Fact Check: UFC Fight Night ‘Machida vs. Romero’

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Yoel Romero has the audience he desired.

The American Top Team-trained Olympic silver medalist will look to advance further in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight pecking order when he takes on Lyoto Machida in the UFC Fight Night “Machida vs. Romero” main event on Saturday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. A win, particularly a decisive one, would likely give Romero a claim on another top dog at 185 pounds and put him on a short list of potential title contenders.

A two-time Olympian who struck gold for his native Cuba at the 2000 Summer Games, Romero will enter the cage on a five-fight winning streak. The 38-year-old last appeared at UFC 178 on Sept. 27, when he scored a controversial third-round technical knockout against Tim Kennedy at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Romero has compiled a perfect 5-0 record since arriving in the UFC in April 2013, with wins over Kennedy, Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, Ronny Markes and Clifford Starks.

Machida, meanwhile, finds himself engaged in battle with Father Time as the in-cage miles continue to pile up. The 37-year-old karateka last competed at UFC on Fox 15 in April, when he was on the receiving end of a one-sided beatdown from former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold, ultimately succumbing to a second-round rear-naked choke. Machida, a onetime titleholder at 205 pounds, remains one of the UFC’s most accomplished fighters. His resume includes wins over Gegard Mousasi, Dan Henderson and Ryan Bader, and he has bested six former UFC champions: Randy Couture, Mauricio Rua, Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz, B.J. Penn and Rich Franklin.

With the Machida-Romero middleweight clash on the marquee, here are 10 facts surrounding the UFC Fight Night “Machida vs. Romero” card:

FACT 1: Machida ranks second on the UFC’s all-time list in knockdowns landed with 13, according to FightMetric data. Only former middleweight champion Anderson Silva (17) has more.

FACT 2: Romero is one of eight Olympic medalists who have competed inside the UFC’s Octagon. Kevin Jackson, Mark Schultz, Townsend Saunders, Matt Lindland, Henry Cejudo, Ronda Rousey and Sara McMann are the others.

FACT 3: Lorenz Larkin holds a June 2012 decision victory over reigning UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler.

FACT 4: The three men who have defeated Nova Uniao’s Hacran Dias -- Ricardo Lamas, Nik Lentz and Yui Chul Nam -- own a cumulative record of 58-16-3.

FACT 5: American Top Team’s Santiago Ponzinibbio has never fought outside of South America, with each of his 22 career bouts having taken place either in his native Argentina or in Brazil.

FACT 6: Chute Boxe export Leandro Silva sports 10 submissions on his resume: six by rear-naked choke, two by arm-triangle choke and one each by guillotine choke and armbar.

FACT 7: Joe Merritt played college football at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, where, as a wide receiver, he caught 32 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns during his three-year career. His senior season was interrupted when he was suspended for violating team rules.

FACT 8: All six of Alliance MMA representative Danny Martinez’s losses have come by unanimous decision.

FACT 9: Onetime professional hockey player Steve Bosse has fought just once in the last 1,358 days.

FACT 10: Former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder Levan Makashvili avenged his only career defeat on Dec. 14, when he took a three-round unanimous verdict from Bellator MMA veteran Alexandre Bezerra in their rematch.