This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
Those who woke up early for the UFC Shenzhen card witnessed a historic performance in the main event. Weili Zhang knocked off Jessica Andrade to claim the strawweight title. The rest of the main card was filled with impressive showings and a few more upsets. 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.
Weili Zhang makes history with upset over Jessica Andrade
Zhang shocked Andrade in the first round to become the first UFC champion from China. In the process she racked up plenty of other accolades. For the 42-second finish she earned the second fastest finish in strawweight history. It was the eighth fastest finish in UFC title history. Zhang also forced Andrade into the sixth shortest title reign in UFC history (112 days). Andrade looked vulnerable in her last fight before knocking off then-champion Rose Namajunas. However, she has never really been handled like this. It will be interesting to see what Zhang has for the best the strawweight division has to offer.
Even though Zhang did not give herself very much time to put up points, she still finished with 114.5 points on DraftKings, which was the fourth highest score of the night. Any player who took a chance on Zhang was greatly rewarded. However, those who decided to stack the main event fighters did not have a good night as Andrade finished with only two points.
Li Jingliang shows power against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Both of these fighters came into this contest with a lot of momentum, but Zaleski was the one the bookmakers chose as the favorite. Both fighters were able to get to their offense. However, Li was the fighter who continually scored with power. He scored a knockdown in the first. Then, with less than a minute left, he hurt Zaleski with a pair of knockdowns and finished. For the fight, Li landed 59 significant strikes, two takedowns and three knockdowns.
Thanks for the knockdowns and the late finish, Li earned DraftKings players 114.5 points, which was the third highest score of the night.
Kai Kara-France looks like contender against Mark De La Rosa
This was a complete performance from Kara-France. He showed off volume striking as he landed 91 of his 193 significant strike attempts. He showed off his striking power with a knocked in the second round. He also put his defensive wrestling on display as he stopped six of De Lar Rosa's seven takedown attempts. The flyweight division is in desperate need of more contenders, and Kara-France might end up fighting his way into contention.
Kara-France was one of six fighters to finish with at least 90 points on DraftKings. He finished tied for the fifth highest score with 90.5 points. It was the second highest score of the night for a fighter who went to decision.
Song Kenan pulls out victory over Derrick Krantz
This was a close fight through two rounds. In the opening round, Krantz slightly edged Song on significant strikes 17 to 15, but Song was the one scoring the better shots. In the second round, Krantz took over with his grappling. He scored two takedowns, two passes, a submission attempt and a reversal in the frame. The bout was universally even on the cards heading into the final round. Song was the one who pulled it out. He outlanded Krantz 44 to 11 on significant strikes to ice the fight.
Song pulled out the decision. However, he badly ran out of gas at the end of the fight. With a better gas tank, he could have likely score the stoppage and improved him DraftKings score. He finished with 64 points, which was the second lowest score among winning fighters on the night.
Mizuki Inoue overcomes size disadvantage to defeat Wu Yanan
Not only had Inoue spent the majority of her career at strawweight, but also Wu missed weight for this flyweight fight. Wu had a noticeable size advantage in this fight, and she used it to continually score from the outside. For the fight, she ended up outlanding Inoue 123 to 93 on significant strikes. However, Inoue was the one moving forward and landing the harder strikes throughout the contest. This was an impressive performance for Inoue, but it is hard to see her continuing to fight at this weight.
For the decision victory, Inoue earned players 76.5 points on DraftKings. This would normally be considered a solid score, but there were a lot of volume striking performance on this card. Inoue's score was only the ninth highest score on the card.
