This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
UFC Fight Night 94 was an event unique in its own right. There were a few quick finishes and some fights that seemed to go on forever. From a statistical perspective, there were records broken and new personal bests set. The following is a by-the-numbers recap that highlights the stats and milestones that stood out on the main card.
Michael Johnson scores his fastest UFC finish against Dustin Poirier
Johnson finished Poirier in only 95 seconds, which is by far his quickest victory in the UFC. In fact, the Blackzilians member had not scored a first-round finish since stopping Edward Faaloloto back in 2011. Johnson also set a new personal best for the least number of strikes needed to score a knockout. He landed 14 significant strikes on Poirier before the referee stopped the bout. His previous career best was 17 in a knockout over Danny Castillo in 2012.
During his four-fight winning streak following his loss to Conor McGregor, Poirier had been allowing opponents to land 3.26 significant strikes per minute. Johnson landed 8.84 before securing the knockout.
Derek Brunson adds Uriah Hall to list of knockout victims
Brunson only needed to land four significant strikes to put away Hall. After the fight, a lot of attention was paid to the stoppage by referee Herb Dean. Brunson scored a knockdown, and he swarmed Hall to finish the fight. However, none of the three following punches actually landed. Dean stopped the fight anyway.
Before finishing Ed Herman last year, Brunson had never scored a knockout in his combined UFC/Strikeforce career. Now, he is riding a four-fight first-round knockout streak.
Evan Dunham piles up the strikes against Rick Glenn
Going into this fight, Dunham was a clear favorite. Glenn took the fight on short notice and normally competes at a lower weight class. Dunham appeared close to finishing the fight with a submission late in the first round, but Glenn survived. The bout ended up going the distance. In the third round alone, Dunham landed 85 significant strikes and finished with a total of 144. That amazing output, 9.60 significant strikes per minute, helped him to score 107 DraftKings points. That is actually more than first round finishers Brunson (105) and Chas Skelly (100.5).
Kenny Robertson employs questionable strategy against Roan Carneiro
Robertson did not have a good night striking. He finished with a 20 percent striking accuracy, which is bad enough. When it comes to distance strikes (strikes landed on the feet and not in the clinch), he landed only 16 percent. The former Eastern Illinois wrestler did not attempt a takedown and threw 134 attempted significant strikes, so clearly he wanted to strike. He just could not land consistently.
Carneiro outlanded Robertson 33 to 28 in terms of significant strikes. He also registered two takedowns. The right guy seemed to go home with the decision, but neither fighter lit the world on fire. From a fantasy perspective, the pair's lack of output means that players should probably avoid both fighters unless they are huge favorites going forward.
Islam Makhachev and Chris Wade focus on the ground game
The two lightweights combined to landed 93 strikes, but FightMetric only considered 17 to be significant. Since only significant strikes score points in DraftKings, this would have been a frustrating fight for any player starting either fighter.
The contest was mostly a grappling battle. In terms of striking, Makhachev and Wade were basically just trying to look busy. The Dagestani fighter landed all four of his takedown attempts and passed guard seven times. Wade did score four reversals, but he was outworked on the ground for the majority of this fight.
Chas Skelly breaks records with first round submission over Maximo Blanco
In a battle between two wrestlers, Skelly's submission game turned out to be the difference. "The Scrapper" landed his only strike of the fight, a flying kick to the chest, before locking on the fight ending D'Arce choke. The 19-second finish was the quickest finish of Skelly's career, as well as the fasted featherweight submission in UFC/WEC history, and the eighth-fastest submission in UFC history, per FightMetric. The former Oklahoma City University wrestler has now taken nine of his 16 victories via submission.
