By The Numbers: Jared Cannonier vs. Kelvin Gastelum

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Kelvin Gastelum straddles the fence between contender and gatekeeper as well as anyone in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division.

“The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner will toe the line against Jared Cannonier in the UFC on ESPN 29 main event this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Gastelum has lost four of his past five bouts. The Kings MMA rep last appeared at UFC on ESPN 22, where he dropped a five-round unanimous decision to former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker on April 17. Cannonier, meanwhile, has rattled off three wins in four outings. He last competed on Oct. 24, when he wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous verdict against Whittaker at UFC 254.

As Gastelum and Cannonier approach their pivotal matchup at 185 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

37: Years of age for Cannonier, who was born on March 16, 1984 in Dallas. “Splash,” “Footloose,” “The Ice Pirates,” “Tank” and “Against All Odds” were the Top 5 movies at the domestic box office at the time.

9: Cannonier wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 69% of his career total (13). His list of UFC victims: Jack Hermansson, Anderson Silva, David Branch, Nick Roehrick and Cyril Asker. Cannonier holds two other wins by submission and two more by decision.

114: Combined victories between the five men—Whittaker, Dominick Reyes, Jan Blachowicz, Glover Teixeira and Shawn Jordan—who have beaten Cannonier. They boast a cumulative winning percentage of .781 (114-32).

32.5: Significant strikes landed per UFC fight by Cannonier. The former Alaska Fighting Championship titleholder has connected on 357 such strikes in his 11 appearances inside the Octagon.

7: Countries in which Cannonier has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 10-2 in the United States, 1-0 in Denmark, 1-0 in Brazil, 1-0 in Croatia, 0-1 in the United Arab Emirates, 0-1 in Chile and 0-1 in Canada.

29: Years of age for Gastelum, who was born in San Jose, California, on Oct. 24, 1991. Mariah Carey’s “Emotions,” Natural Selection’s “Do Anything,” Karyn White’s “Romantic,” Extreme’s “Hole Hearted” and Bryan Adams’ “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” were the Top 5 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list at the time.

4: Gastelum wins by submission, accounting for 25% of his career total (16). His methods of choice: three rear-naked chokes and one kimura. Gastelum owns six other victories by knockout or technical knockout and six more by decision.

.790: Cumulative winning percentage between the seven men—Whittaker, Hermansson, Darren Till, Israel Adesanya, Chris Weidman, Neil Magny and Tyron Woodley—who have defeated Gastelum. They sport a combined record of 143-36-2.

3: UFC appearances in which Gastelum has executed multiple takedowns. He completed three of them in a split decision over Uriah Hall at “The Ultimate Fighter 17” Finale on April 13, 2013, secured two of them in a split decision loss to Magny at UFC Fight Night 78 on Nov. 21, 2015 and delivered six of them in a unanimous decision over Ian Heinisch at UFC 258 on Feb. 13, 2021.

350,000: Post-fight bonus dollars banked by Gastelum across his 19 assignments in the UFC. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” four times” and “Performance of the Night” on three occasions.