UFC Fight Night 36 preview: 45 pre-fight facts about ‘Machida vs. Mousasi’ in Brazil

UFC Fight Night 36 marks the first of what will be a dozen or so events in Brazil over the coming year. And in typical fashion, the organization has brought a top-heavy event filled out by local talent.

Saturday’s fight card, which airs on FOX Sports 1 (10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT) with preliminary-card action on UFC Fight Pass (7:30 p.m. ET), features four of the world’s elite middleweights.

In the main, former light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida (20-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) looks to continue momentum in his new weight class against former Strikeforce titleholder Gegard Mousasi (34-3-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who also recently left the 205-pound weight class.

The night’s co-feature sees two fighters who have been perfect since joining the UFC ranks square off as Francis Carmont (22-7 MMA, 6-0 UFC) looks for his seventh straight UFC win when he meets dangerous jiu-jitsu ace Ronaldo Souza (19-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC).

With divisional kingpin Chris Weidman set to put his 185-pound strap on the line against Vitor Belfort in May at UFC 173, there’s no better time than the present to make a case to challenge the winner. All four UFC Fight Night 36 co-headliners have an opportunity to do so.

Brazilian fighters are eager to carry over momentum from the previous year. To date, Brazilians have accrued a 63-25 record when fighting at home against foreign opponents.

That’s just one of many facts about UFC Fight Night 36. So see the rest, with an assist from FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll, simply continue reading.

MAIN EVENT

Machida headlines a UFC card for the seventh time in his career. To date, he’s 3-3 in UFC main events (Mousasi is 1-0).

Machida competes for the second time since dropping to the UFC middleweight division. “The Dragon” was successful in his debut in the weight class and stopped Mark Munoz with a first-round knockout at UFC Fight Night 30.

Machida stopped Munoz with a head kick, a strike that led to the 12th knockdown of his UFC career, the fourth most in history behind Anderson Silva (17), Chuck Liddell (14) and Melvin Guillard (13).

Machida has earned head-kick finishes over Munoz and Randy Couture, making him one of just seven fighters in UFC history to stop two opponents with a kick to the head. Belfort, Donald Cerrone, Daron Cruickshank, Yves Edwards, Anthony Johnson and Paul Taylor are the others.

Machida landed 65 percent of his takedown attempts during his light-heavyweight career, in which is best in divisional history. Machida’s 81.8 percent takedown defense rate at 205 pounds is third in divisional history.

Machida absorbs just 1.41 significant strikes per minute of fighting, the third lowest rate in UFC light-heavyweight history (minimum of five fights).

Mousasi fights in the middleweight division for the first time since knocking out 185-pounder “Jacare” Souza under the now-defunct DREAM banner in September 2008.

Mousasi enters the event with just one defeat in his past 23 professional fights. He’s not suffered an MMA loss since dropping the Strikeforce light-heavyweight belt to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in April 2010.

Mousasi has earned 29 of his 34 professional victories by knockout or submission, with 26 of those stoppages coming in the first round. Oppositely, “The Dreamcatcher” has never been finished with strikes in his MMA career.

Mousasi’s knack for getting first-round finishes has lowered his average fight time dramatically. Over the course of his past 15 bouts, he has averaged just 7:14 of cage time per fight.

Mousasi’s knockout of Renato Sobral at the 1:00 mark of Round 1 under the Strikeforce banner was the second fastest finish in a Strikeforce championship fight, bested only by Ronda Rousey’s 54-second armbar of Sarah Kaufman.

Mousasi’s striking accuracy over his past 15 fights is 50.3 percent, which is well above the UFC middleweight average of 43.8 percent. On the defensive side, Mousasi’s striking defense rate of 73.9 percent is on par with the top five averages in UFC history.

CO-MAIN EVENT

Souza enters the event on a five-fight winning streak, his longest since 2008. “Jacare” is 5-0 with four first-round stoppages since losing the Strikeforce middleweight title to Luke Rockhold in September 2011.

Souza has submitted his opponent in 14 of his 19 professional victories, with 12 coming in the first round. His four submission victories under the now-defunct Strikeforce banner are tied for second most in company history.

Souza’s six total finishes in UFC/Strikeforce middleweight competition are the fifth most in divisional history.

Souza’s 25 completed takedowns in Strikeforce competition are the second most in organizational history (Pat Healy, 28).

Souza’s 53.2 percent takedown accuracy rate is the third highest in Strikeforce history (minimum of five Strikeforce fights and 20 takedown attempts). While in Strikeforce, Souza averaged 3.83 takedowns per 15 minutes of fighting, the second highest average in the promotion’s history behind Lawal (4.46).

Carmont’s six-fight UFC winning streak is the second longest active streak in the middleweight division behind champion Weidman (seven).

Carmont’s 85.7 percent takedown defense rate is the highest in UFC middleweight history (minimum of five UFC fights and 20 opponent takedown attempts).

Carmont’s absorbs just 1.3 significant strikes per minute of fighting, the third lowest rate in middleweight history and eighth lowest rate of any fighter in UFC history with at least five UFC bouts.

REMAINING MAIN CARD

Erick Silva (15-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has alternated wins and losses throughout his six-fight UFC career.

Silva has finished his opponent by first-round knockout or submission in all three of his UFC victories.

Silva’s average fight time of 4:59 is the shortest among active UFC fighters.

Silva averages 2.51 submission attempts per 15 minutes of fighting, the fifth highest average in welterweight history (minimum of five UFC fights). T.J. Waldburger leads the category with 5.94 attempts.

Silva’s submission victory over Jason High at UFC on FUEL TV 10 was one of just four fights in UFC history to feature zero strikes landed by either fighter.

Takenori Sato’s (17-8-7 MMA, 0-0 UFC) seven draws in MMA competition are the second most of any fighter on the UFC roster behind Shunichi Shimizu (10).

Sato enters the event on a 10-fight undefeated streak, the longest streak of his career.

Nicholas Musoke (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) drops to the welterweight division after defeating Alessio Sakara at 185 pounds in his organizational debut at UFC Fight Night 30.

Viscardi Andrade (17-5 MMA 1-0 UFC) enters the event on a seven-fight winning streak, which includes five wins in a row by knockout or submission.

Charles Oliveira (16-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) is 2-2 since dropping to the UFC featherweight division in January 2012.

Oliveira has earned all four of his UFC victories by submission.

Oliveira’s average fight time of 5:47 is the fourth shortest among active UFC fighters.

Oliveira is owner of the only calf slicer submission victory in UFC history; he forced Eric Wisely to tap out to the technique at UFC on FOX 2.

PRELIMINARY CARD

Cristiano Marcello (13-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC), 36, is the oldest of the 24 fighters slated to compete on the card.

Marcello is also the owner of the longest MMA career of any fighter on the card. He made his professional debut in June 1997.

Joe Proctor (8-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) enters the event on a 434-day layoff, the longest layoff of his professional career.

Rodrigo Damm (11-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC) vs. Ivan Jorge (25-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is the only matchup on the card pitting two Brazilian fighters against each other.

Damm will move up to the lightweight division after making his first three octagon appearances at featherweight while Jorge will move down after winning his UFC debut at welterweight.

Francisco Trinaldo (13-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) is the only fighter in UFC history to earn two consecutive victories by arm-triangle-choke submission. He’s also just one of three fighters in UFC history to earn two arm-triangle-submission wins (Dan Severn and Eric Schafer).

Trinaldo has finished his opponent by knockout or submission in all three of his UFC victories.

Iuri Alcantara (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has earned all but four of his career victories by knockout or submission.

Alcantara is just one of two fighters to defeat former featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas in UFC or WEC competition.

Alcantara is 1-1 with one no-contest since dropping to the UFC bantamweight division.

Wilson Reis (17-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) enters the event on a five-fight MMA winning streak, which is his longest since 2008.

Felipe Arantes (15-6-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC) makes his sixth UFC appearance, all of which have taken place in his home country of Brazil.

Maximo Blanco (9-5-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) enters the event with a 1-3 record in his past four UFC/Strikeforce fights.

Albert Tumenov (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), 22, is the youngest of the 24 fighters slated to compete on the card.

Douglas de Andrade’s (22-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) 21-fight MMA winning streak is tied with Khabib Nurmagomedov for the second longest among active UFC fighters behind bantamweight champion Renan Barao (22).

For more on UFC Fight Night 36, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.