Fight Facts: UFC 310 ‘Pantoja vs. Asakura’

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.

* * *

TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,969
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 715

The Ultimate Fighting Championship rocked the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with its final pay-per-view show of the year. While it may not have been the star-studded affair some expect from year-end extravaganzas, the competitors delivered and then some. Multiple technical submissions and other violent performances gave way to numerous intriguing storylines going forward. UFC 310 featured a flyweight building a resume to challenge an all-time great, a few unbeaten performers at the pinnacle of the sport and a lights-out choke that defied expectations.

Iron Alex: Alexandre Pantoja kept an iron grip on his flyweight throne by sleeping Kai Asakura in the first round. He is now in second place with the most consecutive title defenses at men’s 125 pounds with three straight.

Sleep Now: Winning with a consciousness-depriving rear-naked choke, Pantoja becomes the sixth UFC fighter to put an opponent to sleep in a title fight. All six of those victories have been accompanied by post-fight bonus checks.

Crowded Company: The victorious Brazilian tied Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez for the most wins in UFC flyweight history, with 13 apiece. No other 125er has more than 10.

Violent as a Fly: Pantoja is now in first place along with Johnson and Deiveson Figueiredo for the most stoppage wins in their division, as they each sport seven. The five submissions for “The Cannibal” are also the same as Johnson’s flyweight-leading tally.

Cashing Checks and Choking Necks: The successful flyweight kingpin picked up $50,000 for his stoppage of Asakura. He has now earned six at the weight, putting him one behind Brandon Moreno and three back from Johnson in the top spot with nine.

Lost a Little Luster: Shavkat Rakhmonov needed all five rounds to get past Ian Garry, picking up a decision over his unbeaten Irish counterpart. The welterweight from Kazakhstan is now a perfect 19-0 as a pro, with 18 stoppages to his credit.

Poor Judging: Picking up a controversial decision in his rematch with Alexander Volkov, Ciryl Gane settled for the split call. Two of Gane’s four decision wins have come against his rival Russian.

No More Pulling Guard: Bryce Mitchell wrecked Kron Gracie in the third round courtesy of a slam and follow-up elbows. The knockout is the first for “Thug Nasty,” with his previous nine stoppage wins all via tapout.

A Pound of Feathers: Mitchell is the second featherweight in company history to dispatch a foe using a slam. The first came in 2018, when Gabriel Benitez put Humberto Bandenay through the cage floor in 39 seconds.

Still a Superboy: Collecting his 13th career knockout, Doo Ho Choi pounded out Nate Landwehr with a volley of elbows. The South Korean has earned 81% of his pro wins via KO or TKO, including each of his last 10 victories.

How Emotional: Dominick Reyes put away Anthony Smith in the second round with a bombardment of elbows and punches. “The Devastator” celebrates 79% of his wins inside the distance, but all of his previous finishes had come in Round 1.

That’s More Like Luque: Defying the odds, Vicente Luque throttled Themba Gorimbo with an anaconda choke in under a minute. Now sporting a finish rate of 87%, he posts the second-most finishes (14) and submissions (six) in UFC welterweight history.

Silent Assassin’s Silent Climb: Winner of 16 bouts at 170 pounds in the Octagon, Luque is now the fourth fighter in the division’s history to amass more than 15 triumphs. Matt Brown (17), Georges St. Pierre (19) and Neil Magny (22) are the lone men above him.

Speedy Snek: Needing only 52 seconds to put Gorimbo to sleep, Luque achieved the second-fastest anaconda choke in the history of the promotion. Chas Skelly’s against Maximo Blanco took place in 19 seconds at UFC Fight Night 94 in 2016.

Run It Back as a Five-Rounder: After three rounds of frenetic grappling, Movsar Evloev picked up the close win over Aljamain Sterling. Like Rakhmonov above, Evloev added to his perfect record to reach 19-0. The two are in sole possession of the major organizational lead with most victories without a defeat.

Russian Machine: Over the course of their 15-minute excursion, the Russian landed four takedowns on Sterling. The 40 total takedowns by Evloev at featherweight are good for the third-most in the history of that weight class. Dennis Bermudez (46) and Darren Elkins (64) reign supreme in that category.

Slow and Very Steady: Nine of Evloev’s 19 wins have come in the UFC thus far, with all nine coming at the hands of the judges. No fighter had ever started their tenure with nine straight decision victories.

Like a Young Max Holloway: Laying into Cody Durden with 165 significant strikes, Joshua Van picked up the one-sided win on the scorecards. Among all UFC flyweight bouts, Van’s total is the second-highest in the division. He also holds the no. 3 spot with 156 against Kevin Borjas last year.

Mike’s Favorite: Strangling Max Griffin with a rear-naked choke, Michael Chiesa put himself on his first win streak since 2021. Seven of Chiesa’s wins in the Octagon have come by this specific submission, tying him with Kenny Florian for the second-most in UFC history. Demian Maia sits atop that leaderboard with eight.

Still a Young Thundercat: Landing a first-round armbar on Clay Guida, Chase Hooper advanced his career stoppage rate to 80%. The youngster clocked in as a -1600 betting favorite, putting him tied in the top five for the highest favored UFC fighters this year.

Sorry Clay: Guida has now suffered 19 losses with the promotion since joining the roster in 2006. “The Carpenter” is now in sole possession with the most defeats in company history, breaking a tie with Jeremy Stephens and Andrei Arlovski.

Glass Scrambler: Ten of Guida’s 19 setbacks in the Octagon have come by finish following Hooper’s submission. He is one shy of Arlovski’s record-most stoppage losses.

Question Answered: Wins inside the distance for Hooper and Kennedy Nzechukwu opened the card, with Hooper tapping Guida and Nzechukwu drumming out Lukasz Brzeski. Both victors earned “Performance of the Night” checks, making this the 10th event where the initial two winners claimed bonuses, and the first since UFC 282.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 310, Asakura (25 fights) and Griffin (30 fights) had never been submitted, Garry had never been defeated (15 fights) and Gracie had never been finished (seven fights).

Where Is Your Pride: At the start of his walkout, Asakura picked the “Theme of Rizin” composed by Eiichi Saeki and featuring the legendary Lenne Hardt. He is the first to use this organization’s music for an entrance, while 15 others across history have used its predecessor’s theme of “PRIDE” by Yasuharu Takanashi.

Back in Black and Blue: Before getting beaten by Choi, Landwehr made his walk to the cage accompanied by AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” This song has one of the lowest win percentages (.304) of any with at least 20 recorded uses.

He Backed Down: Dating back at least to UFC 139 in 2011, Chris Weidman has made his walk to the cage at least partially to “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. The New Yorker changed his song to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” for this event and got knocked out.