Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 43 ‘Vera vs. Sandhagen’

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: 7,068
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 641

The Ultimate Fighting Championship ended a long stretch of consecutive weekends by plopping down in San Antonio, Texas. The event lost several key matchups but stayed together for the fans, even though Texans went 4-4 on the night. UFC on ESPN 43 featured a number of questionable scorecards, a bantamweight striker punching his way up the leaderboard and a kickboxer who wanted to show off her wrestling skills.

Texas Officiating at Its Finest: At the end of the 10-bout event, four matches resulted in split decisions. Just three UFC cards have ever featured more split calls -- UFC Fight Night 79, UFC 222 and UFC 274.

Throwing Sand at Vera’s Title Hopes: Cory Sandhagen earned his eighth win as a UFC bantamweight by outpointing Marlon Vera. Only eight other 135-pounders have won more matches than he has, including Vera. T.J. Dillashaw and Aljamain Sterling top that list with 13 apiece.

Official Numbers Pending: Connecting with 128 significant strikes, Sandhagen leapfrogged several 135-pound competitors to vault into the top 10 in the division’s history. His 825 place him in seventh, sitting him directly behind Vera’s 905.

Seemed Like 50-45: Although one judge inexplicably scored the fight in his favor, Vera ended up losing another decision on the roster. All eight of his career defeats have come by the scorecards, despite facing some of the greatest talents the division has ever offered.

Maybe Earned Another Title Shot: After three rounds, Holly Holm topped Yana Santos by decision. “The Preacher Daughter” now celebrates seven wins as a bantamweight, putting her in a tie for the third-most in her division’s history. Five of those seven have come by decision, moving her to fourth place in that category along with Pannie Kianzad and Karol Rosa.

Singlet Holm: Holm landed four takedowns on Santos en route to her decision win. This brings her 135-pound total to 11, and she now sits alone with the 10th-most in divisional history.

Training Day: In the “featured fight of the night” slot, Nate Landwehr took on and throttled Austin Lingo with a rear-naked choke. “The Train” had only once before won by submission, doing so two fights ago over Ludovit Klein by anaconda choke.

Not Again: Via a contentious split call, Maycee Barber beat Andrea Lee to claim win No. 6 as a flyweight competitor. The only women with more wins in that weight class are Lauren Murphy (seven), Gillian Robertson (eight), and Katlyn Chookagian and Valentina Shevchenko (tied with nine).

Can’t Buy Two Judges: The split decision defeat for Lee was her third in five losses in the Octagon. Angela Hill and Cortney Casey remain the lone female fighters to drop more fights in this fashion, with those two sporting four each.

Sharpen the Machete: By a narrow split verdict, Albert Duraev won against Chidi Njokuani. “Machete” has seen his finish rate fall to 75% since joining the promotion, with three of four career decision wins coming in his last four victories.

Entering the Pit of Doom: Notching the win courtesy of a second-round guillotine choke, Daniel Pineda choked out Tucker Lutz. As a professional, all 28 wins for “The Pit” have ended inside the distance, with the majority coming in the opening frame.

See You in 18 Months, Ocho: Following a decision loss to Lucas Alexander, the 32-year-old Steven Peterson removed his gloves and retired from the sport. As an eight-fight UFC vet, “Ocho” serves as one of 10 fighters to ever officially land a spinning back fist knockout. While his record stood at 19-11, only one of his 11 defeats came by stoppage, all the way back in 2013 to George Pacurariu.

Made a Problem for Pressure: “The Problem” Trevin Giles overcame Preston Parsons to snag a split decision. “Pressure” had only been to the scorecards once prior to this appearance, and he had never before lost at the hands of the judges.

From Poundee to Pounder: In a thrilling come-from-behind performance, C.J. Vergara punched out Daniel da Silva in the second round. It marked only the third time Brazil’s da Silva has ever reached Round 2 as a pro, and two of those outings have ended unsuccessfully.

Magnifico on Fenomeno Violence: Following their 15-minute encounter, Victor Altamirano had done enough to earn the nod on all three scorecards over Vinicius Salvador. The Brazilian competitor had only involved the judges once across his prior 18 fights, with the last time in June 2018.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ESPN 43, Santos had never dropped consecutive bouts (21 fights), Lingo had never been finished (10 fights) and Lutz had never been submitted (14 fights).

And It Burns, Burns, Burns: In his previous five appearances, Sandhagen had selected “Gimme the Loot” by Notorious B.I.G. for entrance music. Ahead of this matchup, “The Sandmen” went with Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” as his walkout tune, and he became the second recorded fighter to use this song. The first: Aaron Simpson at UFC 102, but he went with the Social Distortion cover.

Angus Would Be Proud: Through his six UFC outings, Landwehr has picked AC/DC tracks for three, while never using the same one more than once. “The Train” rolled from “T.N.T.” to “Thunderstruck,” and picked “Back in Black” for UFC on ESPN 43. The win for Landwehr lifted the song’s paltry win percentage to .318 after over 20 recorded uses.