UFC on FX 4: By the Numbers

The UFC touches down in Atlantic City on Friday for UFC on FX 4.  Headliners Clay Guida and Gray Maynard were recently involved in bouts either involving or helping shape the lightweight title-picture, and while their victorious opponents those nights (Benson Henderson and Frankie Edgar respectively) have fought since then, neither Guida nor Maynard has seen action.  Joining them on this card is the close to the trilogy nobody knew had to be finished between Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher.  Both fighters fought the first two parts of the series around five years ago, and though both were Fight of the Night caliber they were unfortunately held on events without post-fight bonuses.  They will be looking to steal Fight of the Night away from frequent recipient Guida, however, whose proficiency in receiving the bonus is outlined further down the column.

Let’s take a brief look at some of the facts surrounding many of the fights and fighters on Friday’s event on this edition of  By the Numbers:

0 – Fighters on this card that have as many career fights as Brian Ebersole has wins.  Ebersole has 49 overall wins in his professional career.  Guida, who has fought the second highest number of career fights, steps into the cage for the 42nd time in his career, having won 29 of those.

1 – Combined career for losses for promotion newcomers Joey Gambino, CJ Keith and Brock Jardine.  Jardine is the only of the three that have a career loss, though it’s understandable knowing it came to Ultimate Fighter Season 13 winner Tony Ferguson.  In fact, Ferguson’s next pro victory after Jardine would be his Ultimate Fighter win.  Ferguson’s opponent that night was Ramsey Nijem, who incidentally faces Keith.  Keith’s UFC tenure, however, is not off to the best start.  He was the only fighter to miss weight at the weigh-ins for the event.  Gambino will face Steven Siler.

2 – Matt Brown‘s current win streak, which under normal circumstances would be fairly insignificant. However, in his case it represents his best success in the Octagon in three years.  Brown’s turbulent four year stay in the UFC has seen a three-fight winning streak followed up by a three-fight losing streak. After finding solid footing again against Chris Cope and Stephen Thompson, he looks to cap off his third career trio of consecutive victories when he faces Luis Ramos, who himself hasn’t fought since a 40-second knockout loss to Erick Silva in Brazil last summer.

3 – Opponents for Rick Story coming into this bout.  Story was originally set to face “The Raging Bull” Richie Attonito.  Papy Abedi stepped forward when Attonito was injured, and when he too was injured, Jardine was inked to the bout.  Ken Stone is also facing his third opponent, which will be touched upon later in this piece.

4 – All four of the competitors of the night’s main event and co-main event are coming off losses, an extremely rare happening in the UFC.  When was the last time this happened?  This is the first time since UFC 102 where the main event and co-main event fighters headline having lost their last fight.  There have been cases since then where both main eventers headline after a loss. However, this is the first time since UFC’s last stop in Portland, Oregon that this has happened.

6 – Hatsu Hioki‘s won six fights in a row coming into his bout against Ricardo Lamas.  Hioki was allegedly offered Erik Koch‘s shot at featherweight champion Jose Aldo. However, he declined to gather more UFC experience,  and thus will face a dangerous Lamas who has impressed since coming from the WEC, gaining two stoppage victories in both of his UFC bouts.  Stretching back further, Hioki has only one loss in his last fifteen fights, and a win over Lamas would only strengthen a claim the next title shot after Aldo and Koch have met later this year.

7 – Atlantic City was one of the UFC’s earliest hotspot destinations.  In fact, six of the first 54 UFC events ever held were in Atlantic City.  This, however, is the first time the UFC will be appearing in Atlantic City since UFC 53, an absence of seven years and eighteen days.  Nevertheless, this marks the UFC’s seventh trip to the Boardwalk City.

9 – Post-Fight Bonuses in the UFC careers of main eventers Maynard and Guida.  Eight of those belong to Guida, including two Submission the Night and six Fight of the Night bonuses.  Maynard’s one bonus was his Fight of the Night against Edgar at UFC 125.

10 – Ebersole’s win streak coming into his fight against TJ Waldburger.  Ebersole has won 14 of 15 overall, with his only loss in five years coming by injury stoppage to Hector Lombard in 2008.

11 – The eleventh trip into the Octagon for Dan Miller marks a major career milestone in different facets.  On a fighting note, it is his first as a welterweight.  It is also his first fight back since taking time off to help tend to the health trouble of his newborn son.  Miller’s fight against Ricardo Funch is his first since a loss to Rousimar Palhares last August in a match that featured some bizarre moments such as a premature celebration from the Brazilian.

15 – Days since Dustin Pague‘s last fight coming into his Facebook tilt with Stone.  Pague fought to a fairly dominant victory over Jared Papazian at UFC on FX 3 and offered to fill in for the injured Francisco Rivera, who himself was an injury fill-in for Edwin Figueroa.

16 – Sixteen fighters on this card come into Atlantic City having won their last fight, including all promotional newcomers.

17 – This is the seventeenth, and potentially last fight of Fisher’s UFC career.  Fisher has hinted that win or lose, tonight’s tilt will likely be his retirement bout.  Fisher entered the UFC with a bang, winning four of his first five fights. However, having now lost four of five, “The King” may be losing his right to the throne.  Fisher will look to take home a victory in his rubber match against CanadianStout, of whom he had his first UFC loss against.

17 minutes, 21 seconds – Since his 2007 KO win over Joe Veres, Maynard has averaged that amount of time in all of his bouts .  In the nine fights since the Veres one, Maynard has been to decision every time with the exception of his most recent KO loss to Edgar, a fight which lasted nearly nineteen minutes as well.  In that same period, only three of Guida’s seven fights have gone to decision, including his last two against Anthony Pettis and Henderson.

UFC on FX 4  begins with Facebook fights at 5:00 PM EST followed by more prelims on Fuel TV starting at 6:00 PM EST.  The main card starts at 9:00 PM EST on FX.  Canadians can catch both events back to back on Rogers Sportsnet.  For all other areas of the world, please check your local listings for showtime.