Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 233 ‘Song vs. Gutierrez’

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: 7,453
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 673

The Ultimate Fighting Championship ran its penultimate show of 2023, reaching 42 fight cards by staging this one at the UFC Apex. The evening served its purpose, providing a few wild finishes and nudging some contenders much closer to stardom. UFC Fight Night 233 featured a submission that spewed scarlet rain, a flyweight with serious chin deficiencies and a mean-spirited machine designed for knockouts any way it can muster them.

Yan Yawned: Throughout five rounds, Yadong Song outworked Chris Gutierrez en route to a clear-cut decision. The Chinese fighter picked up his first career victory from a fight that lasted 25 minutes.

They Had No Effect: The vast majority of Gutierrez’ strikes were leg kicks, accounting for 76 when the dust settled. This ties the UFC record for the most by one fighter in any fight, along with Joanna Jedrzejczyk over Michelle Waterson-Gomez in 2019 and Joselyne Edwards over Ramona Pascual in 2022.

They Had Great Effect: Khalil Rountree crushed Anthony Smith early in the third round to earn his seventh knockout as a UFC light heavyweight. This puts him three behind divisional leader Chuck Liddell for the most in the history of the weight class and one behind no. 2 Mauricio Rua.

Lumpinee Khalil: Dropping Smith in Round 3, Rountree claimed his 13th knockdown at 205 pounds in the UFC. This puts him one shy of co-leaders Liddell and Rua (14 each).

Spamming the ‘B’ Button: With a long series of uppercuts, Nasrat Haqparast put Jamie Mullarkey away in 104 seconds. This marked his first knockout since August 2019, and at that time, only seven of the other 21 fighters at this event had made their UFC debuts.

An Awkward Reminder: Tim Elliott put Su Mudaerji away in the opening frame with an arm-triangle choke. Elliott scored his first finish since UFC 219 in 2017, and five others at UFC Fight Night 233 had yet to take their first pro MMA fight back then.

No Submission Defense: By not tapping and instead going to sleep, Mudaerji suffered his second technical submission defeat as a member of the UFC. He joins a club with a membership of nine fighters that have decided against tapping out and forcing the referee to step in, including countryman Jingliang Li.

All Over the Park: Needing all three rounds to beat Jun Yong Park, Andre Muniz snagged a split decision over his South Korean foe. In the process, his finish rate fell to 79%.

Inside the Park: Grinding out the decision over Park, Muniz successfully grounded the South Korean 11 times. The Brazilian ties Marvin Vettori and Nick Maximov—against Kevin Holland and Punahele Soriano, respectively—for the second-most at the UFC middleweight division. Makhmud Muradov’s 13 against Bryan Barberena in July account for the most.

Out of the Park: Hyun Sung Park dispatched Shannon Ross to stay undefeated at 9-0. The 28-year-old from Gyeonggi, South Korea, has secured eight of his nine victories inside the distance. His lone decision came in his professional debut.

Stay Frossty: All three of Ross’ UFC outings ended with him getting knocked out. He and Matt Schnell are now tied for the second-most losses in UFC flyweight history via strikes, trailing Jussier Formiga’s four.

Punish the Grind: Steve Garcia crushed Melquizael Costa with elbows about a minute into the second stanza. “Mean Machine” now posts a career knockout rate of 86%, with each of his last seven wins coming by strikes.

Main Card, Please: Tatsuro Taira laid waste to Carlos Hernandez to boost his pro record to 15 wins without a defeat. The Japanese prospect has performed 71% of his victories by stoppage.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 233, Gutierrez had never served as a UFC headliner (27 fights, 11 UFC bouts), Hernandez had never been knocked out (11 fights) and Stephanie Egger had never dropped consecutive bouts (12 fights).

You Can’t Even Hear It: Kevin Jousset became the first fighter in recorded UFC walkout music history to select a song from Simon & Garfunkel. His pick of “The Sounds of Silence” had never been chosen by any other athlete before, and he won a decision over Kenan Song.

Coldplay for Adam: As he did for his promotional debut in February, “Peace of Mind” Park walked out to “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay ahead of his match with Ross. He remains the lone fighter since Neil Seery in 2017 to select a track from this band, which currently observes a win percentage of .583 in the Octagon.