This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
In the main event of UFC Fight Night 120, Dustin Poirier picked up a win over former champion Anthony Pettis. The card also featured some highlight-reel knockouts and some new personal best performances. 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.
For DraftKings, the highest possible score was 643 points for a team composed of Tatiana Suarez, Clay Guida, Matt Brown, Karl Roberson, Dustin Poirier, Nina Ansaroff and Sean Strickland. Suarez had the highest score of the night with 124.5 points. She scored a whopping 13 passes in her victory over Viviane Pereira.
Dustin Poirier continued his hot streak at lightweight against Anthony Pettis
Since returning to the lightweight division in 2015, Poirier has outlanded his opponents on significant strikes 388 to 242. During the stretch, he has gone 6-1 with his only loss coming against Michael Johnson. Against Pettis, Poirier was able to land strikes in all positions. He outlanded the former champion 25-to-23 at distance, eight-to-one in the clinch and 20-to-10 on the ground where he finished the fight.
In his first five UFC bouts, Pettis outlanded his opponents 87-to-59. However, since defeating Gilbert Melendez for the UFC title in 2014 he has been outlanded 441-to-378.
For the stoppage victory, Poirier earned DFS players 105.5 points in DraftKings. Besides landing 53 significant strikes, he also picked up points for three passes and five takedowns.
Matt Brown needed only 18 significant strikes to finish Diego Sanchez
Sanchez has now been knocked out in three of his last four fights. On Saturday, Brown landed his first knockout since 2014. He needed only 18 significant strikes to finish Sanchez, which is his second lowest total in a knockout. The only time he needed fewer strikes was when he stopped Mike Pyle with 10 significant strikes in 2013.
Brown finished with the third-highest DraftKings score of the night. He earned 109 points based on 18 landed significant strikes and the first-round finish bonus.
Andrei Arlovski set a new career high against Junior Albini
Arlovski set a new career high for significant strikes landed in a fight. He landed 92 significant strikes, which is also the same number he had landed in his previous five fights combined. Landing a ton of strikes without a finish is not always a good thing. In the past, he had been able to stop opponents before landing an accumulation. While it was an impressive showing on Saturday, it could signal a waning of Arlovski's power.
Arlovski finished with only 76 points in DraftKings. Outside of his striking, he did not put up any points besides the decision-win bonus.
Cezar Ferreira increased his output against Nate Marquardt
Normally Ferreira is not a very active striker. For his UFC career, he has landed only 1.87 significant strikes per minute. While this does not hurt him when he is able to score finishes, it drastically limits his ability to win decisions. Against Marquardt, he was much more active. He landed 3.13 significant strikes per minute, which is by far his highest output in a 15-minute fight. His previous high for a fight that went to decision was 2.8.
Ferreira had the second-lowest DraftKings score for a winning fighter. His 66.5 points were only ahead of Marlon Moraes who took a split decision over John Dodson on the preliminary card.
Raphael Assuncao pushed the pace against Matthew Lopez
Lopez missed weight for this fight, and the his striking seemed to fade as the fight went on. He landed 18 significant strikes in the first round, then 11 in the second and finally only five in the third. Assuncao was active the entire fight. He attempted 154 significant strikes. While he landed only 46, the constant activity forced Lopez to expend a lot of energy before the final knockout.
For the third-round finish, Assuncao put up 78 DraftKings points based on 46 landed significant strikes, a knockdown and the 45 point third-round finish bonus.
Clay Guida picked up first knockout since 2008 against Joe Lauzon
Prior to this fight, Guida had not scored a finish via strikes since he stopped Samy Schiavo in 2008. He landed 526 significant strikes in between knockouts. Lauzon managed to land only one significant strike before the finish. Guida had previously allowed only one significant strike against Shannon Gugerty in 2010.
Despite not normally being a knockout threat, Guida finished with the second-highest DraftKings score on the night. His 112 points, composed of 24 landed significant strikes, a knockdown and the first-round finish bonus, was behind only Suarez who finished with 124.5.
