This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
The UFC moved to Prague for Saturday's event. In the main event, Thiago Santos put himself into contention in the light heavyweight division with a third-round stoppage over Jan Blachowicz. In the co-main event, Stefan Struve stopped a losing streak with a statistically historic comeback. The following is a by-the-numbers recap that highlights the stats and milestones that stood out on the main card, with stats courtesy of FightMetric.com.
Thiago Santos drops and finishes Jan Blachowicz in the third
Santos picked up his 11th knockout victory in the UFC, which is the second-most all time behind Vitor Belfort with 12. It was the second-latest knockout victory of his career. In the past, he would either score an early finish or fall, but now he seems to be doing a much better job pacing himself. This also could have been due to Blachowicz trying to keep range with his jab. For the fight, Santos outlanded the Polish fighter 52 to 20 and scored a third-period knockdown. He should be close to a title shot depending on what happens this weekend between champion Jon Jones and Anthony Smith, who Santos has already defeated.
While it is certainly hard to argue with results, Santos seemed like he was in line for more points against Blachowicz. He finished with 89 points on DraftKings, which was sixth-highest score of the night. Blachowicz did a good job holding range early in this fight, and that helped keep Santos' score down despite the finish.
Stefan Struve scores epic comeback against Marcos Rogerio de Lima
The first round of this fight went about as poorly as possible. However, the second round was an entirely different story. In the process, Struve become the first fighter to win in the modern aren to finish an opponent in the second round or later without landing a single significant strike. De Lima ended up outlanded Struve 25 to 0 and earning a knockdown, but he still submitted in the second round.
81 points may not seem like a lot, but since Struve did not land a single significant strike, it is probably more than players could have hoped.
Michal Oleksiejczuk unloads on Gian Villante
Villante is a walking defensive liability, and that was on display yet again. Oleksiejczuk landed 63 percent of his significant strike attempts, including the fight-ending body shot. It took a second for Villante to react, but he was clearly hurt, and the fight was properly stopped.
Oleksiejczuk finished with only one of two first-round finishes on the card. He earned players 107 points on DraftKings thanks for the finish bonus, 14 significant strikes and a knockdown.
Liz Carmouche uses her takedowns to edge Lucie Pudilova
This is the type of fight that creates controversy. Pudilova outlanded Carmouche 33 to 14 in terms of significant strikes for the fight, and she had the striking advantage in all three rounds. However, Carmouche scored a takedown in all three rounds and spent time of top. Only the judges get to decide which one of those is worth more when determining a winner.
Carmouche had the lowest score for a winning fighter on the card. Even though she took home the decision victory, she earned it mostly by nullifying her opponent instead of actually putting up her own stats.
Petr Yan wears down John Dodson
The first round of this fight was relatively close. Yan outlanded Dodson 18 to 11 on significant strikes in that frame, and Yan's forward pressure and pace really wore on Dodson. In the second round, Yan outlanded Dodson 31 to 15 and then 30 to four in the final round. At this weight, the ability to wear down and catch a fighter like Dodson is very impressive. It will be interesting to continually see Yan's development.
Unfortunately for Yan and certain DFS players, Dodson is a hard guy to roll stats up against. Since he often fights off the backpedal, fighters really need to work to catch him. In the end, Yan finished with 80 DraftKings points, which was the ninth-highest score of the night.
Magomed Ankalaev edges Klidson Abreu on the scorecards
In terms of overall significant strikes, this was a close fight, Ankalaev outlanded Abreu 30 to 23. However, the round totals pretty accurately depict the decision. In the first round, Ankalaev held a slight striking edge, nine to eight, but he also landed a knockdown. In the third round, with the fight possibly on the line, Ankalaev pulled it out by outlanding Abreu 12 to four and forcing Abreu to land only 16 percent of his significant strike attempts.
Ankalaev landed only 30 significant strikes in the three-round fight. Thus, he finished with only 66 points on DraftKings. Even with a knockdown, he was not able to avoid the third lowest score for a winner on the card.
