By the Numbers: UFC on ESPN 29

Tristen CritchfieldAug 22, 2021

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Jared Cannonier maintained his standing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s competitive middleweight landscape, but it wasn’t an easy night at the office.

“The Killa Gorilla” secured a trio of 48-47 scorecards to take a unanimous decision triumph against Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC on ESPN 29 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Cannonier bounced back from a defeat to ex-champ Robert Whittaker last October and has won four of five bouts since moving up to 185 pounds.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC on ESPN 29, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.

1: Knockdown landed by Cannonier, giving him five for his UFC career. Cannonier floored Gastelum in Round 3, but his opponent quickly recovered and returned to his feet. Gastelum has not been finished by strikes in 25 professional appearances.

1-5: Record for Gastelum in UFC bouts since April 2019. “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner has faced nothing but top competition during that time, falling to the likes of Cannonier, Robert Whittaker, Jack Hermansson, Darren Till and Israel Adesanya.

89: Significant strikes landed by Gastelum. By comparison, Cannonier landed 81. Gastelum outlanded his opponent 22 to 19 in Round 1, 24 to 17 in Round 2 and 16 to 15 in Round 4. Cannonier, meanwhile, outlanded Gastelum 17 to 15 in Round 3 and 13 to 12 in Round 5.

9: Fighters in UFC history with more than six hours of Octagon time after Clay Guida reached that milestone with 13 seconds remaining in Round 2 of his co-main event bout against Mark O. Madsen. Guida joins Frankie Edgar, Rafael dos Anjos, Demian Maia, Diego Sanchez, Jeremy Stephens, Jim Miller, Michael Bisping, and Max Holloway as the only UFC fighters with that much time in the cage.

1: Combined takedown attempts between Madsen (one) and Guida (0) in the three-round fight. The matchup between two wrestling-oriented fighters was contested primarily on the feet, with Madsen, the Olympic silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, holding a 98-to-72 edge in that category to capture a split-decision triumph.

266: Combined significant strikes landed by Parker Porter (149) and Chase Sherman (117) in a featured heavyweight scrap. Porter outlaned his foe 57 to 51 in Round 2 and 71 to 37 in Round 3, while Sherman held a 29-to-21 edge in Round 1.

4: Submission attempts for Saidyokub Kakhramanov against Trevin Jones in a main card bantamweight bout. After taking the fight on short notice, Kakhramanov elicited a tapout from his opponent with a guillotine choke at the 4:39 mark of Round 3.

8:59: Total control time for Jones. By comparison, Kakhramanov logged just 1:07 of control time in the bout. Neither fighter was particularly successful with their takedowns: Jones went 1-for-8, while Kakhramanov went 2-for-7.

123: Total strikes landed by Kakhramanov. By comparison, Jones landed 70. Kakhramanov also held a 36-to-12 advantage in significant strikes landed.

71: Significant strikes landed by Vinc Pichel in a unanimous decision win over Austin Hubbard at lightweight. That ranks as a career best in nine UFC bouts for “From Hell.” Pichel had twice landed 60 significant strikes in UFC competition for his previous high.

Related » UFC on ESPN 29 Round-by-Round Scoring


8: Flyweight victories in UFC competition for Alexandre Pantoja, who submitted Brandon Royval with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their featured clash on Saturday night. That ties him with John Moraga and Dustin Ortiz for fifth most in the history of the division behind Demetrious Johnson (13), Joseph Benavidez (13), Deiveson Figueiredo (nine) and Jussier Formiga (nine).

5: Finishes at 125 pounds for Pantoja, tied with Moraga for fourth most in promotion history behind Johnson (seven), Figueiredo (seven) and Benavidez (six). In addition to Royval, “The Cannibal” has stopped Matt Schnell, Wilson Reis, Yuta Sasaki and Neil Seery in UFC competition.

.550: Significant striking accuracy for Pantoja, who landed 22 of 40 attempts. While Royval was more active, he was far less effective, landing 17 of 61 significant strikes for a 27 percent success rate.

12:49: Control time for Brian Kelleher in a three-round verdict against Domingo Pilarte at bantamweight. “Boom” went 3-for-3 on takedowns, grounding his foe once in each period.

236: Total strikes landed by Kelleher. PIlarte landed 117 total strikes in defeat. Kelleher also held a 28-to-3 edge in significant strikes landed, while landing a 70 percent success rate.

10: Spinning wheel kick knockouts in UFC history after Ignacio Bahamondes used the manuever to finish Roosevelt Roberts at the 4:55 mark of Round 3 in their preliminary lightweight tilt. Bahamondes joins a group that includes: Vitor Belfort, Junior dos Santos, Edson Barboza, Stephen Thompson, Daron Cruickshank, Thiago Santos, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Lando Vannata, and Cory Sandhagen.

105: Significant strikes landed by Bahamondes. By comparison, Roberts landed 55 significant strikes in defeat. Bahamondes distributed his offense well, landing 41 to the head, 31 to the body and 33 to the legs.

9: Submission triumphs among nine professional victories for Ramiz Brahimaj, who rendered Sasha Palatnikov unconscious with a rear-naked choke 2:33 into the opening round of their welterweight clash. It is Brahimaj’s fourth career victory via rear-naked choke.