Fight Facts: UFC 279 ‘Diaz vs. Ferguson’

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: 6,812
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 620

To quote Brock Lesnar, coach of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 13, which contained one of the UFC 279 headliners, the Ultimate Fighting Championship tried to “change chicken s--- into chicken salad.” Although it arguably made the best of a historically bad situation, the fight card will forever be marred by the antics and shenanigans preceding it. This event featured a record number of catchweight bouts, a victor that could buy several houses with his many bonus checks over the years and a devastating one-of-a-kind upkick.

Scales Be Darned: Across the 13-bout card, six bouts took place outside of standard divisions. Four were agreed-upon catchweights while two others featured fighters that missed weight. This breaks the record set at UFC Fight Night 121 in 2017, where four weight misses and an additional catchweight went down throughout the night.

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Weight Classes: UFC 279 also set the record for the most fights booked in nonstandard weight categories, as two fights occurred at 180 pounds, another at 140 and a fourth at 220 pounds. Before this show, none had ever seen more than two in a given night.

Nine, Not 10: In the scrambled main event, Nate Diaz landed a guillotine choke on Tony Ferguson to leave the organization on a win. He has performed nine submissions over his lengthy tenure with the league, tying Gerald Meerschaert for the fifth-most in company history. Only Royce Gracie (10), Demian Maia and Jim Miller (11) and Charles Oliveira (16) have notched more.

Diaz Breaking New Ground: The tap from Ferguson came in the fourth round, the latest finish in Diaz’s career. His is the first guillotine choke ever snared in Round 4 in the UFC.

He Received Plenty of Bonuses This Week: Diaz pocketed a $50,000 bonus check for “Performance of the Night” by tapping Ferguson, and earned his first bonus since 2016. He has now claimed 16 post-fight bonuses, the third most in organizational history behind Donald Cerrone and Oliveira (18 each).

Some Forgotten Feeling: Ferguson’s last sub loss came in July 2009 against Jamie Toney; at that time, just three of the other 25 fighters on UFC 279 had made their professional debuts.

Dial It Back: Moving to the co-main event after missing weight, Khamzat Chimaev faced and submitted Kevin Holland with a brabo choke in the first round. Chimaev is now 12-0 as a pro with 11 finishes to his credit, and eight of those have come in the first round.

Check Early Royce Gracie Stats: In four of Chimaev’s six UFC appearances, he has pulled off a victory without absorbing a single significant strike. He joins names like Anthony Johnson and Gracie that have recorded at least that many unblemished performances inside the Octagon.

Brabo Bro: Chimaev performed his second brabo choke as a UFC fighter, becoming the fifth to land multiple chokes of this type under the promotion’s banner.

An Unfortunate Trail to Blaze: In his last fight, Holland tapped Tim Means with a brabo choke, and he subsequently succumbed to the same submission about three months later. “Trailblazer” is now the third UFC competitor to both win and lose by that choke, joining Dustin Poirier and Tyron Woodley.

One in a Million: Irene Aldana wrecked Macy Chiasson with a perfect upkick to the liver. Her knockout is the first of its kind in UFC history and the third overall (Jon Fitch, Niko Price) to come from upkicks.

Walk All Over You: Johnny Walker lifted his career finish rate to 95% following his first-round submission of Ion Cutelaba. Sixteen of his 19 stoppages have taken place in the opening frame.

The Third Time Truly Is the Charm: When cut for the second time from the UFC roster in 2019, Julian Erosa sported a UFC record of 1-4. Thanks to his superior third stint, he has lifted that up above .500, with six wins opposite five defeats following his decision win over Hakeem Dawodu.

Where Is His Hype: At 220 pounds, Jailton Almeida throttled Anton Turkalj with a rear-naked choke in the first round. As a pro, the Brazilian has still achieved all 17 of his wins by stoppage, with only four coming after the five-minute mark.

Denis the Menace: Denis Tiuliulin got back on track by putting Jamie Pickett away with knees and punches. His knockout lifted his career knockout rate to an even 90%, with all of his finishes coming due to strikes.

Exigent Circumstances Beyond His Control: Chris Barnett became the second heavyweight in UFC history to miss weight, clocking in at 267.5 pounds ahead of his match with Jake Collier. Justin Tafa’s 267-pound miss was the first, back in December.

Bear Hugger: Surviving a tough first round to come back and stop Collier in the second round, the man formerly known as “Huggy Bear” advanced his rate of knockout to 78% on his ledger. Six of his last eight wins have come inside the distance.

Pattern Shattered: Collier’s loss put an end to an 11-fight streak during which he had alternated wins and losses under the UFC lights. The defeat to Barnett put him on a two-bout skid, which keeps Collier tied with the record for this unusual pattern alongside fellow heavyweight Marcos Rogerio de Lima.

Nunes Is Next: Norma Dumont had her hand raised for the third time as a featherweight following her decision victory over Danyelle Wolf. She is now tied with Amanda Nunes, Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson for the second-most triumphs in the division’s young history. Cristiane Justino’s four hold the top spot.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 279, Chiasson had never been knocked out (10 fights), Turkalj (eight fights) and Melissa Martinez (seven fights) had never been defeated and Collier had never dropped consecutive bouts (20 fights).

Free Your Mind and Join Us: In his first two UFC appearances in 2018 and 2019, Walker walked out to the CJ Stone remix of “Rhythm is a Dancer” by Snap!, earning first-round finishes in both outings. At UFC 279, he went back to this walkout and pulled off another stoppage in the opening frame, keeping him undefeated when picking this tune.

Them Other Boys Don’t Know How to Act: For his first Octagon outing, Turkalj became the first fighter in company history to enter with Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” playing in the arena. Like all past fighters to select a solo Justin Timberlake track, Turkalj lost.