Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 254 ‘Vettori vs. Dolidze 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: 8,089
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 725

The Ultimate Fighting Championship dragged what was on paper a lackluster show to the Apex, and the fighters overdelivered relative to expectations. While the card provided finishes aplenty, the audience watching on telecasts largely pondered how the action would have been received in front of a packed house. UFC Fight Night 254, also known as UFC Vegas 104, featured a resurgence of the kimura, a culling of spotless records and another unnecessary headlining rematch.

Your S0ul is Mine: Four fighters set foot in the Octagon on Saturday evening with undefeated records: Diyar Nurgozhay, Josias Musasa, Andre Lima and Yuneisy Duben. Only one emerged at night’s end with their 0 intact, as Lima prevailed and picked up bonus cash.

Double Dutch: To open up the evening, Carli Judice and Priscila Cachoeira put away opponents Duben and Josiane Nunes each in the first round with strikes. This sequence of stoppages is the first time two women have registered back-to-back first-round knockouts in UFC history.

Rubber Match Time: Roman Dolidze outdueled Marvin Vettori in their rematch to claim the unanimous nod. The Georgian prevailed for the first time in a fight that went beyond the third round.

A Regular Workhorse: In a losing effort, Vettori still racked up 111 significant strikes on his opponent. “The Italian Stallion” claimed sixth place for the most in the UFC middleweight division with this tally, and he and four others trail Sean Strickland’s record 1,465.

Oh Chidi: While he did blow weight by a pound and a half, Chidi Njokuani recorded the knockout with a knee and follow-up elbows over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. He becomes the first UFC competitor this year to come in heavy and still prevail in their bout.

Not Lost to the Sands of Time: Both Da'Mon Blackshear and Brendson Ribeiro wrangled their opponents with a kimura. This is the first event to see two of these types of subs since UFC 123 in 2010, when Phil Davis and George Sotiropoulos tapped their foes with the move in back-to-back tilts.

Two-on-One for the Win: The victorious Blackshear improved his career finish rate to 81% courtesy of his submission of Cody Gibson. Each of his last six wins have come inside the distance.

Lovely Wrist Lock: The kimura performed by Ribeiro against Nurgozhay is the first seen in the Octagon since Sean Brady tapped Kelvin Gastelum at UFC on ESPN 52 in 2023. More kimuras have taken place at light heavyweight than any other weight division across company history.

Does Not Waste Time: Ribeiro has still only involved the judges once when getting his hand raised, which took place in his previous bout against Caio Machado. The other 16 of his 17 triumphs came by either knockout or sub.

He Wants Jean Silva: Argentina’s Kevin Vallejos drummed out Seung Woo Choi a bit after three minutes to prevail in his Octagon debut. The youngster from the Buenos Aires province has seen 87% of his wins come by stoppage, including all six of his previous victories.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight: Pulling off the biggest upset of the night as a +460 underdog, Carlos Vera dropped Musasa with a head kick and finished him with a rear-naked choke. His beating of a -675 favorite clocks in as the third-highest in the UFC this year, behind Raoni Barcelos and Muin Gafurov spoiling the parties of Payton Talbott and Rinya Nakamura, respectively.

Give Her a Country Breakfast: Sam Hughes evened her UFC record to .500 with a split call over Stephanie Luciano. Fighting out of Fortis MMA, per the broadcast, her victory gave coach Sayif Saud and the team their 100th victory with the organization.

Not Very Ronda-Like: Win or lose, every one of Luciano’s nine professional matches has reached the second round or later. Seven of those have gone the distance for “Rondinha.”

New Mascot, New Tricks: The only one to go home with his perfect record intact, Lima throttled Daniel Barez in the third round with a rear-naked choke. The Brazilian nicknamed “Mascote” notched his first win via submission with the victory.

Still Should Have Been Cut: Dispatching Josiane Nunes with an uppercut, Priscila Cachoeira ended a losing streak by earning her first win since 2022. The majority of her wins as a pro have come via strikes, including all but one of her victories in the UFC.

Boom, Pow, Kick Punch Wow: Rebounding from two setbacks, Carli Judice punted and punched out Duben in the opening frame. The 26-year-old from Louisiana has earned all four of her career wins by first-round knockout.

For Great Judice: The stoppage coming at 1:40 of the first round, Judice entered the top five in the category of fastest finish at the UFC women’s flyweight division. All five of those speedy beatings have been accompanied by “Performance of the Night” checks.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 254, Vettori (27 fights) and A.J. Cunningham (15 fights) had never dropped consecutive bouts, Musasa had never seen a bout end by submission whether victorious or defeated (eight fights) and Nunes had never been finished (13 fights).

Metal Gracie Train: For the majority of his tenure with the promotion, Zaleski dos Santos’ customary walkout was “The Final Countdown” by Europe. Ahead of this event, he switched to Sepultura’s “Attitude” and came up short.

Close to the Edge: Using 50 Cent’s “Don’t Push Me” featuring Lloyd Banks and Eminem, Blackshear is the first UFC fighter to select a track involving Eminem this year. He won, making him the first to prevail after picking the Detroit-based rapper as a walkout artist since Andre Muniz beat Jun Yong Park at UFC Fight Night 233 in 2023.