Fight Facts: UFC 309 ‘Jones vs. Miocic’

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: 7,942
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 713

The Ultimate Fighting Championship employed a “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead” approach for its latest pay-per-offering, slapping a championship battle few seemed to want along with a trio of betting mismatches. What resulted was a slow drip until the main attraction, one that played out relative to expectations with one spinning exception. UFC 309 featured the first champ in over a decade to defend their throne with one flashy strike, an ageless wonder still performing miracles in the cage and a pair of consciousness-depriving clubbing knockouts.

Things Are Breaking: Three fighters throughout the night closed as betting favorites of -1000 or above: Bo Nickal (-1400), Mauricio Ruffy (-1000) and David Onama (-1400). All three had their hands raised. No prior event in UFC history had ever seen three competitors reach or surpass -1000 odds.

Spin Spin Sugar: Crushing Stipe Miocic’s side with a spinning back kick and finishing the job with follow-up punches, Jon Jones became the second champion in UFC history to score a knockout using a spinning strike. Renan Barao is the first, doing so in 2013 against Eddie Wineland.

It’s Champlicated: Just four champs in the organization’s history have successfully defended their belts in multiple divisions. Daniel Cormier did so first, followed by Henry Cejudo and Amanda Nunes.

Come Back Soon: Picking up his second victory as a heavyweight, Jones has amassed 22 wins in the Octagon. Only four fighters in company history hold more victories than he does, with two of them prevailing earlier in the evening.

Champ Emeritus Status: Sixteen of Jones’ 22 wins in the UFC have taken place in championship bouts, including his mollywhopping of Miocic, far and away the most in its history. No active fighter has more than nine (Valentina Shevchenko).

Unbeatable: Jones has not lost since his disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009. This current 20-fight unbeaten streak he is riding is the longest of its type in the UFC, with Anderson Silva’s 16-fight win stretch the closes of any other combatant.

The Main Man with the Plan: “Bones” has served as the headliner in 19 of his UFC appearances. He passes Randy Couture for the no. 2 spot on that list, and is two behind all-time leader Silva.

He Will Get His Own Article Eventually: After getting knocked out by Jones, Miocic retired. If this is his final bout, he leaves the sport as arguably the greatest heavyweight in its history. The Ohio native’s name is littered across the UFC’s heavyweight leaderboard in a multitude of categories, leading in championship wins (six) and post-fight bonuses (nine).

Guaranteed Action: Engaging in 25 entertaining minutes of combat, Oliveira and Chandler walked away with “Fight of the Night” bonus checks. This gave “Do Bronx” his 20th post-fight bonus as a UFC fighter, putting further distance between him and any other combatant.

Fancy Iron: In six fights for the UFC, Chandler has won twice. Despite that, “Iron Mike” has taken home five bonus awards.

Shuffle Off the Main Card: Nickal needed all three rounds to get past Paul Craig, outworking the Scot to take home the decision nod. Before this match, Nickal’s latest pro bout lasted 8:38.

More Like Two Cents: In his first three UFC bouts, Nickal absorbed seven significant strikes en route to three stoppage wins. His encounter with Craig saw “Bearjew” connect 47 times, or nearly seven times as many as those three prior combatants combined.

Overrated: The Penn State wrestler closed as a -1400 betting favorite against +800 Craig. He is the lone UFC combatant in 2024 to be favored by bettors over -1000 on two occasions, previously checking in at -1600 before tapping Cody Brundage.

Does Not Love Kickboxing: The unsuccessful Craig heard the final bell for the third time in his career against Nickal. He previously fought to a draw with Mauricio Rua in 2019, and then lost at the hands of the judges against Volkan Oezdemir in 2022.

A Resounding Meh: Viviane Araujo made her company debut in 2019 by punching out Talita Bernardo. Since then, all 11 of her outings have gone the distance, following her decision victory over Karine Silva.

Not for Lack of Trying: Brazil’s Ruffy kicked off his career with 11 bouts concluding via knockout, win or lose. He had never involved the judges until he faced and surpassed a heavy James Llontop.

Get to Training, Goku: The promotion accommodated Llontop taking the bout on short notice and set his fight with Ruffy at a 165-pound catchweight. “Goku” still missed weight by .2 pounds, making him the third fighter in UFC history to receive a special catchweight and still miss weight. DaMarques Johnson and Augusto Mendes were the first two to achieve this unfortunate distinction.

Not McGreat: Like the aforementioned Ruffy, Marcus McGhee had competed 10 times and never needed the judges to voice their opinions. He went the distance with Jonathan Martinez.

Ageless, Timeless, Fearless: Adding to his record total, Jim Miller earned his 27th win in the Octagon by tapping Damon Jackson. The second-closest fighters of Andrei Arlovski, Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira all have 23 on their respective ledgers, with the third of those three reaching that on the same night.

Plexiglass Cannon: Landing a guillotine choke on Jackson, Miller performed his 19th finish as a member of the UFC roster. Oliveira’s 20 lead the pack.

He Tapped Charles Too: Of Miller’s 19 wins inside the distance with the company, 13 of them have come via submission. Like the previous record, Oliveira is also the king, with 16 subs for the Brazilian over the years.

The Record No One Talks About: A whopping 12 of Miller’s stoppages have taken place in the first round under the UFC banner. The only man with more wins in Round 1 is Vitor Belfort (13), who earned five of those before the promotion implemented rounds.

Onward to 50: Miller’s appearance on Saturday was his 45th match in the UFC, padding his lead. Until Cerrone returns from retirement, Clay Guida and Rafael dos Anjos are the nearest active pair of competitors with 36 UFC fights apiece.

Been a While: The last person to submit Jackson was Yancy Medeiros, who slept him with a modified bulldog choke in mid-2014. At that time, 14 of the other 23 fighters competing at UFC 309 had yet to turn pro.

Thanks Onama: For the second time in a row, Onama had to fight all 15 minutes to prevail. The two decision wins over Jonathan Pearce and Roberto Romero account for both of his triumphs on the scorecards.

A Very Tybura Performance: Stepping up late to take on Jhonata Diniz, Marcin Tybura deflated the undefeated Brazilian by doctor stoppage after delivering punishing ground-and-pound. The Polish heavyweight sits in the top 10 in his weight for the most wins and appearances, with five big men holding more victories than “Tybur.”

How Galling: Ramiz Brahimaj required under three minutes to split Mickey Gall’s wig. The submission specialist kept his 100% finish rate intact by trouncing the New Jersey native, and 10 of his 11 wins have taken place in the first round.

Opa, Oban: Early into the third round, Oban Elliott wrecked Bassil Hafez with a salvo of fists. The Welshman broke a streak of six streak decisions with his knockout win, while earning his first stoppage in the third stanza.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 309, Ruffy (11 fights) and McGhee (10 fights) had never won by decision, Diniz had never been defeated (eight fights) and Brahimaj had never won by knockout (15 fights).

Revived: Two athletes selected music from Creedence Clearwater Revival: Miller and Tybura. The former went with his staple of “Bad Moon Rising” while Tybura switched things up to “Fortunate Son.” Both prevailed by stoppage.

A Song with No Name: The track selected by Chandler has no name at this time. Rapper NF released the snippet of new music on social media, and Chandler went with it. It is the first temporarily unnamed song to be used for a walkout.

In an MMMBop, He’s Gone: Walking out to boy band Hanson’s “MMMBop,” Craig became the first fighter in UFC history to select this group and tune. He was not successful even after winning over the confused crowd.