By the Numbers: UFC Fight Night 127

Tristen CritchfieldMar 17, 2018

There may have been something of a changing of the guard at UFC Fight Night 127 in London.

Alexander Volkov dispatched one of the heavyweight division’s longstanding mainstays at the O2 Arena on Saturday, as he defeated former champion Fabricio Werdum via technical knockout 1:38 into round four. While Volkov is just 29 years old, making him a relatively fresh face in the weight class, the ex-Bellator titlist has 36 fights and nine years on his resume. Now could be the time for the Russian known as “Drago” to make a serious move toward heavyweight gold.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC Fight Night 127, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.

Related » Matches to Make After UFC London


4: Consecutive UFC triumphs for Volkov, the second-longest active winning streak in the heavyweight division behind only reigning champion Stipe Miocic (six). In addition to Werdum, Volkov has earned wins over Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson and Timothy Johnson during his current Octagon tear.

96: Total strikes landed by Volkov. By comparison, Werdum landed 83. Volkov held a 21-to-5 edge in total strikes in the decisive fourth frame. Both fighters landed 48 significant strikes apiece.

32: Significant strikes at distance landed by Volkov; Werdum landed 22.

25: Significant ground strikes for Werdum. By comparison, Volkov landed 13.

3: Takedowns landed in nine attempts for Werdum, who had his most success working from top position in the first and second rounds. Volkov, meanwhile, landed both of his takedown attempts in the fight.

60: Significant strikes by which Jan Blachowicz outlanded Jimi Manuwa in the light heavyweight co-main event. The Polish fighter outlanded his foe 27 to 8 in round one, 28 to 16 in round two and 42 to 13 in round three en route to a unanimous decision triumph.

.500: Significant striking accuracy for Blachowicz, who landed 97 of 191 attempts. Manuwa went 37 for 110, a 33 percent clip.

219: Total strikes attempted by Blachowicz, nearly twice as many as Manuwa (110).

108: Total strikes landed by Terrion Ware in a bantamweight clash against French prospect Tom Duquesnoy. By comparison, Duquesnoy landed 70 total strikes in the bout. Nonetheless, it was Duquesnoy who emerged with a unanimous decision win. Ware also held an 85-to-67 edge in significant strikes.

10: Unofficial media scorecards, of the 16 tracked by MMADecisions.com, that saw the fight for Duquesnoy. Five others had the contest for Ware, while another scored it a draw.

31: Significant leg strikes landed by Duquesnoy, who did his best work against Ware in this area. By comparison, Ware landed just 10 significant leg strikes.

60: Significant head strikes for Ware. Duquesnoy, meanwhile, landed 28.

2: Fighters who finished fights at the 4:59 mark of round three at UFC Fight Night 127. Leon Edwards become the second, joining Paul Craig by pounding out Peter Sobotta with one second remaining in the final stanza of their welterweight tilt.

25: Significant ground strikes landed by Edwards in the decisive third frame. By comparison, Sobotta landed 0. Edwards held a 30-to-6 advantage in significant strikes overall in round three. The first two rounds were much more competitive from that standpoint, with Edwards outlanding his foe 8 to 6 in round one and both fighters landing four significant strikes apiece in round two.

5: Consecutive welterweight triumphs for Edwards, tying him with Colby Covington for the third-longest active winning streak in the division. Only Kamaru Usman (seven) and Santiago Ponzinibbio (six) have won more at 170 pounds. In addition to Sobotta, the Englishman known as “Rocky” has bested Bryan Barberena, Vicente Luque, Albert Tumenov and Dominic Waters during his current winning streak.

33: Total strikes by which Charles Byrd outlanded John Phillips in their preliminary middleweight encounter on Saturday. Byrd took down and mounted his opponent within 15 seconds, and controlled the fight from there, winning via rear-naked choke at the 3:58 mark of round one. Phillips landed just one strike in the bout.

39: Time, in seconds, of Danny Henry’s guillotine choke submission of Hakeem Dawodu, making it the fourth-fastest submission in UFC/WEC featherweight history. The top three: Chas Skelly (19 seconds at UFC Fight Night 94); Josh Grispi (33 seconds at WEC 41) and Jens Pulver (35 seconds at WEC 31).

4:59: Time of Paul Craig’s third-round triangle choke submission of Magomed Ankalaev in their preliminary light heavyweight bout, tying him with Leon Edwards — who did it later on the card — for the latest finish ever for a three-round fight in UFC history.

41: Total strikes by which Ankalaev outlanded Craig in the third stanza before Craig was able to secure the fight-ending tapout. Ankalaev was likely on his way to a sweep of the scorecards before the finish, as he outlanded his foe in significant strikes in both the first (18 to 8) and second (15 to 9) rounds as well.

20: Combined significant strike advantage for Kajan Johnson in body shots (13 to 1) and leg kicks (13 to 5) in a split-decision triumph over Steven Ray at lightweight. Overall, Johnson held a 33-to-24 advantage in significant strikes landed.