By the Numbers: UFC 288

Aljamain Sterling spoiled Henry Cejudo’s Ultimate Fighting Championship homecoming.

“The Funk Master” retained his bantamweight title in the UFC 288 main event, edging Cejudo via split decision at the Prudential Center in Newark on Saturday night. It was Cejudo’s first Octagon appearance in 1,093 days and his first defeat since a split-decision setback to Joseph Benavidez on Dec. 3, 2016. Sterling didn’t get long to bask in the glow of his victory against the former two-division champion and Olympic gold medalist, because top contender Sean O'Malley entered the cage shortly after the scorecards were announced. Sterling and O’Malley are expected to have their date in the cage later this year. For now, though, it’s time to look back at the event that was.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 288, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.

4: Bantamweight title fight victories for Sterling, tying him with Renan Barao and Dominick Cruz for the second most in the history of the division. Only T.J. Dillashaw (five) has more wins in 135-pound championship bouts.

9: Consecutive wins at 135 pounds for Sterling, the most in UFC history at bantamweight.

135: Significant strikes landed by Sterling. By comparison, Cejudo landed 99. Sterling outlanded his foe 20 to 7 in Round 1, 26 to 15 in Round 3 and 36 to 19 in Round 4. Cejudo, meanwhile, outlanded Sterling 31 to 29 in Round 2 and 27 to 24 in Round 5. Sterling also held a 186-to-143 edge in total strikes landed.

51: Significant head strikes for Sterling; Cejudo landed 35 to the head.

50: Significant body strikes for Sterling. Cejudo, meanwhile, landed 30.

4: Takedowns landed in 15 attempts for Sterling, who grounded Cejudo twice in the opening round and once each in the third and fourth frames. Cejudo landed three of eight takedowns, securing one in Rounds 1, 3 and 5.

5:06: Total control time for Cejudo. By comparison, Sterling logged four minutes of control time.

132: Significant strikes landed by Belal Muhammad in a five-round verdict over Gilbert Burns in the evening’s welterweight co-main event. By comparison, Burns landed 81 significant strikes. Muhammad outlanded his foe 19 to 15 in Round 1, 18 to 15 in Round 2, 25 to 14 in Round 3, 28 to 16 in Round 4 and 42 to 21 in Round 5.

92: Significant head strikes for Muhammad. Burns, meanwhile, landed 35.

39: Significant body strikes landed by Muhammad, who relied on a steady diet of left kicks to the ribs. Burns, meanwhile, landed 13 significant body strikes. However, “Durinho” did hold a 33-to-1 edge in significant leg strikes.

0: Takedowns landed in four attempts for Burns.

10: Current unbeaten streak for Muhammad, the second longest in the welterweight division behind only reigning champion Leon Edwards (12).

.720: Significant striking accuracy for Xioaonan Yan in a first-round technical knockout victory over Jessica Andrade at strawweight. Yan landed 26 of 36 attempts while attacking with crisp, straight shots. Andrade, meanwhile, landed 12 of 32 attempts while winging wide, power hooks. That resulted in a 37 percent success rate for the Brazilian.

1: Finish among eight UFC triumphs for Yan. The Team Alpha Male standout had gone the distance in her previous seven victories within the Las Vegas-based promotion.

23: UFC fights for Andrade, the most of any woman in the promotion. Angela Hill is No. 2 with 22 fights in the Octagon.

6: Consecutive featherweight victories for Movsar Evloev following his unanimous decision triumph against Diego Lopes. That’s the second longest active winning streak in the UFC at 145 pounds behind reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski (10). Evloev’s UFC winning streak stands at seven fights overall.

183: Total strikes landed by Evloev. Lopes, meanwhile, landed 48 total strikes. Evloev also held an 88-to-37 edge in significant strikes.

4: Submission attempts for Lopes, who threatened his Russian foe with three tries in a frantic final stanza.

80: Significant strikes landed by Charles Jourdain in a three-round verdict over Kron Gracie at featherweight. That figure was more than Gracie (57) attempted in the bout. Jourdain landed 59 significant strikes to the head, 14 to the body and seven to the legs. Gracie, meanwhile, landed just 32 significant strikes in his first fight since October 2019.

6:48: Total control time for Jourdain. The Canadian did not attempt a takedown in the fight, but he found himself in top position on multiple occasions when Gracie pulled guard. Gracie logged just 43 seconds of control time and did not attempt a submission.

3: Consecutive KO/TKO victories for Matt Frevola, tying him with Phil Rowe for the second longest active knockout streak in the UFC behind Sergei Pavlovich (six). Frevola stopped Drew Dober with punches 4:08 into Round 1 of their lightweight preliminary bout.

4,418: Days since Dober’s last knockout loss, which came against Ramiro Hernandez at Victory Fighting Championship 34 on April 1, 2011.

53: Significant clinch strikes — out of 62 total — landed by Kennedy Nzechukwu in a second-round submission victory against Devin Clark at light heavyweight. “The African Assassin” landed 76 percent of his significant strikes overall.

3: Consecutive wins inside the distance in UFC competition for Nzechukwu. In addition to Clark, the Fortis MMA product has bested Ion Cutelaba and Karl Roberson during his current run.

279: Combined significant strikes landed by Kalinn Williams (130) and Rolando Bedoya (149) in their preliminary welterweight clash. Bedoya had the most decisive round in the striking department when he outlanded Williams by a 65-to-47 count in Round 3. However, Williams landed the heavier shots early on and emerged with a split-decision triumph.

103: Significant head strikes landed by Bedoya. By comparison, Williams landed 68.

12:02: Total control time for Virna Jandiroba in a unanimous decision triumph against Marina Rodriguez at strawweight. The former Invicta FC champion landed takedowns in each round and kept her opponent on the defensive by landing ground-and-pound and advancing to dominant positions.

8: Consecutive UFC fights in which Rodriguez has surrendered at least one takedown to her opponent.

3: Knockout losses in less than two years’ time for Phil Hawes, who suffered a first-round KO defeat at the hands of Ikram Aliskerov on Saturday. Hawes has also suffered recent KO losses against Roman Dolidze and Chris Curtis.

11: Knockout or technical knockout victories among 11 professional triumphs for Claudio Ribeiro, who continued that trend with a second-round stoppage of Joseph Holmes in a middleweight affair.