This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
In the main event of UFC 228, Tyron Woodley had one of the best performances of his career and finished challenger Darren Till via submission in the second round. While Woodley cemented his place at the top of the welterweight ladder, Tatiana Suarez announced herself in the women's flyweight division on the undercard with a three-round destruction of former champion Carla Esparza. She finished with 173 DraftKings points, which is the highest score of the year to date.
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.
Tyron Woodley blanks Darren Till in the main event
This was an entirely dominant performance from Woodley. He managed to land 57 significant strikes and a knockdown while absorbing zero significant strikes. After a tepid first round, Woodley landed one significant strike at distance to start the second round. That one strike dropped Till to the floor. From there, he landed 45 significant strikes on the floor to set up the fight-ending submission. Woodley had not won via submission since 2009 and had never won via submission in the UFC.
It goes without saying that this is the worst statistical performance of Till's career. He landed zero significant strikes and attempted only six. With this performance his career significant strikes per minute rate fell from 2.67 to 2.39.
On a normal night, a score of 111.5 points might have been the highest DraftKings score of the night. However, for UFC 228, it was only the fifth highest score. Despite being a betting underdog, Woodley dominated the bout and put up a top score. Till managed to earn players zero points despite pulling ahead with the books in the days before the event.
Jessica Andrade runs through Karolina Kowalkiewicz at distance
Since losing to Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 211, Andrade has been a buzz saw. However, this performance was a little bit different. Against Claudia Gadelha and Tecia Torres, Andrade landed a combined 233 significant strikes, but 65 percent of those strikes came in the clinch or on the ground. Against Kowalkiewicz, the vast majority of her strikes came at distance where she also scored a knockdown and finished the fight. Andrade landed 19.32 significant strikes per minute in the under-two-minute fight.
Andrade has been a DFS points machine since moving down to strawweight. While she has been getting it down with her volume, this time she did it with her finishing ability. Andrade earned players 119 points in DraftKings, which was the fourth highest score of the night.
Zabit Magomedsharipov turns it on in the second round against Brandon Davis
Considering the line, many seem to expect Magomedsharipov to run through Davis in the first round. Despite those expectations, it was a close bout. Both fighters landed 21 significant strikes in the opening frame, and Davis was much more active, as he attempted 32 more significant strikes than his opponent. The second round was an entirely different story. Magomedsharipov came out looking to grapple, and he was very successful. He landed five of his six takedown attempts in the round and eight ground strikes before finishing with an exotic submission. His kneebar from back mount was only the third in UFC history behind Kenny Robertson and Aljamain Sterling, who pulled it off on the undercard.
Magomedsharipov's decision to use his wrestling and grappling helped bump up his DraftKings score. He finished with 122 points, the second highest score of the night, thanks in large part to six takedowns and one pass.
Jimmie Rivera takes care of business against John Dodson
On a night full of great fights and shocking finishes, this fight stood for its lack of intrigue. For most of the fight, Rivera walked down Dodson and tried to land strikes while Dodson circled away. In the end, Rivera landed 62 significant strikes at 49 percent compared to 41 at 35 percent for Dodson. "El Terror" did a good job of mixing up his targets, as he landed 25 significant strikes to the head, 16 to the body and 21 to the legs. He needed this win to get back on track, but there is really not too much to say about it.
Doing just enough for the win rarely results in a high DraftKings score, and this performance was not an exception. Rivera finished with just 61 points, which was the second lowest score among winners on the night. Dodson finished with 20.5 points.
Abdul Razak Alhassan wins battle of power strikes against Niko Price
Both fighters seemed to think that they had the striking and the power to win a brawl. It turned out that Alhassan was right. He landed 15 significant strikes at a 71 percent rate and a knockdown before the referee stopped the bout. During his 11-fight professional MMA career, Alhassan has won 10 fights, all via first-round knockout. The average length of his victories is only 1:32.
Alhassan finished with 107.5 DraftKings points, which was somehow the eighth highest score of the night. His knockout power makes him a consistent points threat, and on most night he will likely be in the top five of scorers when he fights this level of opposition.
