Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 31 ‘Font vs. Aldo’

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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 6,407
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 587

The Ultimate Fighting Championship took a deep breath over Thanksgiving to exhale a wild fight card onto the ESPN airwaves on Saturday. The action provided thrilling from start to finish, with more than one “y’all musta forgot” moment coming on the broadcast. UFC on ESPN 31 featured a massive discrepancy between strikes of the winner and loser in the headliner, a spectacular spinning wheel kick and a grizzled vet who promises the best is still yet to come.

Mullet Mania: Two fighters came into their UFC on ESPN 31 appearances sporting mullets: Jimmy Crute and Brendan Allen. Both men suffered knockouts that night.

Power Over Volume: Despite getting outlanded by a clip of 149 to 86 on significant strikes, Jose Aldo pulled out a clear-cut decision win over Rob Font. The 63-strike deficit between winner and loser is the second-greatest in a UFC fight going the distance, trailing only Robbie Lawler’s victory against Carlos Condit when Condit scored 84 more times.

Vintage Form: Of the course of the five periods, Aldo officially dropped Font twice, with one coming in Round 1 and another in the fourth frame. This is the first time Aldo has landed multiple knockdowns in his UFC career, in a feat he had not achieved since WEC 48 against Urijah Faber in 2010.

ADCC Aldo: In the final round, Aldo attempted a submission in the form of a rear-naked choke. It marked the ex-champ’s first submission attempt since he faced Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169 in 2014. Throughout his storied career, Aldo has only notched one win by sub, tapping Luiz de Paula in 2005.

Where’s the Lucky 13th: Rafael Fiziev is the 12th fighter in UFC history to record a knockout from a spinning wheel kick, putting Brad Riddell away with one in the third round. Five of those 12 have now come from lightweights.

You Spin Some, You Lose Some: In his promotional debut in 2019, Fiziev fell victim to a spinning back kick from Magomed Mustafaev. Coupled with his win over Riddell, Fiziev is now the first fighter in UFC history to both win and lose fights by spinning kicks.

Off to Dreamland: After 48 seconds of violence, Jamahal Hill knocked Crute out. “Sweet Dreams” recorded the quickest knockout of his career, much faster than his sub-two-minute knockout of Klidson Abreu that was later overturned due to a positive drug test for marijuana.

Old Dog, Old Tricks: Clay Guida procured his first submission win since tapping Takanori Gomi in 2011 by choking out Leonardo Santos. Incidentally, Guida also earned his first finish bonus since that Gomi win.

He Could Have Bought Hundreds of Those Rings: Taking home his 10th post-fight bonus in his 32nd UFC outing, Guida is now one of 16 men in company history to pocket at least that many bonus checks. The record currently stands at 18 for Donald Cerrone.

Grandpa Guida: The last time Guida pulled off a submission came against the aforementioned Gomi on the very first day of 2011. At that time, only nine of the other 25 fighters on the card had made their pro debuts, while Guida was the sole one in the UFC.

All Action: “The Action Man” Chris Curtis came in on short notice against Allen and finished him in the second round with a salvo of punches and knees. The Ohio native has now racked up six wins in 2021, including five by knockout. Eight of his 10 wins dating back to his appearance on Dana White's Contender Series ended due to strikes.

Dusko Dusted Him: Lumping up Maki Pitolo late into the first round to force a stoppage, Dusko Todorovic snapped the lone losing skid of his career. “Thunder” has now finished 10 of his 11 foes in victory inside the distance, all within two rounds.

Kapping Off a Great Performance: Each of the last 13 wins for Manel Kape have come by stoppage, following his first-round drubbing of Zhalgas Zhumagulov. The Angolan flyweight now celebrates a stellar finish rate of 94% as a pro.

Rough Week: In losing effort after a hard-fought decision, Darian Weeks fell short to Bryan Barberena. The newcomer had never gone the distance as a pro, let alone fight into the third round as a pro before facing “Bam Bam.”

Not Our FOTN: The three-round bout between Cheyanne Vlismas and Mallory Martin, the only women’s match on the card, took home “Fight of the Night” honors. This year, three fights between women received FOTN distinction: Molly McCann vs. Ji Yeon Kim, Marina Rodriguez vs. Mackenzie Dern and now Vlismas-Martin. All three went the distance.

Rough Fight, Rougher Decision: After three grueling rounds, William Knight picked up a contentious decision over Alonzo Menifield. In the process, “Knightmare” lowered his finish rate to 82% with his second career win on the scorecards.

Kneebar Wizard: Late into the third round, Claudio Puelles snared Chris Gruetzemacher with a kneebar to elicit the tap. The kneebar is the Peruvian’s second inside the Octagon, and he becomes the first fighter in UFC history to perform more than one of these submissions – the first came in 2018 over Felipe Silva.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ESPN 31, Riddell (11 fights) and Louis Smolka (24 fights) had never been knocked out, Santos had never been submitted (23 fights) and Weeks had never been defeated (five fights).

WHY? Changing his walkout tune yet again, Alex Morono emerged to “I-E-A-I-A-I-O” by System of a Down ahead of his match with Mickey Gall. Morono became the third UFC fighter to pick a song by the Armenian-American metal band, joining Krzysztof Soszynski and Luiz Eduardo Garagorri, and he won a decision over Gall.

I Have a Phobia That Someone’s Always There: Since his return in 2021, Puelles opted to use “Fear of the Dark” by Iron Maiden, doing so for the second time this year. In both appearances, “El Nino” has gotten his hand raised after hearing the song play in the UFC Apex.