Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 147

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: 5,052
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 471

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday returned to London for the 20th time and brought a card with some intrigue for those in attendance. UFC Fight Night 147 featured another verbal tapout, a heartbreaking headliner for hometown fans and the “Eminem Curse” rearing its ugly head once again.

FOR THE QUEEN: Twenty UFC events have taken place in England, and eight of them have been headlined by British fighters. Out of those eight shows, six Brits have won with two suffering defeats: Jimi Manuwa at UFC Fight Night 37 in 2014 and now Darren Till. Both men lost by second-round knockout.

WHERE IS THE POWER?: Jorge Masvidal’s knockout of Till marked the third bout inside the Octagon in 2019 to end as a clean KO. This year, KOs have accounted for only three percent of finishes in the UFC, compared to almost 15 percent in 2018.

THAT CAN BUY A LOT OF THREE PIECES AND SODAS: Masvidal scored both “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” bonuses for his knockout of Till. A whopping 37.5 percent of all double bonus-winning fights have been main event bouts, the most of any card position by far.

COULD HAVE GONE EITHER WAY: In taking a close split decision over Volkan Oezdemir, Dominick Reyes improved his undefeated record to 11-0. The win marked the third time Reyes had ever fought out of the second round, with his remaining eight victories all first-round stoppages.

WOOD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?: After tapping out Jose Alberto Quinonez in the second round with a rear-naked choke, Nathaniel Wood has won his first three UFC bouts by submission. He is only the eighth fighter in company history to start his UFC career with three straight submission wins and the first at bantamweight to do so. Fellow bantamweight Manny Bermudez also accomplished this feat, but his most recent submission win came at a 140-pound catchweight.

LEGGO MY EGGO: By verbally submitting to an armbar, Danny Roberts became the second recorded fighter to verbally tap to that maneuver. This first took place at UFC 79 in 2007, when Matt Hughes did so against Georges St. Pierre.

SHOUT IT OUT LOUD: Each of the last two UFC events have featured fights ending by verbal tapout -- an incredibly rare way to stop a contest; only five verbal submissions have been officially recorded throughout UFC history. No more than one had occurred in a single year prior to now. While some others may have taken place simultaneously, where a fighter physically and verbally tapped at the same time, few ended solely with verbal utterances.

GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK 0: Despite some controversial tactics, Saparbek Safarov defeated Nicolae Negumereanu by decision. The loss was the first in Negumereanu’s career, as the Romanian debutant had previously finished all nine of his foes.

BREAKING NEW GROUND: Leading up to their contest, neither Safarov nor Negumereanu had ever fought beyond the second round in any of their respective bouts. Both men celebrate a technical knockout victory at 5:00 of the second round as their longest lasting previous fights.

CALL HIM ‘SOLOMON’: Mike Grundy knocked out Nad Narimani in the second round to make his successful debut with the promotion. The finish was his first by strikes, with all eight of his previous stoppage wins coming by submission.

A STIFF BREESE BLEW HIM OVER: Tom Breese was expected to face Ian Heinisch at this event, but on fight day, Breese was forced to withdraw due to undisclosed medical issues. This marks the second time he has withdrawn from a UFC fight the day it was supposed to happen. Breese previously pulled out of a match against Oluwale Bamgbose right before UFC Fight Night 107 in 2017 after not receiving medical clearance to compete.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into UFC Fight Night 147, Till had never been knocked out (19 fights), Quinonez (nine fights) and Danny Henry (14 fights) had never been submitted and Narimani had never been finished (14 fights).

MAN IS WHAT I AM: In all three of his Octagon appearances, Wood has walked out to the Black Strobe cover of “I’m a Man,” and he has won all three by submission.

TURNED INTO A PUMPKIN: Joseph Duffy walked out to “Cinderella Man” by Eminem and dropped a decision to Marc Diakiese. A historically unsuccessful walkout song, fighters that use “Cinderella Man” have won just over 26 percent of their bouts. The loss put the song in a three-way tie with “Lose Yourself” and “Till I Collapse” for the most recorded losses of any Eminem song, each with 14.

Contributing editor Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012 and writing for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.