By The Numbers: Alexander Romanov vs. Chase Sherman

The march toward contention in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division has begun in earnest for Alexander Romanov.

“King Kong” will carry a 15-0 record into his UFC Fight Night 205 co-main event opposite Chase Sherman on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Romanov has won all four of his fights inside the Octagon, three of them finishes. He last appeared at UFC Fight Night 194, where he brought down Jared Vanderaa with punches in the second round of their Oct. 9 pairing. Sherman, meanwhile, enters the cage on a three-fight losing streak. He last fought on Jan. 15, when he submitted to a rear-naked choke from Jake Collier at UFC on ESPN 32.

As Romanov and Sherman make final preparations ahead of their three-round showdown, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

31: Years of age for Romanov, who was born in Comrat, Moldova, on Dec. 11, 1990.

8: Romanov wins by submission, accounting for 53% of his career total (15). His methods of choice: three forearm chokes, two rear-naked chokes, two neck cranks and one arm-triangle choke. Romanov holds six other wins by knockout or technical knockout and one more by decision.

3: Sub-minute stoppages on the Romanov resume. He dispatched Yuriy Protsenko with a rear-naked choke in 50 seconds at Eagles Fighting Championship 3 on Nov. 19, 2016, buried Evgeniy Golub with punches in 48 seconds at Eagles Fighting Championship 5 on May 20, 2017 and struck down Alexander Stolyarov with punches in 36 seconds at Eagles Fighting Championship 8 on Feb. 10, 2018.

4: Countries in which Romanov has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 9-0 in his native Moldova, 4-0 in the United States, 1-0 in Russia and 1-0 in Ukraine.

56: Combined victories between the four opponents—Vanderaa, Juan Espino, Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Roque Martinez—Romanov has defeated since he joined the UFC roster in 2020. They sport a .667 cumulative winning percentage (56-25-3).

32: Years of age for Sherman, who was born on Nov. 6, 1989 in D’Iberville, Mississippi.

14: Sherman victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 93% of his career total (15). His list of victims includes Isaac Villanueva, Jeremy May, Rashad Coulter and Jack May. Sherman owns one other victory by decision.

11: Seconds needed for Sherman to punch out Chris Jensen under the Atlas Fights banner on April 12, 2014. Having occurred more than eight years ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.

710: Days since Sherman found himself in the win column. “The Vanilla Gorilla” has followed his May 13, 2020 technical knockout of Isaac Villanueva with three consecutive losses.

.668: Cumulative winning percentage between the nine men—Collier, Parker Porter, Andrei Arlovski, Augusto Sakai, Justin Willis, Shamil Abdurakhimov, Walt Harris, Justin Ledet and Alex Nicholson—who have beaten Sherman. They boast a combined record of 139-68-1.