T.J. Dillashaw: By The Numbers

UFC 227 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Cody Garbrandt faced T.J. Dillashaw as a confident man, but their UFC 217 battle for the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title did not go as he hoped. Dillashaw stopped the Team Alpha Male standout inside two rounds to reclaim his championship at 135 pounds. Now comes the encore.

The archrivals will meet for a second time, as Dillashaw defends the undisputed bantamweight crown against “No Love” in the UFC 227 headliner on Saturday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. As the Duane Ludwig protégé prepares for his rematch with Garbrandt, here are some of the numbers that have come to define him.

2: Amateur wins without a loss. Dillashaw moved to Team Alpha Male after Mark Munoz recommended he do so. Munoz had served as a coach at Cal State Fullerton, where Dillashaw enjoyed a successful career as a wrestler before moving to mixed martial arts.

4: Fights in eight months to start his professional career. Dillashaw used his superior wrestling to dominate Czar Sklavos to a unanimous decision in his March 2010 debut. His next three fights all ended in finishes.

1: Minute and 54 seconds was all John Dodson needed to upend Dillashaw in “The Ultimate Fighter 14” bantamweight final. The knockout was the first loss of his career. Dillashaw had beaten Matt Jaggers, Roland Delorme and Dustin Pague on his path to the final.

5: Submission attempts against Walel Watson in Dillashaw’s second UFC appearance. Dillashaw controlled the fight, not just on the ground but also on the feet, to score his first victory inside the Octagon. According to Fightmetric, he connected 85 significant strikes to his opponent’s 11.

5: Wins against on loss in the UFC on his way to challenging Renan Barao for the bantamweight title in 2014. Apart from Watson, Dillashaw also defeated Vaughan Lee, Issei Tamura, Hugo Viana and Mike Easton while losing to Raphael Assuncao. He was supposed to face Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 173, but when the show lost its main event, Dillashaw moved up to the headliner to oppose Barao.

257: Significant strikes landed against Barao in their two fights. The Brazilian only managed to connect with 126. Dillashaw stopped him via technical knockout on both occasions.

3: Career losses. Dillashaw’s three defeats have come to Dodson, Assuncao and Dominick Cruz, who reclaimed the bantamweight championship at UFC Fight Night 81. Takedowns were a key factor, as Cruz executed four of them and Dillashaw only managed to land one.

2: Fights against Assuncao. Dillashaw lost their first meeting by split decision at UFC Fight Night 29 before earning a unanimous verdict over the Brazilian in their UFC 200 rematch.

71: Significant strikes landed on John Lineker, who only connect with 38 in return. Many gave “Hands of Stone” a good chance to upend Dillashaw because of his power, but the champion’s wrestling nullified any advantage Lineker may have had in that department. He took him down five times.

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