This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
In the second half of the UFC doubleheader, the promotion hosted an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The main card was a mix of one-sided blowouts and contention close fights. 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.
Ryan Bader turns up the volume on veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
While Bader has had success in the UFC, he has rarely had the type of performance that he had on Saturday night. Against Nogueira, Bader landed 86 strikes in the 13-plus minute fight, which gave him a 6.21 significant strikes landed per minute rate. This number is his highest rate since his UFC debut in 2008. In fact, other than those two fights, Bader had never finished with a rate over five.
After defeating Patrick Cummins last May, it appeared as if Nogueira might be in the midsts of a late career resurgence. "Lil Nog" managed to land only two significant strikes against Bader, however. This was the third time since 2010 that Nogueira has lost and failed register at least 10 landed significant strikes.
Thomas Almeida gets back to his offense against Albert Morales
Outside of his one fight against Cody Garbrandt, Almeida has been a force in the UFC's bantamweight division. Against Morales, he picked up his fourth knockout in six UFC fights. Almeida scores a knockout for every 62.5 landed significant strikes.
Claudia Gadelha wrestles her way to win over Cortney Casey
It was clear relatively early that Gadelha's wrestling was going to be too much for Casey. This has been the case for all of Gadelha's UFC opponents with the exception of champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The Brazilian currently lands 4.59 takedowns per 15 minutes of fight time, which is second best among ranked strawweights, behind only Carla Esparza.
Krzysztof Jotko dominates striking battle against Thales Leites
On his way to winning his fifth fight in a row, Jotko outlanded Leites 42 to 4 in terms of significant strikes. He also stopped seven of Leites' eight takedown attempts. During his seven-fight UFC career, Jotko has outlanded his opponents 249 to 117.
Leites has never been much a striker. He only landed 39 percent of his significant strike attempts and absorbs more strikes than he lands. That being said, he is surprisingly durable. In his UFC career, he has absorbed 612 significant strikes and has never been knocked out.
Kamaru Usman shows developing game against Warlley Alves
Usman fashions himself as the best grappler in the welterweight division and called out Demian Maia following this victory. With yet another strong performance, this fight represented a major jump in Usman development as a striker. Against Alves, Usman landed 59 significant strikes at distance (that is, not in the clinch or on the ground). In his three previous UFC appearance, he had landed a total of 15 significant strikes at distance.
Sergio Moraes takes narrow decision over Zak Ottow
Moraes took the decision here despite being outlanded 35 to 44. The Brazilian has now been outstruck in his last three bouts, but he has managed to go 2-1 over the stretch. Ottow managed to upset Josh Burkman in his UFC debut, but his significant strikes landed per minute rate fell from 4.33 to 2.93 in this fight. That decline almost certainly helped Moraes take the decision.
