Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 237 ‘Moreno vs. Royval 2’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 7,539
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 680

The Ultimate Fighting Championship touched down in Mexico City for the first time in ages, bringing with it a full slate of Mexican-born competitors against foreign adversaries. Although it was close, the local fighters beat their distant counterparts six wins to four at night’s end. UFC Fight Night 237 featured a rare main encounter between two men sharing a name, a comeback submission in the record books and a flyweight whose career lows keep getting lower.

Viva Mexico Again: This event in the Mexico City Arena marked the first jaunt to the nation south of the border since September 2019’s UFC Fight Night 159 card, where Yair Rodriguez, Brandon Moreno and Claudio Puelles all competed as well. At that time, six of the 24 fighters on this card were on the UFC roster.

Brand on Brandon Violence 2: Electric Boogaloo: UFC Fight Night 237 with Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval is the fourth show in company history where the headliners shared the same given name. UFC Fight Night 25 in 2011 featured Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger, UFC Fight Night 96 in 2016 featured John Lineker vs. John Dodson and UFC on ESPN 39 in 2022 featured Rafael Fiziev vs. Rafael dos Anjos.

Something Seemed Amiss: After the card, four results came in as split decisions. This tally is one shy of the record held by UFC Fight Night 79 as well as UFC 222 and UFC 274.

Easy Job for Matchmakers: Three bouts on the lineup came as rematches: Royval vs. Moreno 2, Brian Ortega vs. Rodriguez 2 and Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel da Silva 2. Of the two previous fights with victors, the other fighters exacted revenge at this event.

As Wild and Crazy as Ever: Royval outlasted Moreno throughout five rounds to pick up the split call. The win via decision is the third of his career, and his finish rate sits at 81% as a result.

He Likes It Raw: After 25 minutes of combat, Royval officially threw 510 significant strikes, landing 145. “Raw Dawg” clocks in with the fourth-highest attempted sig. strike total of any single UFC fight, but well behind leader Max Holloway’s 744 against Calvin Kattar in 2021.

Time for Max vs. Ortega 2: In the third round, Ortega pulled off the upset and landed an arm-triangle choke on Rodriguez. “T-City” now celebrates five victories in Round 3 as a UFC fighter, which puts him two behind Max Holloway for the most of any competitor below 155 pounds.

A Record in Reach: The submission was Ortega’s fourth on the roster, and he is tied for the second-most with multiple other featherweights. Charles Oliveira’s six stand above the pack.

Max in His Way Again: Ortega has recorded seven stoppages as a 145-pounder in the UFC. Holloway also holds that record, with 11, but Ortega is tied with Ricardo Lamas for the second-highest total in the division.

Gold Plated: Throwing down for three rounds, Daniel Zellhuber outslugged Francisco Prado to pick up the decision and “Fight of the Night” honors. “Golden Boy” pushed Prado to the scorecards for the second time in the latter’s career.

Manuel Read the Manual: Manuel Torres wrangled Chris Duncan with a rear-naked choke to boost his finish rate to 93% as a pro. The Chihuahua, Mexico, native holds an equal number of knockouts to submissions, and they have all taken place in the first round.

He’s Saying ‘Boocao’: Dropping a split decision to Jesus Santos Aguilar, Mateus Mendonca suffered his third straight defeat. “Bocao” came to the Octagon at 10-0 with seven finishes in the first round, only to fall short in the UFC on a trio of occasions.

Hit Him with a Chair: Chairez strangled da Silva with a first-round triangle choke to keep his 100% finish rate intact. Eight of his 11 victories have taken place in the first round.

Bad Looks: For the fifth time in UFC history, a match has taken place where both fighters missed weight. Chairez came in five pounds heavy, while da Silva missed the flyweight cap by a pound. Unlike the previous four occasions, Chairez weighed significantly more than his foe and prevailed.

Noodles All the Way Down: After six walks to the Octagon, da Silva has still not prevailed. His 0-5 record with a no contest ties “Miojo” with Pat Healy and Jesse Ronson for the most appearances without winning in the UFC—John Alessio also lost five times without ever earning a win in his UFC tenure.

Competition Up, Finishes Down: From 2014 to 2019, Fares Ziam worked his way to the UFC by recording 10 wins with nine finishes. Since getting signed, all five of his wins in the promotion have come by decision following his split call over Puelles.

Always Close: Via split decision, Felipe dos Santos edged Victor Altamirano. The former has gone to decision in his last four fights, while “El Magnifico” has heard the final bell in six of his last seven.

Brittle Evening: To start the evening, Erik Silva succumbed to a leg injury 44 seconds into his encounter with Muhammadjon Naimov. While the sixth overall for a curtain jerker, Silva’s injury is the first to a fighter’s leg to start a UFC event.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 237, five different competitors had never dropped consecutive bouts (Rodriguez, Cristian Quinonez, Puelles, Altamirano and Silva), Duncan had never been submitted (12 fights) and Sam Hughes had never competed outside the U.S. (13 fights).

Nothing Wrong with Winning Over the Fans: While Royval has picked “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” by Ol’ Dirty Bastard as his walkout tune on seven previous occasions, he threw red meat to the hostile crowd by first opening with “El Ray” by Mexican icon Vicente Fernandez before ODB played. Royval prevailed.

No More Ballads: Two fighters selected songs with “El Corrido” in the title: Moreno and Rodriguez. Moreno chose his standard of “El Corrido del Bebe Asesino” by Ariel Macias, while Rodriguez went with his usual “El Corrido Del Chihuahua” by Los Rieleros Del Norte. Both men fell short at night’s end.