Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 40 ‘Santos vs. Hill’

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: 6,762
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 616

The Ultimate Fighting Championship blew the doors off with its latest jaunt to the UFC Apex, with thrilling action from start to finish. No fight needed a final collection of the scorecards, with stoppage flowing like a waterfall coming down a mountain. UFC on ESPN 40 became the first UFC card in almost eight years to have all fights end by stoppage, while featuring a rare finish in one specific championship round and an unfortunate distinction for a skidding veteran.

If Only the Pacing Was Better: When it came to a close, all 10 matches at UFC on ESPN 40 ended by finish. It becomes the second event in modern UFC history to feature an entire slate of stoppages.

So Much Glorious Carnage: This all-stoppage card is the first for the company since UFC Fight Night 55 in November 2014, when each of its 11 fights ended inside the distance. At that time, 11 of the other 19 fighters on this show had yet to make their pro debuts, while Sam Alvey scored a knockout on that 2014 event.

Made the Second Wind Count: In the fourth round, Jamahal Hill pounded out Thiago Santos to earn the biggest win of his career. In doing so, Hill became the fifth light heavyweight in company history to record a stoppage in Round 4 – Jon Jones has done this twice.

D-I AA Santos: Unsuccessful in his effort, Santos nevertheless took Hill down six times through three-and-a-half rounds of combat. This doubles his personal best, and coming into this fight card, “Marreta” had only landed eight takedowns in his previous 23 UFC appearances combined.

Cracked the Uncrackable: After 121 significant strikes and two knockdowns, Geoff Neal punched Vicente Luque out in Round 3. While Luque had absorbed that many strikes or more – while only suffering two combined knockdowns – three times in the past, no one had ever knocked him out.

Six-Figure Bros: Winner of the 30th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” at heavyweight by knocking out Zac Pauga, Mohammed Usman joins his brother Kamaru Usman as TUF champion. They are the first brother tandem to both prevail in their respective seasons of the reality show.

Lost the Battle but Won the TUF War: Through this season of TUF, Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena coached against one another, before fighting at UFC 277. In the finals, Nunes only had one representative: Brogan Walker. Pena’s team consisted of both heavyweight finalists Usman and Pauga, as well as women’s flyweight victor Juliana Miller.

Who’s Driving? Polar Bear is Driving, How Can That Be? Sergey Spivak put Augusto Sakai away in the second stanza with punches to hand Sakai his fourth knockout loss in a row. In victory, “The Polar Bear” elevated his high finish rate to 87%, and he has recorded four stoppages across his six UFC wins.

T-Wrecked Everyone: In just over two minutes, Terrance McKinney ran roughshod on Erick Gonzalez and landed the rear-naked choke. As a pro, “T.Wrecks” still possesses a 100% finish rate, with 12 of his 13 finishes coming before the three-minute mark.

Delivered Every Bit of a -900 Fighter: Ahead of his match with Gonzalez, McKinney closed as a massive -900 betting favorite. Throughout the UFC this year, which has held over 300 fights in 27 events in 2022, McKinney is among the top five for the most heavily favorited fighters in a contest.

New Weight, Bez Problemu: Michal Oleksiejczuk boosted his overall stoppage rate to 76% by decking Sam Alvey in less than two minutes. The Polish fighter has recorded 12 of her 13 wins by knockout, with nine of those coming in the opening frame.

There Goes My Smile: The loss for Alvey is his fourth in a row to conclude his UFC contract, but it marks the ninth fight in a row that “Smile’n Sam” has lost. This winless streak is the longest in UFC history, breaking a tie with B.J. Penn.

KO at Pooh Corner: It took 44 seconds for Bryan Battle to level Takashi Sato with a head kick. The career of “Pooh Bear” now sees a 75% finish rate, but it marked the first time he had ever knocked a foe out in the first round.

Supercalifragilisticexpialavonflue: A first for any female fighter to ever set foot in the Octagon, Cory McKenna finished Miranda Granger with a Von Flue shoulder choke. “Poppins” is the fifth fighter overall to land this move, joining Jason Von Flue, Ovince St. Preux, Jordan Rinaldi and Alonzo Menifield.

The Best Call No One Knew About: To start off the night, Mayra Bueno Silva tapped Stephanie Egger with an armbar that required additional review. Referee Chris Tognoni used the exceedingly rare but legitimate procedure of polling the judges, which asks the judges what they say. This was famously used between Gegard Mousasi and Chris Weidman at UFC 210 in 2017 to review the legality of Mousasi’s knees.

Reaching Ronda: Silva has landed three armbars across her four UFC wins, submitting Mara Romero Borella and Gillian Robertson prior to Egger. She ties Ronda Rousey for the most armbars in UFC women’s divisional history, and is one shy of the all-time record held by Demetrious Johnson.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ESPN 40, Hill had never fought beyond the third round (12 fights), Luque had never dropped consecutive bouts (30 fights) and Walker and Egger (nine fights apiece) had never been finished.

Motivation Over Dedication: An extreme rarity for walkouts, both McKinney and Gonzalez used tracks from Nipsey Hussle ahead of their clash. McKinney pulled off the finish with “Hussle and Motivate” at his back, while Gonzalez unsuccessfully countered with “Dedication.”

I Knew I Wouldn’t Forget You: Although Alvey likely ended his run in the UFC with his defeat to Oleksiejczuk, he concluded it with 22 walkouts to “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train. His record with the track resides at 10-11-1, and he remains the sole fighter to ever use Train as a walkout artist.

Blasphemy of the Tiger: One of the five most frequently used walkout tunes in UFC history, Granger selected “Eye of the Tiger.” Instead of the original by Survivor, however, she became the first fighter to use a cover of the beloved song. Granger lost shortly after walking out to the cover performed by Tommee Profitt featuring Fjora.