Fight Facts: UFC 292 ‘Sterling vs. O’Malley’

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: 7,301
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 660

The Ultimate Fighting Championship shipped up to Boston with two belts in tow, bringing with it a new era in the sport. The striker surpassed the grappler at night’s end, and the bantamweight division is now wide open. UFC 292 featured a reason to rename the Contender Series the “Champion Series,” one of the most one-sided shellackings possible and the ultimate Ultimate Fighter.

The Sugar Era: Sean O’Malley became the second fighter to earn a contract on Dana White's Contender Series and claim a UFC belt. The first came in January when Jamahal Hill captured the light heavyweight throne, but he has already vacated it due to injury.

How Sweet It Is: By punching out Sterling, O’Malley notched his sixth knockout as a bantamweight contender. This puts him one shy of the leader at his weight class, T.J. Dillashaw.

Sniping at Checks: “Sugar Sean” cashed another $50,000 check when he laid waste to Sterling in Round 2. His eight post-fight bonus awards tie Dillashaw for the most in the history of the bantamweight division.

Eye Pokes Are Bad for Business: In his last six appearances, O’Malley has pocketed five post-fight bonuses. The only match in that stretch he did not take one home came in his no contest against Pedro Munhoz last July.

The Sport Is a Fickle Mistress: The knockout defeat for Sterling halted his run where he was aiming to become the first man to defend his throne four times – when counting his unification in the rematch against Petr Yan. Instead, O’Malley is now the eighth man to hold the undisputed 135-pound strap.

Handled with Grace: Albeit in a loss, Sterling made his 18th walk to the UFC cage as a bantamweight. This puts him in a tie with Raphael Assuncao for the third-most outings in divisional history. The two men above them competed earlier on the card: Marlon Vera (19) and Munhoz (20).

Never in Much Doubt: Over the course of five brutal rounds, Weili Zhang ran roughshod over Amanda Lemos while landing 163 significant strikes compared to Lemos’ 24. This difference of 139 sig strikes is the second-widest gap in a UFC strawweight contest, trailing Joanna Jedrzejczyk outlanding Jessica Andrade by 142 significant blows.

Throw the Bloody Towel: When accounting for total strikes, Zhang blew past the 115-pound record of 247 set by Mackenzie Dern against Angela Hill in May. A whopping 296 total strikes from Zhang connected on her opponent across their 25-minute encounter.

The Most Well-Rounded: Zhang ultimately procured the lopsided unanimous decision win to lower her finish rate beneath 80%. In her 17-fight run prior to joining the UFC, Zhang had only won once on the scorecards. Since then, half of her victories have come at the hands of the judges.

Futureperfect: Five men on the UFC welterweight roster currently sport unbeaten records of 12-0 or better: Khamzat Chimaev (12-0), Ian Garry (13-0), Michael Morales (15-0), Gabriel Bonfim (15-0) and Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0). Garry lifted his record when beating Neil Magny, and of all five, “The Future” holds the lowest finish rate (62%).

Too Soon: Attempting to become the first fighter in the modern era to secure two wins in the span of seven days, Da'Mon Blackshear ultimately fell short by decision to Mario Bautista. He does tie Lupita Godinez for the quickest turnaround between two bouts.

About to Jump the Line: Vera faced off against relative short-notice replacement Munhoz and procured the nod on all three scorecards. His 13 wins as a bantamweight in the UFC put him just one behind Sterling’s 14 for the all-time lead.

Can’t Buy a Finish: After 15 minutes of combat, Brad Tavares emerged the victor over Chris Weidman by decision. The Hawaiian has now picked up 13 wins by decision as a UFC fighter, for the most of a middleweight and one shy of company leader Magny.

Records Are Meant to Be Broken: The win for Tavares was his 15th overall since joining the promotion in June 2010. He has now surpassed Anderson Silva and Derek Brunson for second place in UFC middleweight history, and only Michael Bisping has earned more (16).

Your Move, Creep: In 103 seconds, Gregory Rodrigues obliterated Denis Tiuliulin with vicious elbows. “Robocop” posts 12 of his 14 wins by stoppage, with seven of those in Round 1.

Breaking Through at 36: It took Kurt Holobaugh five attempts to secure his first UFC victory, but he did so as the Season 31 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” at lightweight. He boosted his finish rate to 85% by tapping Austin Hubbard with a triangle choke.

Need Another Trophy Rack: Brad Katona became the first fighter to ever win two seasons of TUF when he outdueled Cody Gibson for the 135-pound trophy. He first came to the organization on Season 27: “Undefeated” in 2018, where he beat Jay Cucciniello to earn a six-figure contract.

Six Figures Plus 50K: Duking it out for three “Fight of the Night”-worthy rounds, Katona and Gibson combined to land a whopping 324 significant strikes. This checks in as the most in a three-round fight at 135 pounds, surpassing the 315 from Victor Henry vs. Raoni Barcelos in 2022.

The 3 Does Not Stand for the Judges: Andre Petroski survived a late comeback to earn a split call over Gerald Meerschaert. “GM3” has still yet to win a fight by decision, as all four of his UFC fights that went the distance did not go his way.

Time for a New Camp: In her entire 11-fight UFC tenure, Andrea Lee has still yet to have a fight conclude any faster than 4:52 of the second round. Losing a decision to Natalia Silva, all six of her defeats in the Octagon have come on the scorecards.

Better Than Ronda: To keep her 100% finish rate intact, Karine Silva throttled Maryna Moroz with a guillotine choke to get revenge for a first-round submission loss suffered to the Ukrainian back in 2014. All three of her UFC wins have come by first-round tapout, making her the first woman in company history to ever notch three Round 1 subs in a row.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 292, the UFC had never staged a card in Boston without a local fighter on the billing (six events), Lemos (16 fights) and Weidman (21 fights) had never lost on the scorecards and Moroz had never been finished (15 fights).

Ease My Worried Mind: Garry remains the lone fighter in organizational history to walk out to “Layla” by Derek & The Dominos. He has won both times when using the song as his entrance music, following his victory over Magny.

Should Have Left Well Enough Alone: Differing from his selection last week, Blackshear changed his walkout tune to “Drop the World” by Lil Wayne featuring Eminem, and ended up losing. Four UFC fighters have used tracks involving Eminem this year, and Jack Jenkins remains the only one to get his hand raised.

Crazy Canuck: By picking “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley as his music to enter the TD Garden, Katona became the first recorded UFC fighter to prevail after its usage. Its first use dates back to B.J. Penn against Matt Hughes at UFC 63 in 2006.