Fight Facts: UFC 268

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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: 6,372
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 584

The Ultimate Fighting Championship followed one blockbuster show with another, and it delivered in spades. The action rarely slowed as multiple bouts were contenders for “Fight of the Night” with their performances. UFC 268 featured the continuation of an incredible win streak, the sure-fire best fight of the year and a shocking spinning kick knockout from a heavyweight.

Striker’s Delight Night: After the dust settled, an unprecedented 1,973 significant strikes connected throughout the course of the night at UFC 268. That shattered the previous record held by UFC 238 by 155 significant strikes.

Can You Hear Them Knocking? Seven of the 14 bouts at UFC 268 ended by knockout, coming in one shy of the all-time event record held by five past UFC cards.

Coach of the Year: Three competitors under the tutelage of coach Trevor Wittman competed on the main card of UFC 268, and all three prevailed by decision: Kamaru Usman, Rose Namajunas and Justin Gaethje.

A Pound-for-Pounder: Usman has still never been beaten as a UFC fighter, taking a unanimous verdict over Colby Covington to improve his UFC win streak to 15. The only man with more wins in a row inside the Octagon is Anderson Silva, who sustained a 16-fight win streak from 2006 to 2013.

Cracking Colby: Dropping Covington twice en route to victory, Usman notched his 10th knockdown at the end of the night. Usman’s 10 knockdowns trail Jake Ellenberger (11) and Thiago Alves (13) for the most in UFC welterweight history.

Can’t Outland Him, Can’t Outwrestle Him: Covington tried 11 times to take Usman down, and he never officially succeeded on any of his attempts. Usman still hoists a perfect 100% takedown defense rate as a pro after 31 attempts in the Octagon to ground him.

Thug Rematch: Prevailing in the rematch against Weili Zhang by split decision, Namajunas has still yet to lose when facing a foe for the second time. She has beaten Tecia Torres, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jessica Andrade and Zhang all in her second meetings with them.

She Is the Best: The last six bouts for Namajunas have been accompanied by immediate rematches, and she has faced only three women dating back to late 2017. In that stretch, she has beaten champions or former champions five times.

The Greatest Strawweight: Winner of nine bouts as a strawweight under the UFC banner, Namajunas finds herself with the second most in 115-pound history. Along with Torres and Carla Esparza, she trails two-time rival Jedrzejczyk with 10.

Chito Fingers, Chito Feet: Blasting Frankie Edgar with a front kick, Marlon Vera earned his ninth finish victory as a UFC bantamweight. “Chito” passes T.J. Dillashaw for the most at 135 pounds among men.

Foot to Face: Eight fighters in UFC history have now scored knockouts via a front kick, following Vera’s finish of Edgar. All eight received post-fight bonus money after these specific stoppages, and Vera is the first below welterweight to land this fight-ending blow.

FOTN on Any Other Night: Shane Burgos prevailed over Billy Quarantillo by a hard-fought decision. Their three rounds of action combined for a whopping 357 significant strikes, a new record for a three-round UFC tilt.

And Zero Knockdowns: The 357 significant strike tally eclipses all but three bouts in overall company history, even when including five-round encounters. The recordholder is firmly Max Holloway, whose rumbles with Dustin Poirier (359), Brian Ortega (400) and Calvin Kattar (578) hold the top three spots.

New York State of Mind: The fight in New York City for Burgos is his sixth in his home state in the Octagon. Burgos has won all six times when fighting in front of New York crowds, and he holds twice as many UFC triumphs in New York as any other fighter.

He Really Is Coming Home: Burgos has competed in New York more times than any other fighter in UFC history, with six outings in the Empire State. No other UFC competitor has appeared in the state more than four times.

What We Expected and More: The ferocious battle between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler rightfully earned the two “Fight of the Night” honors as well as instant “Fight of the Year” consideration. While Chandler has picked up bonus money in two of his three UFC outings, Gaethje has pocketed 10 post-fight bonus checks in his nine UFC fights.

Simply No Comparison: After nine UFC scraps, Gaethje’s 10 post-fight bonuses already ties him for the 10th most in UFC history with four other competitors. Six of Gaethje’s bonuses have come as FOTNs, and he is only two shy of the all-time FOTN leaders of Edson Barboza, Edgar and Nate Diaz.

Did You Hear He Beat Israel Adesanya? In his UFC debut, former two-division Glory kickboxing champ Alex Pereira flattened Andreas Michailidis with a flying knee. Pereira still maintains a perfect 100% career finish rate as a pro, while all of Michailidis’ career setbacks have come due to strikes.

Check Al’s Hotel Room: In less than half a round, Bobby Green knocked Al Iaquinta out with punches. The finish snapped a 10-fight streak for Green that had all gone the distance.

Green Day: Green earned his first knockout since putting James Krause away exactly eight years ago to the day. At that time, co-headliner Zhang was three days away from making her pro MMA debut.

MMA Factory Assembly Line: Putting an end to the bout at 4:42 of Round 2, Nassourdine Imavov finished Edmen Shahbazyan with elbows in the crucifix position. The MMA Factory product now celebrates a career finish rate of 82%, with stoppages in six of his last seven wins.

Blah Blah Take Over: With one second left in the round, Ian Garry flatlined Jordan Williams with punches. The young Irishman is a perfect 8-0 as a pro at this point, with 75% of his wins coming inside the distance.

Big Man Can Spin: Chris Barnett pulled off the 11th spinning wheel kick knockout in UFC history when he cracked Gian Villante in the second round and followed up with punches. He is only the second heavyweight to land this move, with Junior dos Santos the first against Mark Hunt in 2013.

The Year of the Wheel: 2021 is now the second year in the history of the promotion where multiple spinning wheel kick knockouts landed, as Ignacio Bahamondes recorded one against Roosevelt Roberts in August. 2013 featured two as well, with Vitor Belfort and dos Santos smashing Luke Rockhold and Hunt with them, respectively.

Starting Off Slow and Heavy: In the first two fights of the night, C.J. Vergara and Bruno Souza missed weight for their respective flyweight and featherweight encounters. As a result, UFC 268 is the first card since UFC 243 in 2019 to start off with a pair of catchweight bouts.

Disadvantaging Yourself: With Souza and Vergara coming up short after failing to make weight, each of the last five competitors to miss weight has lost inside the Octagon.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 268, Covington had never lost on the scorecards (18 fights), Zhang had never dropped consecutive bouts (23 fights) and Iaquinta had never been knocked out (21 fights).

Rock Superstars: Both Vera and Gaethje walked out to tracks by rap group Cypress Hill, and each had their hands raised at the end of the night and earned post-fight bonus money as well. Vera chose a remix by DJ Muggs of “Hand on the Pump,” while Gaethje went with “Rock Superstar.”

And I Go Where the Ocean is Deep: Throughout UFC history, fighters have selected songs by Billy Joel nine recorded times. Villante picked “The Downeaster Alexa” as his final walkout tune and suffered a loss. Overall, those going with Billy Joel as their walkout artist have won just 22.2% of their bouts.