If it really is goodbye, then Nate Diazexited the Ultimate Fighting Championship in style.
Facing TonyFerguson in a makeshift headliner, Diaz forced his opponent totap to a guillotine choke 2:52 into Round 4 of their welterweightbout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. After thefight, the Stockton, California, native hinted that a transition toprofessional boxing could be in the cards — and then he’ll be backto make another run at UFC gold. No matter what the future holdsfor Diaz, there’s no doubt it’ll be interesting.
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Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC279, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com.
6: Submission wins from the bottom position for Diaz in UFCcompetition, the most in the history of the promotion. With hisguillotine choke of Ferguson, Diaz passed Paul Craigfor the top spot.
10: Career submission victories in UFC competition for Diaz, tyinghim with Royce Graciefor the fourth most in promotion history. Only CharlesOliveira (16), Demian Maia(11) and Jim Miller(11) have more.
4,712: Days since Ferguson’s last submission defeat, when hesuccumbed to a first-round triangle choke against Jamie Toneyat MMA at the Hyatt 3: Redemption on July 17, 2009.
101: Significant strikes landed by Diaz. Ferguson, meanwhile,landed 80. Diaz outlanded his opponent 22 to 19 in Round 1, 28 to20 in Round 2 and 25 to 11 in Round 4. Ferguson held a 30-to-26advantage in significant strikes in Round 3.
71: Significant head strikes for Diaz. By comparison, Fergusonlanded just 23 significant strikes to the head of his opponent.
34: Significant leg strikes for Ferguson, who impaired Diaz’smovement with his low kicks. Diaz, meanwhile, landed ninesignificant strikes to the legs.
0-5: Ferguson’s UFC record since 2020. His last victory came in asecond-round TKO of DonaldCerrone at UFC 238 on June 8, 2019.
4: UFC bouts in which KhamzatChimaev has not absorbed a single significant strike from hisopponent. On Saturday, KevinHolland joined a group that includes Jinliang Li, GeraldMeerschaert and Rhys McKee.Chimaev submitted Holland with a brabo choke 2:13 into Round 1 oftheir 180-pound catchweight bout.
21: Unofficial media scorecards, of the 23 tracked by MMADecisions.com, that awarded the catchweight clash betweenJingliangLi and DanielRodriguez to Li. Cageside judges Michael Bell and DouglasCrosby saw things different, as both submitted 29-28 tallies forRodriguez, giving “D-Rod” a split-decision triumph.
88: Significant strikes landed by Rodriguez. Li, meanwhile, landed78. Rodriguez outlanded his opponent 34 to 24 in Round 2 and 34 to27 in Round 3, while Li held a 27-to-20 edge in Round 1.
54: Significant head strikes for Rodriguez. By comparison, Lilanded 25.
30: Significant leg strikes for Li. Rodriguez landed 17 significantstrikes to the legs. “The Leech” also held a 23-to-17 edge insignificant body strikes.
3: Upkick knockouts in UFC history, after IreneAldana’s heel kick to the liver dispatched MacyChiasson 2:21 into Round 3 of their 140-pound catchweightencounter. Only Niko Price(vs. James Vick atUFC Fight Night 161) and Jon Fitch (vs.ThiagoAlves at UFC Fight Night 5) have previously used the maneuverto achieve victory in the Octagon.
21: Total strikes by which Chiassion outlanded Aldana. The FortisMMA product also landed the three of eight takedowns and logged3:28 of control time to Aldana’s 1:00.
1,995: Days since JohnnyWalker’s last submission victory, a guillotine choke ofLuis Guilherme de Andrade in the Katana Fight “Gold Edition”main event on March 25, 2017. Walker showed off his ground game atUFC 279 by tapping IonCutelaba with a rear-naked choke in the opening stanza of theirfeatured light heavyweight tilt.
152: Total strikes landed by JulianErosa in a unanimous decision triumph against HakeemDawodu in a 150-pound catchweight clash. By comparison, Dawodulanded 90 total strikes. Erosa also held a 92-to-74 edge insignificant strikes landed.
17: Finishes among 17 professional victories for Jailton Almedia,who tapped out AntonTurkalj with a rear-naked choke 4:27 into the opening round oftheir 220-pound catchweight bout. That ledger includes ninetriumphs by way of rear-naked choke.
3: Consecutive first-round finishes in UFC competition for Almeida,the second-longest such streak in the Las Vegas-basedpromotion.
54: Combined significant strike advantage for Almeida in firstthree UFC appearances, wins over Turkalj, ParkerPorter and DaniloMarques. Turkalj is the only one of the three to land asignificant strike against “Malhadinho.”
51: Significant strikes landed by DenisTiuliulin in the second round of his technical knockout victoryagainst JamiePickett. The Russian veteran landed two knockdowns in theperiod in route to a stoppage at the 4:52 mark. Pickett landed 25significant strikes in the frame.
2: Heavyweights in UFC history to miss weight. ChrisBarnett, who checked in at 267 pounds on Friday, joinedJustinTafa,, who tipped the scales at 267 pounds for a win overHarryHunsucker at UFC Fight Night 199. Barnett defeated JakeCollier via second-round TKO in their preliminary clash at UFC279.
26: Significant strike deficit for Barnett in Round 1. Collier alsodropped “Huggy Bear” in the opening stanza.
29: Significant strike advantage for Barnett in the second frame,when he finished Collier with punches from mount at the 2:24mark.
55: Total strikes by which NormaDumont outlanded experienced amateur boxer DanyelleWolf in their preliminary featherweight encounter. TheBrazilian also held a 52-to-20 edge in significant strikes andscored the bout’s only knockdown.
.210: Significant striking accuracy for Wolf, who was successful onjust 20 of 95 attempts. Dumont, meanwhile, connected on 52 of 110significant strikes — a 47 percent success rate.
6:41: Total control time for Dumont, who went 2-for-2 on takedowns.Wolf did not have any control time in the bout.
10: Combined significant strikes landed by YohanLainesse in Rounds 2 and 3 of his welterweight bout againstDarianWeeks. Lainesse nonetheless emerged with a split-decisiontriumph despite facing a 44-to-23 deficit in significant strikeslanded overall.
