Issue 077
July 2011
10
Todd Duffee-toppling heavyweight Mike Russow grabbed his 10th win in a row at UFC Fight Night 24 in March, this one by TKO against Team DeathClutch’s Jon Madsen. It’s an impressive streak that’s usually only attained by future champions.
9
After an almost year-long layoff, Gilbert Melendez looked amazing in defending his Strikeforce lightweight belt against Tatsuya Kawajiri at Strikeforce: Diaz vs Daley in April. The beginning of the end came when Kawajiri shot for a takedown and a sprawling Melendez delivered nine explosive lefts to Kawajiri’s dome...
3
…Three elbows followed those lefts and forced a referee stoppage. Melendez is now 19-2.
3
In the second Strikeforce show since Zuffa’s surprise purchase of the company, the main event ended with just three seconds remaining in round one after Nick Diaz rocked Paul Daley and finished with ground ‘n’ pound. UFC boss Dana White profanely tweeted: “Holy f**kin’ s**t!!!” at the bout’s end.
6
The amazing fight between Diaz and Daley does have some competition for best round ever though. Exactly six years ago to the day, the thrilling Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar threw down at The Ultimate Fighter season one finale.
13,741
A massive 13,741 fans packed Seattle’s Key Arena for the first UFC event in the city, UFC Fight Night 24 in March. It’s the most ever for the company’s small-scale event series, and markedly better that the 606 people who saw Anderson Silva decimate Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 5 in 2006.
$40m
The amazing Bonnar-Griffin fight (mentioned below left) was instrumental in the UFC’s explosion in popularity. It may be the catalyst that eventually gave Zuffa deep enough pockets to fork over a rumored $40 million for Strikeforce, and secure a near monopoly of top-tier MMA.
2
During the back-and-forth affair between UFC outcast Daley and loudmouth Diaz during April, the former knocked the latter down two times in his quest for Strikeforce’s welterweight strap.
1
Number of seconds left in the round when Chan Sung Jung pulled off an amazing tapout victory over Leonard Garcia at Fight Night 24. In almost two decades of UFC competition, it’s the first appearance of the twister.
Numbers provided by Zac Robinson, co-author of Sports by the Numbers: MMA. Zac has also co-written the recently released biography From the Fields to the Garden: The Life of Stitch Duran. It's available online at Amazon and blackmesabooks.com. For more info go to: www.sportsbythenumbersmma.com
