35 post-event facts about ‘UFC Fight Night 35: Rockhold vs. Philippou’

Luke Rockhold displayed why he is one of the best finishers in the history of the now-defunct Strikeforce organization when he stopped Constantinos Philippou in Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 35 main event.

The event, which aired on FOX Sports 1 from Duluth, Ga., was headlined by Rockhold and Philippou, who were both hungry to rebound from disappointing losses.

Rockhold (11-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) wasted no time shaking the memories of his fight with Vitor Belfort, and he stopped Philippou (12-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) with a thunderous kick to the body to cap off a night in which most bouts went the distance.

The judges were forced to decide the fate for eight of the 12 contests on the card, meaning plenty of cage time was available for fighters to showcase their skills.

With the organization’s first televised fight card of the year in the books, FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll and MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn help bring 35 post-fight facts from UFC Fight Night 35.

GENERAL

Total fight time of the 12-bout card was 2:24:33.

Betting favorites went 9-3 on the card.

Rockhold, Yoel Romero, Derek Brunson and Cole Miller earned $50,000 UFC Fight Night 35 fight-night bonuses.

UFC Fight Night 35 drew an announced attendance of 5,822 for a live gate of $231,951.

Five fighters on the card earned their first UFC victory.

MAIN CARD

Rockhold’s body-kick knockout of Philippou was just the eighth finish of its kind in UFC history.

Rockhold has earned nine of his 11 career victories by knockout or submission, with all of those stoppages coming in the first round.

Philippou was knocked out for the first time in his 17-fight career.

Brad Tavares’ (12-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) five-fight UFC winning streak is third the longest active streak in the middleweight division behind Francis Carmont (six) and Chris Weidman (seven).

Tavares has earned all five of the victories in his streak by decision.

Lorenz Larkin (14-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has dropped decisions in both of his professional losses.

T.J. Dillashaw (9-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) owns the most UFC victories of any bantamweight fighter from his season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show.

Dillashaw’s 117 significant strikes landed in his decision victory tied the record for the fourth most landed in a UFC or WEC bantamweight fight.

Mike Easton (13-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) extended his career-worst losing streak to three after starting his UFC career 3-0.

Yoel Romero (7-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has knocked out his opponent in all seven of his career victories.

Romero became the first fighter in UFC history to win back-to-back fights by third-round knockout.

Romero became just the second fighter in UFC history to earn a knockout victory stemming from elbow strikes to the body. The other: Matt Brown def. Jordan Mein at UFC on FOX 7. It was also just the third finish of its kind in UFC history; Cheick Kongo forced Paul Buentello to submit with elbows to the body at UFC on VERSUS 1.

Derek Brunson (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) suffered a fractured jaw in his knockout loss to Romero.

John Moraga’s (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) three UFC flyweight victories are tied for the fourth most in divisional history.

Dustin Ortiz (12-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has still never been finished in MMA competition, and all three of his professional losses are by decision.

Cole Miller (21-8 MMA, 10-6 UFC) earned his seventh career UFC submission victory, tying him with Joe Lauzon for the fifth most all-time behind Frank Mir, Kenny Florian and Nate Diaz (eight) and Royce Gracie (11).

Miller’s 23 serious submission attempts inside the octagon are tied with Georges St-Pierre, Hermes Franca and Nate Diaz for the fifth most in UFC history.

Miller improved to 3-3 since dropping to the UFC featherweight division.

Sam Sicilia (12-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) fell to 1-3 in his past four UFC appearances.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Justin Edwards (8-4 MMA, 2-4) failed to register a victory in his UFC lightweight debut after a 2-3 stint in the organization as a welterweight.

Edwards is on the first two-fight losing streak of his career.

Elias Silverio (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned victories in the UFC’s middleweight and lightweight divisions in his first two octagon appearances.

Isaac Vallie-Flagg (14-4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) had his 12-fight undefeated streak snapped. It was his first defeat since July 2007.

Vallie-Flagg dropped a decision for the first time in his 19-fight career.

Trevor Smith (11-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) earned the first decision victory of his 15-fight career. “Hot Sauce” had previously stopped his opponent in all of his wins.

Louis Smolka (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) earned the first decision victory of his career.

Alptekin Ozkilic (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) successful landed nine takedowns in his decision loss to Smolka, the most of any fighter on the card. “The Turkish Delight” became just the third fighter in UFC history to land nine or more takedowns in a fight then go on to lose a decision.

Vinc Pichel (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Garett Whiteley (7-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) competed in the longest bout of their MMA careers. Neither man had ever fought to a decision prior to the event.

Beneil Dariush (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) submission victory at 1:45 of Round 1 marked the fourth quickest submission win ever for a debuting UFC lightweight fighter.

Charlie Brenneman (19-6 MMA, 4-5 UFC) has been knocked out or submitted in all five of his UFC defeats, with four of those losses coming in the first round.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 35, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.