Fight Facts: UFC 286 ‘Edwards vs. Usman 3’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,058
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 640

The Ultimate Fighting Championship staged its first pay-per-view in the U.K. since 2016 with a local hero defending his title on home soil. The fans got their money’s worth and then some, with fighters from the region winning the lion’s share of their encounters, and none more important than the marquee attraction. UFC 286 featured the continuation of an ultra-impressive unbeaten streak, a brawl that practically cashed its bonus check when it was booked and the emergence of the new 170-pound submission king.

In for a Penny, In for a Pound: UFC 286 featured 11 different competitors representing the United Kingdom in some fashion, including Casey O'Neill’s mixed Scottish and Australian heritage. Those fighters went 8-2 with a draw on the evening, as only O’Neill and Sam Patterson came up short.

Major Issues with These Judges: The final two matches of the evening ended with two scorecards for one winner and the third as a draw. This marks the third event in UFC history to feature multiple majority decisions, and the first to ever conclude in such a fashion.

They Didn’t Think He Could Do It: Leon Edwards kept a tight grip on his title by winning a majority decision over Kamaru Usman in their rubber match. The welterweight king notched his first defense, making him the seventh man in divisional history to successfully defend his throne at least once.

Great Champs: The win for Edwards pushed his current unbeaten streak to 12 straight, with a 2021 no contest against Belal Muhammad in the midst of his win streak. The only active run to surpass this is lightweight king Islam Makhachev’s stretch of 12 consecutive victories.

A Rocky Story: By staving off Usman the third time, Edwards tied Michael Bisping for the most successful defenses of a champion from the U.K. “Rocky” will have the chance to break that record next against Colby Covington later this year, according to UFC head Dana White.

Ultimate Action Fighter: In his 11th fight in the Octagon, Gaethje earned his 11th post-fight bonus check, as both he and Fiziev collected “Fight of the Night” honors. While he does not hold the most of any UFC fighter – that number of 18 is tied with Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira – his rate of earning bonuses is the highest by far.

Mayhem Magnet: The FOTN award to Gaethje is his seventh, and his record stands at 5-2 in bouts that received that distinction. “The Highlight” is one shy from the UFC’s all-time leaders, in a four-way tie between Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier, Frankie Edgar and Edson Barboza.

Not to Be Outshined: Including the loss to Gaethje, Fiziev has now claimed six bonuses in his last six fights. He has evenly split the type of award between FOTN and “Performance of the Night.”

This Was Obvious: Gunnar Nelson landed an armbar on Bryan Barberena to secure his seventh submission as a UFC welterweight. This breaks a tie with Chris Lytle and Demian Maia for the most in the history of the UFC’s weight class.

Quietest Awards Ever: With his quick submission of Barberena, Nelson snared his fifth POTN check at 170 pounds. In doing so, he ties Jingliang Li for the most in divisional history.

A True Old School Specialist: The Icelandic fighter boosted his finish rate as a pro to 89% by snatching the armbar on Barberena. Thirteen of the 17 stoppages for “Gunni” have come via tapout.

Dog Did Hunt: As an underdog, Jennifer Maia upset unbeaten O’Neill to earn the nod on all three scorecards. The Brazilian has left her last six fights in the hands of the judges, with 14 of her last 15 hearing the final bell.

Chute Boxe Overjoyed: After three rounds of combat, Maia and O’Neill combined for 282 significant strikes landed. This total clocks in as the fourth-most in a women’s flyweight bout inside the Octagon, with O’Neill also holding the top spot of 349 against Roxanne Modafferi.

Technique Beat Power: Like Maia above, Marvin Vettori went to his sixth consecutive decision when he outworked Roman Dolidze. Unlike Maia, he has needed the full time allotment in 12 of his most recent 13 matches.

Shoring Up More Weaknesses: Successfully moving to 145 pounds, Wales’ Jack Shore bounced back from his first pro loss by landing a rear-naked choke on Makwan Amirkhani. In victory, “Tank” has ended 76% of his pro outings before the final horn.

Amirkhani’s Vintage Gas Tank: Shore’s tapout of submission specialist Amirkhani is only the second time “Mr. Finland” has surrendered to a choke. The first came back in June 2011 to Viktor Tomasevic, and at the time, just four of the other 29 fighters on the card had made their professional debuts.

One Duncan: Scotland’s Chris Duncan won his first UFC fight by securing a split decision over Omar Morales. The win on the scorecards was just the second for “The Problem,” who reduced his finish rate to 80% after getting his hand raised.

Reduced to Ashes: In one of the larger upsets on the card, Yanal Ashmoz smoked Sam Patterson with a barrage of punches in 75 seconds. The debutant from Israel has landed six of his seven pro wins by stoppage.

Mokaev Tapped, We Saw It: Heavy favorite Muhammed Mokaev cranked Jafel Filho’s neck to elicit a tap late in the third round to boost his pro record to 10-0 with a no contest. “The Punisher” has performed submissions in three of his four UFC outings, putting himself within two of the leader Demetrious Johnson at flyweight.

Two Duncans: Not to be confused with Chris Duncan, Christian Leroy Duncan also prevailed in his promotional debut against Dusko Todorovic. His foe suffered a knee injury early in the fight, officially elevating the Brit’s career knockout rate to 75% with his shiny 8-0 records.

White Kong vs. Malcolm X: Courtesy of a few body shots and follow-up ground-and-pound, Jake Hadley wrecked the heavy Malcolm Gordon. Still young in his career, “White Kong” has procured stoppages in eight of his 10 wins, with his lone two decisions both going 25 minutes.

The Way It Should Be: Gordon checked in 3.5 pounds over the flyweight limit to surrender 30% of his purse to Hadley ahead of time. So far this year, UFC fighters to miss weight have won once opposite five defeats.

Not Driftwood: Rebounding from a three-fight skid, “Jojo” Joanne Wood pulled off the split decision win over Luana Carolina. Dating back five years, Wood’s only triumphs have come on the scorecards, while suffering a trio of stoppage losses among other defeats.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 286, Usman (22 fights) and Carolina (11 fights) had never dropped consecutive bouts, Fiziev had never lost on the scorecards (13 fights) and O’Neill (nine fights) and Gabriel Santos (10 fights) had never been defeated.

Gonna Fail Now: After Amirkhani walked out to “Gonna Fly Now” by Bill Conti and lost, the song picked up its 25th recorded defeat in the Octagon. This returns it to a tie with Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” for the track with the most losses in UFC history.

I Can See I’m Going Blind: Morales picked “Blind” by Korn as his walkout tune, making him the first fighter since 2018 to select a song from this nu-metal band. The last fighter to do so: Vettori, before facing Israel Adesanya at UFC on Fox 29.

Long Guitar Riff: Amirkhani was not the only fighter to select one of the losingest songs in the history of the organization, as Todorovic went with “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC on the prelims. The 23 losses registered with that track are the most other than “Gonna Fly Now” or “Eye of the Tiger.”