By the Numbers: Al Iaquinta vs. Donald Cerrone

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Two veteran contenders will collide May 4 as Donald Cerrone vs. Al Iaquinta goes down at UFC Fight Night 151. Ahead of this pivotal lightweight encounter, read about the numbers that make this a potential Fight of the Night.

Octagon Experience

With 30 fights inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Cerrone tramples Iaquinta in terms of experience. In fact, he tramples almost everyone except Jim Miller, who has had 31 UFC bouts. Cerrone holds a record of 22-8 and has defeated some of the best at lightweight and welterweight. His victories include wins over Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens, Edson Barboza, Jim Miller, Eddie Alvarez and Benson Henderson. His eight losses came at the hands of Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis, Jorge Masvidal, Robbie Lawler, Darren Till, Leon Edwards and Rafael dos Anjos twice.

Iaquinta has had 12 bouts inside the Octagon, with a record of 9-3. He has wins over notable mixed martial artists such as Joe Lauzon, Masvidal, Diego Sanchez and Kevin Lee twice. His three Octagon losses were dealt by Michael Chiesa, Mitch Clarke and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Post-fight Bonuses

When it comes to UFC post-fight bonuses, Cerrone is quite a collector. He has earned a total of 10 whereas Iaquinta has garnered one, a Performance of the Night in his rematch with Lee. However, that doesn’t mean Iaquinta doesn’t turn in exciting fights given his string of impressive stoppages.

As for “Cowboy,” he’s had seven Performance of the Night (versus Barboza, Miller, Alex Oliveira, Patrick Cote, Rick Story, Mike Perry and Alexander Hernandez), four Fight of the Night (with Paul Kelly, Diaz, Melvin Guillard and Alexander Hernandez), three Knockout of the Night (against Guillard, Charles Oliveira and Adriano Martins) and two Submission of the Night (tapping out Dennis Siver and Evan Dunham) awards.

UFC Headliners

Ranking and intensity have brought Cerrone to a UFC main event six times, the first three of which were at UFC Fight Night 45 (versus Jim Miller), UFC on Fox 17 (opposite dos Anjos) and UFC Fight Night 83 (against Alex Oliveira). Then from October 2017 to June 2018, all his three appearances were billed as the main event. UFC Fight Night 118 saw him take on Till, he toppled Yancy Medeiros at UFC Fight Night 126 and UFC Fight Night 132 was against Edwards.

While Cerrone was placed in the main event on his 14th UFC bout, Iaquinta achieved the feat in only his 11th Octagon appearance, specifically at UFC 223 where he replaced Tony Ferguson to face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the vacant lightweight title. For his next fight, Iaquinta once again found himself in the main event, this time at UFC on Fox 31 (opposite Lee).

Wins via Stoppage

Four of Iaquinta’s eight UFC victories came via knockout. This includes finishing top-caliber fighters in Masvidal, Sanchez and Lauzon. The more experienced Cerrone has 16 finishes out of 22 Octagon triumphs.