This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
The UFC traveled to the capital city of Canada for their most recent show. In the main event of UFC Fight Night 151, Donald Cerrone kept himself in the UFC lightweight title picture with an impressive decision victory over surging contender Al Iaquinta. The card may have seemed light on star power, but it certainly delivered. 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 UFCStats.com.
Donald Cerrone makes history against Al Iaquinta
Not only did Cerrone pick up an important victory over Iaquinta, he also cemented his place in the UFC record books. With two knockdowns in this fight, he now holds the record for most career knockdowns with 20. He already held the record for most UFC victories, but he now stands at 23. Finally, he set a new personal best for significant strikes landed in a fight with 138.
For the fight, he out-landed Iaquinta 138 to 90 on significant strikes. He scored knockdowns in the third and fourth rounds and pulled away. In the final three rounds, he outpaced the younger fighter 97 to 47 on significant strikes.
The night belonged to Cerrone in the cage and on the DraftKings leaderboard. He finished with 119 points, which was far and away the highest total of the night. The second highest score came from Macy Chiasson, who earned 110.5 points for a second-round finish on the undercard.
Derek Brunson chases down Elias Theodorou for 15 minutes
Theodorou is at his best when he is able to maintain range and score with his kicks and wacky strikes. Unfortunately for him in this fight, he was not able to stop Brunson's forward momentum with those strikes, so he was forced to basically run and backpedal throughout the contest. He did take the significant strike edge 65 to 56. However, Brunson was landing the harder shots throughout the contest. He finished four of his nine takedown attempts and passed guard five times from the top.
Even though he finished with only 56 significant strikes, Brunson was able to build the sixth-highest score of the night due to his grappling style. He came into the UFC much more dependent on his wrestling. He moved away from it recently, but it would be a welcome style reversion for DraftKings players.
Shane Burgos picks his targets well against Cub Swanson
This turned out to be quite the striking battle. Both fighters were able to consistently land with volume and the final totals were very close. Burgos landed 134 significant strikes in the 15 minute fight, while Swanson finished with 129. Not only did Burgos have the edge in terms of totals, but he also did the best work when aiming at the most important target. Of his 134 significant strikes, 82 came against Swanson's head. Swanson landed 49 significant leg strikes, which may have made a big impact. However, the judges certainly seem to favor head shots.
Due to the volume, the winner of this decision was going to end up with a respectable score. Burgos finished with 97 points, which was the highest score of the night for a fighter who only scored via significant strikes and the finish bonus.
Merab Dvalishvili stays busy on the ground against Brad Katona
Rami Genauer developed the concept of significant strikes to try to differentiate between meaningful shots and keeping busy. At the core, all strikes at distance, power shots on the ground and power shots in the clinch are considered significant. Dvalishvili was certainly active in this fight, but he was also definitely just staying busy at times. He used his wrestling to work from the top, as he landed five of his nine takedown attempts. Even though he was not able to generate power, he still clearly won the rounds. In the second round, he landed 114 total strikes, but only seven were considered significant by the official scorer.
The strategy of continually throwing under-powered strikes clearly helped him take the decision, it did not do any favors for DraftKings players who selected him. Since he finished with only 55 significant strikes, he earned players 91.5 points. If half of his 160 insignificant strikes landed with power, he would have finished with 131.5 points.
Walt Harris outclasses Serghei Spivak with quick finish
This turned out to be both the biggest mismatch on the card and the only first-round finish. Harris was on him from the opening bell. He landed 17 significant strikes and a knockdown, while simultaneously only absorbing a single significant strike. Overall, this was an impressive performance from Harris, but it might actually say more about Spivak.
With only the only first-round finish on the night, Harris ended up with 108.5 DraftKings points. He was a pretty sizable betting favorite, and her certainly paid off for players who were looking for a big score. It was the third highest of the night.
Andrew Sanchez uses his takedown game to decision Marc-Andre Barriault
The story of this fight was pretty simple. When Sanchez was able to land takedowns, he was effective. When Barriault kept it standing, the fight swung in his favor. In the first and third rounds, Sanchez landed a takedown in each round and outlanded Barriault 34 to 23 on significant strikes. Barriault had a strong second round where he landed 46 significant strikes while absorbing only 38.
Sanchez finished with a solid 85 points on DraftKings. While this is usually near the top for scores, on this card, it was only the eighth highest point total.
