Issue 147
November 2016
Strange and outlandish occurrences from the Octagon and beyond that might make you scratch your head in disbelief
Wait for it...
Rousimar Palhares and Anderson Silva share the award for most premature celebration in the Octagon. Both climbed the cage after they thought they’d defeated Dan Miller and Michael Bisping respectively. After their fights were restarted, ‘Toquinho’ won on points, but ‘The Spider’ failed to get going again and lost by decision.
X2
Two-timer: Referee Yves Lavigne jumped in to stop the fight between Matt Brown and Pete Sell twice UFC 96. He first stepped in when ‘Drago’ fell under a barrage of strikes – then bizarrely restarted it. Brown resumed attacking and reluctantly TKO’d his opponent for real, seconds later.
Double tap: Not to be outdone, Murilo Bustamante submitted Matt Lindland twice in one fight at UFC 37. The middleweight champ snatched an armbar to force a tapout, only for Lindland to protest he hadn’t. The ref restarted the fight and Bustamante closed the show properly with a guillotine.
Most unexpected title shot
Little more than 24 hours before his Octagon debut at UFC 177, Joe Soto was promoted from undercard to challenge 135lb champion TJ Dillashaw. He even made it to the fifth round before he was knocked out.
Target Practice
Maryna Moroz landed just 6.7% (17 of 251) of her significant strike attempts – the lowest accuracy in UFC history (min 100 attempts) – in her August win over Danielle Taylor.
AWOL Icon
Frank Shamrock’s omission from the UFC Hall of Fame has nothing to do with any lack of impact his pioneering career had on the sport – more his long-standing beef with Dana White.
No PPV love
Cole Miller has fought 19 times in his nine-year UFC campaign, but never featured on a pay-per-view main card. That’s the longest streak without exposure on a major numbered event.
Someone’s ‘0’ didn’t go
Nicolas Dalby and Darren Till are the only undefeated fighters to collide in the Octagon and emerge with their unbeaten runs intact – following their 170lb ‘Fight of the Night’ draw in Dublin last year.
Longest UFC winless campaign
Gold: Without a single win inside the Octagon in more than five years, Japanese icon ‘Kid’ Yamamoto’s last win actually came under the Dream banner way back in 2010. Sure, he had three years out due to injury, but he never retired, so his unwanted UFC run remains intact.
Silver: Partially because of an 18-month suspension, Nick Diaz hasn’t won a UFC fight since October 2011. But despite the fact his last success was a decision win over BJ Penn at UFC 137, he remains one of the biggest stars in the sport.
Bronze: Beating up an old, worn-out Ken Shamrock was Tito Ortiz’s last triumph before a long barren spell. But after waiting four years, eight months and 22 days, it took him just 116 seconds to pull off a huge upset by knocking down and submitting Ryan Bader.
MMA records
Worst win rate
Kenneth Allen’s one victory in 38 pro contests equals a 2.6% win rate according to leading record source, Sherdog. He did prevail in style against Cory Simpson though – by rear-naked choke in 54 seconds
Biggest Record
Travis Fulton’s professional record* - 253-51-10 (1NC) - reads more like a phone number. Surely never to ever be matched, ‘The Ironman’ is still adding to it and is even 2-0 so far in 2016.
Largest tournament
Absolute Fighting Championship began life by staging a 32-man one-day tournament in Moscow in November 1995. Brazilian Ricardo Morais won all five of his fights in the first round to win the mega-bracket.
Unfortunate matchmaking
Poor Kenneth Williams lays claim to arguably the toughest matchmaking for a novice. His two fights – the first in 1999 and the second in 2001 were submission losses – to Chuck Liddell and ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
UFC records
Undynamic decisions
Going to 17 career decisions saw Jon Fitch dubbed “boring”, but fighting the full 15 hasn’t done Diego Sanchez any harm. ‘The Nightmare’ went to the judges’ cards 18 times and is a perennial fan favorite.
Striking back
Speaking of Fitch, his 2,185 strikes landed in the UFC lands him second on the all-time list after Georges St Pierre, who leads the way with 2,523. **
Appetite for submissions
His UFC run was short, but he made his mark. British lightweight Paul Sass still holds the record for being the most hungry tapout artist in the UFC. On average he attempted 7.4 submissions every 15 minutes he was in the cage. **
Elusive chin
Though he’s no longer undefeated, Aljamain Sterling still has the best numbers in the hit-and-don’t-get-hit stakes. On average less than one significant strike has caught him every minute he’s fought in the Octagon. **
Unnatural
Despite being just one of two men who are former two-weight world champions, Hall-of-Fame icon Randy Couture boasts the record for the most losses in UFC title fights with six.
