This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
The two title fights at the top of UFC 227 both were very telling in different ways. In the bantamweight title fight, TJ Dillashaw proved that he has Cody Garbrandt's number. In the other title fight, new flyweight champion Henry Cejudo showed that anyone, including Demetrious Johnson, can be beat.
On the undercard, Alex Perez put up the highest DraftKings score of the night. He landed 84 significant strikes in the first round and stopped Jose Torres to finish with 142 points. The following is a by-the-numbers recap that highlights the stats and milestones that stood out on the main card, with stats courtesy of FightMetric.com.
TJ Dillashaw beats his top score against Cody Garbrandt
The first round of this fight played out very similarly to the second round of their first fight. However, this time Dillashaw was more dominant. In this fight, he landed 45 significant strikes at 62 percent, a pair of knockdowns and finished the fight. In the second round of their first fight, he landed only 11 significant strikes at 34 percent. Early in the round, it looked like Garbrandt was going to fight a slower pace to avoid counters, but he could not contain himself and ended up eating heavy power from Dillashaw.
On the DraftKings side of things, Dillashaw finished with the second-highest score of the night with 132.5 points. One thing revealed by the series with Garbrandt is Dillashaw's budding striking power. He scored a pair of knockdowns in both fights. In his previous 13 UFC fights, Dillashaw had scored only five. This might say something about Garbrandt's ability to take punches or Dillashaw's increasing striking power. Both things could have an impact on DFS going forward.
Henry Cejudo goes to his base to upset Demetrious Johnson
Cejudo became only the second man to hold the UFC flyweight title with an upset over Johnson, and his did it with his wrestling base. While he was successful on only three of 11 on his takedown attempts, the spectre of a takedown really forced Johnson to be less aggressive than normal. FightMetric has a finicky definition of a takedown, which involves requirements like a fighter initiating the action and controlling position on the ground. Even though he landed only 27 percent, he at least forced Johnson to the ground on multiple occasions.
With all that being said, Johnson had a huge advantage in terms of striking. He outlanded Cejudo 81 to 51 on significant strikes, and he also outlanded him in three of the five rounds. Even though Cejudo employed a wrestling-based approach, he managed to land only three significant ground strikes, which seems to lend credence to those who disagree with the decision.
Not getting credit for his near takedowns really hurt Cejudo's DraftKings score. He ended up earning players only 76.5 points, which was only the eighth highest score on the night. Considering it was a five-round fight, anyone who picked this upset was likely hoping for a higher score.
Renato Moicano dominates Cub Swanson on the ground
Swanson looked to be back in his old form early in this fight. However, Moicano scored a knockdown and went to work on the ground. He finished with seven significant ground strikes, four passes on the ground and the submission finish. Moicano appears to be a legitimate prospect in the featherweight division. He has won five of his six UFC bouts. In his only loss, he was outlanding Brian Ortega 109 to 65 before being caught in a third-round guillotine.
Moicano tallied some solid ground strikes and a knockdown to go along with his first-round finish. The dominant performance left him with 125.5 DraftKings points, which was the fourth-highest score on the card.
JJ Aldrich upsets Polyana Viana
Aldrich had a solid strategy for this fight that allowed her to disrupt Viana's timing and striking style. However, it does not really come across in the final stats. While she clinched for long periods of the fight, she only landed seven significant clinch strikes. At distance, she landed hard shots off the break, but she was actually outlanded 31 to 37. Despite the stats not looking too favorably, she still clearly took the decision.
Her lack of activity left her with a substandard DraftKings score despite the upset. She finished with 53 points, which was the lowest score among winners on the card.
Thiago Santos nearly stops Kevin Holland in the first and holds on for decision
Santos came out like a house of fire in the first round. He outlanded Holland 30 to seven in the frame, and it looked like he was on the way to a quick finish. However, Holland survived and had some moments in the second round as Santos appeared to tire. In the third round, Santos caught his wind and once against dominated with his striking. In the final round, he outlanded Holland 25 to 4 and did solid work on the ground with six passes.
A first-round finish likely would have netted more points, but Santos still finished with a respectable score on DraftKings. His 103.5 DraftKings points were the sixth highest on the main card.
