Fight Facts: UFC 296 ‘Edwards vs. Covington’

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: 7,465
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 674

The Ultimate Fighting Championship concluded a long, arduous year of mixed martial arts events with a fight card that had so much promise. With proceedings marred by trash talk to a new level, the atmosphere surrounding the blockbuster show felt askew. UFC 296 featured a British champion that fears no wrestler, an unstoppable nomadic force and a dubious distinction for a fan-favorite lightweight.

An Anti-Fight: Leon Edwards defeated Colby Covington by clear-cut decision in the UFC 296 headliner. The Brit has reached the fifth round in six of his seven bouts scheduled for 25 minutes since joining the promotion in 2014.

A Pace That Only a Mother Could Love: Edwards picked up his 10th decision win in the Octagon. He is four shy of welterweight leader Neil Magny while tied with former foe Kamaru Usman for the fourth-most in their division.

Yo Fabian, I Did It: “Rocky” is the seventh welterweight champion to defend his belt twice successfully. He joins a master class of champs: Pat Miletich, Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley and Usman.

Best English Wrestler in the Sport: In his last three outings, Edwards has been taken down 11 times. Despite this tally, he sports a defense rate of about 70% against two of the greatest grapplers in the history of their weight class while winning all three matches.

All Talk: Covington only connected with 44 significant strikes in his five-round meeting with Edwards. This marks his lowest tally since he knocked out Max Griffin in 2016.

Cannibalizing the Competition: Alexandre Pantoja picked up win no. 11 at flyweight by beating Brandon Royval in their rematch. The 125-pound king sits in sole possession of third place for the most victories in his division, trailing Joseph Benavidez’ and Demetrious Johnson’s 13 apiece.

Laura Sanko Liked That: Late into Round 2, Shavkat Rakhmonov strangled Stephen Thompson with a rear-naked choke to remain undefeated at 18-0. The Kazakhstan native has performed all 18 of those wins inside the distance.

Speak Softly and Carry a Black Belt: In his six UFC appearances, “Nomad” has recorded five victories by submission. Just three men in UFC welterweight history have landed more subs than Rakhmonov: Chris Lytle (six), Demian Maia (six) and Gunnar Nelson (seven).

Ho Hum: Paddy Pimblett beat Tony Ferguson via decision and handed Ferguson his seventh straight defeat in the Octagon. This ties the record set by B.J. Penn for the most consecutive losses in company history.

Paging John Matua: Earning his first finish since 2019, Josh Emmett lamped Bryce Mitchell with one punch. Emmett’s four knockouts as a UFC featherweight put him in a tie with several other names, including Jose Aldo and Alexander Volkanovski, for the fifth-most at 145 pounds.

Overrated or Underrated Power: Putting Mitchell out cold with one seminal blow, Emmett notched his 12th knockdown since becoming a UFC fighter in 2016. This sets the new record at his weight class, breaking a tie with Jeremy Stephens.

He Saw Oppenheimer: Alonzo Menifield got the better of Dustin Jacoby across three rounds of action. It marked only the second time that “Atomic Alonzo” needed to involve the judges to prevail.

Blood and Guts, Guts and Blood: Irene Aldana and Karol Rosa threw down in a titanic showdown at 135 pounds, where the woman from Mexico earned the nod. The instant “Fight of the Year” contender < a href="http://statleaders.ufc.com/en/fight-comb?weight_class=WBW">broke the records for the most significant strikes landed (349) and thrown (658) in any women’s bantamweight battle.

Lumberjack Karol: Although she came up short, Rosa connected with 95 significant leg kicks on her opponent. This total shatters the previous record landed in a single bout, a three-way tie for 76, including last weekend’s Yadong Song-Chris Gutierrez collision.

They Say He’s Back: With one punch, Cody Garbrandt faceplanted Brian Kelleher to go on his first win streak since 2016. “No Love” has scored 11 of his 14 pro victories via strikes.

Speed, Check. Power, Check: En route to victory, Garbrandt landed a knockdown to increase his total in the UFC to 10. He is tied for the most in the category he reigned over with Marlon Vera, Petr Yan and Montel Jackson.

Ripping Limbs Off: Ariane Lipski sprang the upset and landed an armbar on Casey O'Neill to push her win streak to three. The “Queen of Violence” is now one of 7 fighters in UFC history to hit both an armbar and a kneebar, joining names including Lytle, Frank Mir and Jim Miller.

Just Squeeze: Unable to get the rear-naked choke, Tagir Ulanbekov forced Cody Durden to tap via face crank. There have been more over-the-chin rear-naked choke tapouts in 2023 than any prior year in the UFC.

Hot and Cold Fili: Courtesy of a first-round beatdown, Andre Fili returned to the win column by putting down Lucas Almeida. The Hawaiian has not seen a win or losing streak since 2019, spamming his last eight appearances.

A KHK Cat: Shamil Gaziev introduced himself to the UFC by drumming out Martin Buday early into the second frame. By way of Dagestan, Russia, the Bahraini has claimed 12 victories opposite zero defeats. Eleven wins have come inside the distance, all within two rounds.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 296, Thompson had never been submitted (24 fights), Mitchell (17 fights) and Almeida (16 fights) had never been knocked out and O’Neill (10 fights) and Buday (14 fights) had never been finished.

That Was the Secret of His Power: Since the third fight in his UFC run at UFC 160, Thompson has walked out to “Wonderboy” by Tenacious D. After years of trying, “Wonderboy” was walked out to the cage by Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Although he managed the impossible by walking out with the brains behind his walkout music, Thompson fell short.

New Curse, Old Curse: After over 200 walkouts for fighters to various Eminem tunes, Kelleher broke new ground by selecting “When the Music Stops.” Kelleher lost, like many others who picked Eminem for their entrance music over the years.