Fight Facts: UFC 307 ‘Pereira vs. Rountree’

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: 7,870
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 707

The Ultimate Fighting Championship crowned a new champion at UFC 307, with the bantamweight belt changing hands as the crowd showered the new champ with boos. The Utah commission played a factor early and often in these matchups, with rough officiating and judging across the board. The pay-per-view show featured a Terminator in the form of a champion, a deflating loss for an inflated ex-champ and a corner that truly cares for their fighter.

So Much for the Old Guard: Three fighters competed at UFC 307 over the age of 40: Stephen Thompson, Ovince St. Preux and Tim Means. All three lost by stoppage.

Khalil Fought Valiantly: Alex Pereira kept an iron grip on his 205-pound throne by punching out Khalil Rountree in the fourth round. He joins a small class of light heavyweight champs who have notched at least three successful defenses, a group that includes Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Jon Jones (twice) and Daniel Cormier.

Speedrunning the Division: On April 13, Pereira beat Jamahal Hill for his first defense. His second came on June 29 and third on Oct. 5. This 175-day span for three victorious title retentions is the quickest of any champ in UFC history, surpassing Ronda Rousey’s amazing 189-day run in 2013 and 2014.

Chasing Chuck: Since moving up to light heavyweight in mid-2023, “Poatan” has registered four knockout victories. Seventeen fighters in the modern history of the weight class have earned more in their whole UFC runs, with Chuck Liddell’s nine atop the leaderboard.

Broke Them, Literally and Figuratively: The Brazilian champ boosted his career knockout rate to 83% by drumming out Rountree. He becomes one of a small bunch across UFC history who celebrates stoppage wins in Rounds 4 and 5.

Hall of Fame Criteria Checked: There have now been six women in promotional history that have won a belt and then claimed it again later after losing it. Julianna Pena is now a member of an elite group of ladies that includes Rose Namajunas, Carla Esparza, Amanda Nunes, Weili Zhang and Valentina Shevchenko.

Slowly Climbing: Pena’s eight wins at 135 pounds put her in a tie with Ketlen Vieira for the third-most victories in divisional history. Foe Raquel Pennington (12) and past adversary Nunes (13) post more.

That’s for TUF Drama: In a losing effort to defend her bantamweight strap, Pennington dropped Pena in the fourth frame. This marks the first time “Rocky” has scored a knockdown in her 19-bout UFC tenure.

And She Will Be Back: Pennington put further space between herself and the pack by entering into her 18th match at 135 pounds. Holly Holm and Irene Aldana are the next closest active competitors, with 13 fights at the division apiece.

Longevity Proves Success: Landing with 92 significant strikes—the same total as Pena—Pennington added to her division-leading amount of 1,148. Aldana at the no. 2 spot now trails her by 120 sig strikes.

A Close Win Is Still a Win: Mario Bautista took Jose Aldo down to the wire, claiming a split verdict over the legendary Brazilian. In doing so, he pushed Aldo to his ninth straight bout where Aldo competed 15 minutes or longer.

Barbequed or Smoked: Thanks to an injured rib on the side of Kevin Holland, Roman Dolidze picked up the knockout win in his return to 185 pounds. The Georgian’s overall finish rate sits at 79% as a result of the win.

Best Corner Ever: Unable to continue after five minutes of combat, Holland’s corner threw in the towel for their fighter. His team previously did this when facing Thompson in 2022, making him the first combatant in UFC history to suffer multiple corner stoppage defeats.

Her Toughest Fight Since…Three Fights Ago: Kayla Harrison settled for a decision win over Ketlen Vieira. The former Professional Fighters League champ landed two takedowns across their 15-minute engagement, making her the first fighter to ground Vieira more than once in Vieira’s UFC career.

PFL-Like Lines: Harrison clocked in with -1100 betting odds in her favor before taking on Vieira (+700). She and Cong Wang share the lead in the organization this year among all women with lopsided betting lines.

Erasing “Wonderboy”: With no submissions on his ledger, Joaquin Buckley advanced his finish and knockout rate to 70% by clubbing Thompson with one punch. He is the second fighter to ever separate Thompson from his senses with strikes, with Anthony Pettis in 2019 the first to do so.

Her Achilles TDD: Needing all three rounds and three takedowns to squeak past Marina Rodriguez, Iasmin Lucindo picked up a contentious split call. Four women have amassed at least this many takedowns on Rodriguez, and she has never won when grounded this often.

Put to Pasture: Ryan Spann clubbed and subbed St. Preux with a guillotine choke to snap a three-fight skid. The Texan known as “Superman” has finished the fight in 86% of his outings, with the majority coming by submission.

His Favorite Move: The sub via guillotine is Spann’s third in the Octagon. Tied with eight other competitors with the fourth-most in UFC history, Jon Jones (four) along with Nate Diaz and Charles Oliviera (five apiece) are the three with more.

Spoiler: Tecia Pennington thwarted Esparza on the latter’s retirement bout, picking up the close win on the scorecards. She has registered 10 wins as a UFC strawweight, putting her one behind divisional leader Angela Hill.

Pennington Up, Pennington Down: Getting past Esparza by decision, T. Pennington has heard the final bell in 12 of her 14 victories. On the other side of the equation, all seven losses for “The Tiny Tornado” are via the judges.

See You Soon, Cookie: Esparza hung up her gloves as one of three two-time UFC strawweight queens. The inaugural 115-pound champ celebrates wins over names including Rose Namajunas (twice), Alexa Grasso, Virna Jandiroba and Marina Rodriguez, to name a few. She says farewell to the league as an accomplished strawweight with the second-most wins (10), the most decision victories (eight), the most takedowns landed (49) and many other accolades.

One More Crush: Court McGee pulled off the upset in front of a home crowd, landing a neck crank on Means. “The Crusher” performed his first finish since October 2010, and at that time, 17 of the other competitors at UFC 307 had yet to make their pro debuts.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 307, Rountree had never competed beyond Round 3 (19 fights), Pena had never prevailed in a match that lasted more than 15 minutes (16 fights) and Thompson had neither won nor lost a fight during the third round (25 fights).

Not Shipping Anywhere: Both Marina Rodriguez and Esparza picked a version of “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys, with the former opting for the instrumental. Both strawweights fell short via decision at night’s end.

Won’t You Take Me Far Away: For the first time since UFC 145 in 2012, Thompson chose against walking out to “Wonderboy” by Tenacious D. Instead of picking the song sharing the title with his nickname, the karateka opted for “Never Get Used to This” by Jvke & Forrest Frank, and he suffered a stoppage loss.

Holding Out for a Win: Ihor Potieria selected Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” as his walkout tune, joining Dan Kelly in 2018 as the only two to pick this 80s song. Both men lost their fights, with Potieria coming up short on the scorecards to Cesar Almeida.