Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 232 ‘Allen vs. Craig’

Jay PettryNov 20, 2023

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.

* * *

TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,430
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 671

The Ultimate Fighting Championship jammed almost as many fights as the Apex could hold on a midday card before taking time off. The night started slow but picked up speed and hurtled towards the finish line. A record number of specific chokes occurred throughout the show, and a few contenders emerged in their weight classes. UFC Fight Night 232 featured repeated grappler-on-grappler violence, a puncher that knows jitz too and a jubilant woman showing she can do what the boys do.

BJJ See, BJ Do: Throughout the evening, four competitors pulled off rear-naked chokes. This ties the single-event record set by the “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 6 Finale, UFC on FX 1 and UFC on Fuel 2.

Another Rear-Naked Artist: Brendan Allen strangled Paul Craig in Round 3 of the headliner to secure the victory. This marks the sixth rear-naked choke finish for Allen in the Octagon, tying him with Charles Oliveira and Renato Carneiro for the third-most in company history. Only Kenny Florian (seven) and Demian Maia (eight) have notched more.

Stuck His Head in the Lion’s Mouth: Allen procured his sixth submission as a UFC middleweight by forcing Craig to surrender. This puts him alone in second place for the most in the division, trailing Gerald Meerschaert’s nine.

Almost All In: Securing the finish, Allen boosted his finish rate as a professional to 83%. His latest run of six straight wins includes five stoppages.

More Baby-Faced Than Hooper: Throughout three rounds, Michael Morales outstruck Jake Matthews to get his hand raised. The 23-year-old is now 16-0 as a pro, and his stoppage rate decreased to an even 75% because of the decision.

No Longer Some Rookie: In the first round, Chase Hooper wrangled Jordan Leavitt and tapped him. “The Dream” has posted 10 finishes across his 13 pro wins, including four of his five in the UFC.

Hair of a Star: Payton Talbott kept his young, unbeaten record intact by submitting Nick Aguirre in Round 3. The 25-year-old has earned stoppages in six of seven wins, with all six taking place after the first round.

He Spins, She Spins: With a spinning wheel kick and follow-up punches, Amanda Ribas stopped Luana Pinheiro late into their encounter. This marks the first victory via a spinning wheel kick for any female fighter in UFC history.

The Results to Back It Up: Ribas scored her first knockout win since 2016 by putting Pinheiro away. That stoppage of Jennifer Gonzalez eventually punched her ticket to the UFC.

Goldie Would Have Had a Field Day: On late notice, Kyrgyzstan’s Myktybek Orolbai stepped up and tapped out Uros Medic. The Team Alpha Male trainee has secured 92% of his wins inside the distance.

Ninja Vanish Off Record: Due to Mayra Bueno Silva’s failed drug test and overturned result, the ninja choke performed by Joanderson Brito on Jonathan Pearce is officially the sixth in UFC history. Had she not popped, this year would have been the first since 2010 to see multiple results of this type in the Octagon.

All Power: Brito posts an even number of submissions to knockouts on his ledger, and he pushed his overall finish rate to about 87%. All but one of his wins before the final bell has taken place in the first two rounds.

CLD Beatdown: Via two elbows and several ground strikes, Christian Leroy Duncan bounced back into the win column by clubbing Denis Tiuliulin. The last five wins for the Brit have come inside the distance, and he has earned eight of his nine victories by stoppage.

The Prelim Tier of Heavyweight: Michael Parkin held on to win a decision over Caio Machado. The undefeated Brit went to a decision for just the second time in his career—and those two judge-based triumphs have come in his two UFC appearances.

Welcome, Indonesia: Dispatching late replacement foe Lucas Alexander in 91 minutes, Jeka Saragih officially earned his first win as a UFC fighter. With the previous two knockouts under the Road to UFC banner, Saragih has performed finishes in 13 of his 14 victories.

Hardly a Twerk-Worthy Performance: Ailin Perez required the full time allotment to get past Lucie Pudilova, winning on all three scorecards. She took Pudilova to the final horn for the 17th time in the Czech fighter’s career, accounting for about 74% of Pudilova’s pro outings.

Not Beltran’s Fault: After referee Mike Beltran stopped the fight between Trey Ogden and Nikolas Motta, a replay determination overturned Ogden’s technical submission win via arm-triangle choke. This is the fourth fight in UFC history overturned by replay, joining Kevin Holland-Kyle Daukaus, Dan Argueta-Ronnie Lawrence and Edgar Chairez-Daniel da Silva.

Cut the Ramos, Added Two Pounds: Although he came in two pounds heavy, Rafael Estevam defeated Charles Johnson at the hands of the judges. The 12-0 “Macapa” has fought beyond the first round in all but one of his fights.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 232, Talbott had never landed a submission (six fights), Aguirre (eight fights) and Pinheiro (12 fights) had never been finished and Alexander had never been knocked out (11 fights).

Leavittlicious: Using entrance music not heard since Carlos Newton danced his way to the cage at UFC 34, Leavitt shimmied to the Octagon on Saturday night with “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child. Like Newton 22 years before him, Leavitt lost via stoppage.

You Know What You Did, Sir: Machado tempted fate in his promotional debut by walking out to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem. Dropping a contentious decision, the loss for Machado lowered the win percentage of the notorious track to .333. This sits as the third-lowest of any walkout song in the UFC with at least 20 selections, above only Eminem’s “Cinderella Man” and “Back in Black” by AC/DC.