with “Going the Distance” while Jun Yong Park picked “Gonna Fly Now.” This first happened at UFC Fight Night 166 in 2020 when Rafael dos Anjos and Junior dos Santos chose those tunes, respectively.

Don’t Have to Stop: Changing it to his main track in April 2019, Tybura has walked out to “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers 11 times in the UFC. His win percentage when using the track sits at a high .727, with seven of his last eight going his way.