By The Numbers: Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje

The pairing drips with intrigue.

Charles Oliveira will defend his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title against Justin Gaethje in the UFC 274 main event on Saturday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. The champion figures to enter the cage as a modest favorite. Oliveira has rattled off 10 consecutive victories, nine of them finishes, during his rise to the top of the weight class. He last appeared at UFC 269, where he submitted Dustin Poirier with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their Dec. 11 encounter. Gaethje, meanwhile, has won five of his past six bouts. He last competed on Nov. 6, when he was awarded a unanimous decision over Michael Chandler in their memorable UFC 268 barnburner.

As Oliveira and Gaethje pore over the remaining details associated with their matchup at 155 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

32: Years of age for Oliveira, who was born on Oct. 17, 1989 in Guaruja, Brazil.

20: Oliveira wins by submission, accounting for 63% of his career total (32). His methods of choice: eight rear-naked chokes, five guillotine chokes, three anaconda chokes, one triangle armbar, one armbar, one calf slicer and one triangle choke. Oliveira owns nine other wins by knockout or technical knockout and three more by decision.

41: Seconds needed for Oliveira to submit Darren Elkins with an armbar at UFC Live 2 in August 2010. Having occurred more than a decade ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.

1,617: Days since Oliveira last lost. The culprit? Paul Felder dispatched the Brazilian with elbows in the second round of their UFC 218 clash on Dec. 2, 2017.

240: Combined victories between the 10 opponents Oliveira has beaten during his current winning streak: Poirier, Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee, Jared Gordon, Nik Lentz, David Teymur, Jim Miller, Christos Giagos and Clay Guida. They sport a cumulative .716 winning percentage (240-93-2).

33: Years of age for Gaethje, who was born in Safford, Arizona, on Nov. 14, 1988.

19: Gaethje victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 83% of his career total (23). His list of UFC victims: Ferguson, Donald Cerrone, Edson Barboza, James Vick and Michael Johnson. Gaethje holds one other victory by submission—he took care of Sam Young with a rear-naked choke at Rage in the Cage 162 on Sept. 29, 2012—and three more by decision.

7.5: Strikes landed per minute by Gaethje as a member of the UFC roster, placing him seventh on the promotion’s all-time list. Only Sean O’Malley (8.37), Daniel Rodriguez (8.24), Shane Burgos (7.95), Khamzat Chimaev (7.89), Jordan Wright (7.62) and Leslie Smith (7.56) rank ahead of the former World Series of Fighting champion.

11: Consecutive calendar years in which Gaethje has fought at least once. He went 3-0 in 2011, 4-0 in 2012, 3-0 in 2013, 3-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016, 1-1 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-1 in 2020 and 1-0 in 2021.

.853: Cumulative winning percentage between the three opponents—Poirier, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Eddie Alvarez—who have defeated Gaethje. They boast a combined record of 87-15.