Fight Facts: UFC 295 ‘Pavlovich vs. Aspinall’

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: 7,416
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 670

The Ultimate Fighting Championship did the darn thing on Saturday night with a fight card that had fans buzzing and still knocked everyone’s socks off. Every fight on the main card ended via stoppage, and two new champions were crowned across a dramatic evening of combat. UFC 295 featured a burly bruiser not paid by the hour, a stern reminder that from a still-dangerous strawweight and a new record that will make some go loopy.

Andrade Did Her Part: Throughout UFC 295, fighters recorded 11 knockdowns in total. This tally is tied for the ninth-most of any UFC event, with 15 the most at UFC 199 in 2016 and UFC Fight Night 192 in 2021.

Crashing Through the UFC: Alex Pereira put Jiri Prochazka away in the second round to secure his title in a second division. He is now the ninth two-division champ in organizational history, joining Randy Couture, B.J. Penn, Conor McGregor, Georges St. Pierre, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, Henry Cejudo and Jon Jones. He is the first to capture the middleweight and light heavyweight belts.

Redefining the Game: Pereira achieved the aforementioned double champ—but not simultaneous—status after just seven appearances in the Octagon. This shatters the record set by Couture, where “The Natural” claimed his second strap during his 10th UFC outing.

The Perilous Power of Poatan: The victorious “Poatan” boosted his finish rate to 78% by dispatching Prochazka. All of his stoppages have come by knockout.

Cheerio: Tom Aspinall crushed Sergei Pavlovich to secure the interim heavyweight strap. The 30-year-old from Wigan, England, is now the third Brit in UFC history to hold a title, joining Michael Bisping and Leon Edwards. He is the first fighter born in England to do so.

Nice: With another first-round finish on his ledger, this one coming in 69 seconds, Aspinall maintained his 100% finish rate. The interim heavyweight kingpin has now conquered 13 foes across his 14 victories in the opening frame.

Speediest Racer: After eight UFC fights, Aspinall averages two minutes and 10 seconds per bout. This is the lowest of any fighter ever to set foot in the Octagon.

Dangerous from Strawweight to Bantamweight: Ending a career-long losing streak by smashing Mackenzie Dern, Jessica Andrade righted the ship and claimed her 16th victory since joining the roster in 2013. She ties Amanda Nunes for the most wins of any female UFC fighter.

Pile-Driving Power: “Bate Estaca” has now put away nine different women across three divisions, and she moves to second place for the most finishes among all women in the promotion. Nunes’ 10 stands above.

A Slugfest Was a Bad Idea: Across those nine stoppages, six of those for Andrade have now come by knockout. She is also one behind women’s UFC leader Nunes in this category.

Goes Right to Her Attorney: While Andrade may be shy of a few of Nunes’ records, she picked up a “Performance of the Night” check by Dern. That bonus is her 10th, which is well more than any other woman to set foot in the Octagon and double the total of Nunes.

Don’t Write Her Off Yet: As a strawweight, the former champ now celebrates the second-most victories (nine), most finishes (six), most knockouts (four), most post-fight bonuses (nine), and is tied for the most knockdowns (five).

Clubbed and Clubbed Again: By dropping Dern four times across their eight minutes and 15 seconds of action, Andrade set the record for the most knockdowns in any UFC women’s bout.

Steamrolled the Steamrolla: Lamping Matt Frevola with a head kick, Benoit St. Denis earned his 13th win as a pro. All 13 of those victories have come via stoppage, with 12 taking place before the third round.

Mullet Magic: Diego Lopes made short work of Pat Sabatini, recording the finish in 90 seconds. The 28-year-old from Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, now posts a 91% stoppage rate, with each of his last six triumphs coming inside the distance.

Rough Night for a Great Official: After three rounds, Lupita Godinez earned the nod on two of three scorecards to take home the split decision over Tabatha Ricci. “Loopy” is the first woman in the UFC to procure four wins in a calendar year.

Not Fine Dining: In victory, Godinez’ finish rate fell to 25%. Two of her seven wins in the promotion thus far have come by stoppage.

Put Some Rebeck on His Name: Massive -800 favorite Mateusz Rebecki wrangled Roosevelt Roberts with an armbar in over three minutes. The Polish fighter’s overall stoppage rate grew to 84% with the win while pushing his current win streak to 16.

A Worthy Result: A thriller between Viacheslav Borshchev and Nazim Sadykhov was ruled a majority draw, and now six bouts in the promotion have been scored even in 2023—the record for a single year is seven. Their “Fight of the Night” earned them the first bonus for a draw since Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno at UFC 256 in 2020.

Taking Another O: Taking out Mark O. Madsen in the first round, Jared Gordon earned his first finish in the Octagon since his June 2017 debut against Michel Quinones. At that time, Andrade and Kyung Ho Kang were the only two on the roster who competed at UFC 295.

A Van Down by the River: Myanmar-born Joshua Van came to the UFC with eight fights and had never competed into Round 2. Since joining the roster, his two subsequent bouts both went the distance, including his decision win over Kevin Borjas.

Go for the Stomach, and Stay Away from His Right Leg: During their 15-minute flyweight encounter, Van landed 49 significant strikes to the body of Borjas. This checks in as the second-most in divisional history, coming up two shy of C.J. Vergara’s 2021 performance against Ode Osbourne.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 295, Dern (16 fights), Madsen (13 fights) and Dennis Buzukja (14 fights) had never been finished, New York’s Gordon had never competed in his home state (26 fights), and Ricci (10 fights) and Borjas (10 fights) had never lost on the scorecards.

Takes More Than Combat Gear to Make a Man: England’s Aspinall cleverly selected “Englishman in New York” by Sting as his walkout song, and he prevailed. He is the first recorded fighter in company history to pick any music involving Sting.

Breaking Free from the Theme Song: For her last eight fights, including her three-bout losing streak, Andrade had walked out with the theme song of her team, “PRVT e Hora de Vencer” by Faccao 288. This event, she changed it up to “Diz (You Say) by Gabriela Rocha and pulled off the emphatic win.

You’ve Been: Combined with the “Olympic Fanfare” composed by John Williams for the Olympics, Madsen went with his usual pick of “Thunderstruck” of AC/DC fame. Following Madsen’s defeat, “Thunderstruck” now is tied for the most losses of any individual track in UFC history, along with “Gonna Fly Now” by Bill Conti.