In the main event of UFC Houston, Chan Sung Jung returned from an extended layoff and picked up a huge knockout over Dennis Bermudez. 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 FightMetric.com.
Chan Sung Jung returns with KO over Dennis Bermudez
"The Korean Zombie" returned in a big way with a first-round knockout over Bermudez. He needed only 17 landed significant strikes to score the knockout. During his UFC/WEC career, Jung had only scored one other knockout. In 2011, he needed only six landed significant strikes to stop Mark Hominick. An underrated aspect of his performance was his ability to stop Bermudez's takedowns. Going into this fight, Bermudez had landed 38 takedowns in 12 UFC fights. Against Jung, Bermudez was stopped on all three of his attempts and never really came close.
Felice Herrig lands the better strikes against Alex Grasso
Broadcaster Brian Stann could not stop gushing about Herrig's striking performance. 14 of 19 of the tracked media scorecards on MMADecisions.com had the fight for Herrig. Despite that, Grasso outlanded Herrig 80 to 60 on significant strikes for the fight, and she also landed more significant strikes in each round. Judges and onlookers clearly valued Herrig's power punches over Grasso's jabs and leg kicks from the outside. Of the 80 significant strikes that Grasso landed, 24 were leg kicks.
James Vick turns on the accuracy after round one to best Abel Trujillo
Vick's range really gave Trujillo a lot of problems in this fight. In the first round, Vick stayed mostly on the outside and did not commit to anything. He landed only 16 percent of his significant strikes in that opening frame. However, after Trujillo began to get more tired and frustrated, Vick opened up. In the next two rounds, he landed 50 and 40 percent respectively.
Volkan Oezdemir outworks Ovince Saint Preux to pull the upset
One of the biggest issues with Saint Preux's game is his lack of activity. He has consistently landed under three significant strikes per minute during his UFC/Strikeforce career. Against Oezdemir, he increased that rate to 5.06, but he was still outworked by his opponent. Oezdemir outlanded Saint Preux in the first two rounds and finished with 5.47 significant strikes per minute for the fight.
Marcel Fortuna picks up first professional KO against Anthony Hamilton
Fortuna came into this fight on short notice. He also weighed in at only 210.5 pounds for a heavyweight fight. To make his first-round knockout seem even more unlikely, he had never scored a knockout in his previous eight professional fights, per Tapology.
Jessica Andrade continues to pour it on against Angela Hill
Andrade continued to tear it up since coming down to 115 pounds. In her three fights at strawweight, she has outlanded her opponents 268 to 129 in terms of significant strikes. She is landing 9.72 significant strikes per minute.
