Fight Facts: UFC on ABC 3 ‘Ortega vs. Rodriguez’

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: 6,725
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 613

The Ultimate Fighting Championship brought out some of the big guns for its return jaunt on the ABC network, trotting out several ranked fighters and a potential title eliminator on top of a well-matched card. This Long Island-based upset-happy show might have left fans wanting more at night’s end, but not for lack of trying. UFC on ABC 3 featured a frustrating injury stoppage in the main event, a Chinese contender that relishes being the underdog and a boatload of finishes in the second stanza.

Get Out Your Bleeping Checkbook: At UFC 275 in June, the promotion elected to give out “Performance of the Night” checks to every fighter that finished their fight beyond the main event. Including that show, the promotion has doled out more than its standard of three post-fight bonus checks in five of its last six cards, as UFC on ABC 3 saw eight $50,000 checks go out.

Come on Down to Fun Town Auto: Throughout UFC history, only three past cards had ever seen as many or more fights earn “of the night” honors as UFC on ABC 3’s seven. They came at UFC 269, UFC Fight Night 204 and UFC on ESPN 37. Those events all occurred in December 2021 or later.

Rounding Up: At the conclusion of UFC on ABC 3, six of the 12 fights on the billing had ended by second-round stoppage. This total ties the all-time promotional record set by UFC 185 in 2015.

The Armbar Caused It: In the first round, Brian Ortega suffered a shoulder injury and lost via technical knockout to Yair Rodriguez. The finish marked the first in the opening round for Rodriguez since April 2014, which came before he joined the roster. At that time, nine of the other 23 competitors on this card had yet to make their professional debuts.

Fans Go Home Disappointed…Again: For the second time this year, a UFC main event ended due to injury. The first happened at UFC on ESPN 36 in May, when Aleksandar Rakic suffered a knee injury against Jan Blachowicz. This makes 2022 the first year in company history to see multiple headliners officially end due to an injured fighter.

Negative Differential, Sometimes Positive Results: Before the stoppage, Rodriguez officially outlanded Ortega by one significant strike. In his 11-fight UFC tenure, Ortega has absorbed more sig strikes than he has landed eight times. Despite this, Ortega has managed to win four of those eight.

Makes Lemos into Lemosade: By tapping Michelle Waterson-Gomez with a guillotine choke, Amanda Lemos has bounced back from both of her career losses with a submission win. “Amandinha” celebrates a career finish rate of 83%.

Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jingliang: Jingliang Li demolished Muslim Salikhov in Round 2 to earn his eighth knockout since signing with the UFC in 2014. The fighter out of China ties Thiago Alves and Vicente Luque for the second-most in UFC welterweight history, with the top spot held by Matt Brown (12).

Plus-Money Player: Throughout his UFC career, Li has closed as a betting underdog seven times, after coming in with a +127 line against Salikhov. Li has won five of those seven – those defeats came to Nordine Taleb and Khamzat Chimaev – with four of those victories by knockout.

Hometown Cooking: Despite getting outlanded by 71 significant strikes, Shane Burgos snuck out a majority decision win over Charles Jourdain. “Hurricane” now holds a perfectly even win distribution, with five victories by knockout, another five due to tapout and the final five on the scorecards.

Her Name is LAUREN: Staving off former bantamweight queen Miesha Tate, Lauren Murphy remained in the title picture with a decision triumph. Murphy is now tied with Gillian Robertson for the third-most wins in UFC women’s flyweight history, and they both trail Valentina Shevchenko and Katlyn Chookagian (nine each).

Murphy’s Oil Can: The soon-to-be 39-year-old Murphy picked up her fifth UFC win by decision by handling Tate. As a result, she is now in sole possession of the no. 2 spot for the most decision in the women’s 125-pound category. Chookagian’s nine – she has yet to finish a fight in the Octagon – is the top spot.

Hawaiian Punches and Knees and Elbows and Kicks: Punahele Soriano clobbered Dalcha Lungiambula en route to a dramatic knockout in the second round. The Hawaiian posts a stoppage rate of 89% as a pro, with all three of his UFC wins coming via knockout.

Phillip Miller Status Shattered: In the second period, Ricky Simon put an end to Jack Shore’s undefeated run with an arm-triangle choke. Coming into UFC on ABC 3, Shore’s 16-0 record put him among the active top 10 in all of MMA for the most career wins without a loss, alongside names like Yaroslav Amosov, Khusein Askhabov and Movlid Khaybulaev.

No Mas Bill: After a wild 6:50 of combat, Herbert Burns could no longer continue against Bill Algeo, bowing out via TKO due to retirement. This result is the first of its kind since Nick Diaz called it quits against Robbie Lawler in 2021. Only 2013 saw multiple instances of this take place in the UFC, when Lucas Martins, Cyrille Diabate and Chris Leben all stopped their own fights.

Before and After: Prior to leaving the sport for over four to join the ranks of kickboxing, Dustin Jacoby had lost in all five of his appearances in major organizations, be it the UFC, World Series of Fighting or Bellator MMA. Jacoby’s 2020 return to the big leagues has seen him go unbeaten in eight fights, following his first-round knockout of Da Un Jung.

A Reinvented Strawweight: Newcomer Emily Ducote topped Jessica Penne by a unanimous verdict to make her successful debut. “Gordinha” finds herself on a four-fight win streak, which ties a career long that came towards the beginning of her career.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ABC 3, Ortega had never lost consecutive bouts (18 fights), Salikhov (20 fights) and Jung (18 fights) had never been knocked out and Tate had never competed below 135 pounds (27 fights).

The Seven Nation Army Could Hold Them Back: Both Tate and Shore walked out to different versions of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, with Tate picking the Glitch Mob remix while Shore used a mashup that concluded with the original White Stripes song. Both fighters lost.

He Felt So Good, Like Anything Was Possible: When he returned to the UFC in 2020, Jacoby selected a walkout song he has used to this day. In all seven appearances on this run, “The Hanyak” has gone with “Runnin’ Down a Dream” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and he has yet to lose after walking out to this tune.