UFC Fight Night 75 post-fight facts: Barnett sets new record for significant strikes

SAITAMA, Japan – Josh Barnett made a successful return to Japan’s Saitama Super Arena after a nearly decade-long absence from the venue when he took on Roy Nelson in UFC Fight Night 75’s main event.

Barnett’s (34-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) return to the country where he’s earned most of his career success went swimmingly as he outworked Nelson (20-12 MMA, 7-8 UFC) over five competitive rounds to get his first victory in more than two years via unanimous decision.

“The Warmaster” delivered a record-setting performance over the course of 25 minutes as he landed the most significant strikes ever in a UFC heavyweight bout to defeat Nelson.

The organization’s first event in Japan since September 2014 featured a number of other notable results. Check out 40 post-fight facts to come out of UFC Fight Night 75.

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General

Barnett, Uriah Hall, Diego Brandao and Keita Nakamura earned $50,000 UFC Fight Night 75 fight-night bonuses.

UFC Fight Night 75 drew an announced attendance of 10,137.

Betting favorites went 6-3 on the card.

Total fight time for the 10-bout card was 2:08:57.

Main card

Barnett’s 146 significant strikes landed set a new single-fight UFC heavyweight record.

Barnett’s 95 significant clinch strikes landed set a new overall UFC record.

Barnett earned his first decision victory since May 18, 2008 – a span of 2,688 days (more than seven years) and 11 fights.

Roy Nelson

Nelson fell to 1-5 in his past six UFC appearances. He hasn’t earned a victory since April 2014.

Nelson’s seven decision losses in UFC heavyweight competition are the most in divisional history. He’s suffered 10 of his 12 career losses overall by decision.

Nelson has absorbed 763 significant strikes in UFC heavyweight competition, the most in divisional history. Of those 763 strikes, 505 were landed to the head.

Hall (12-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) has earned four of his five UFC victories by stoppage.

Hall earned just the second knockout victory in UFC history stemming from a spinning back kick to the head. Renan Barao also accomplished the feat.

Uriah Hall

Gegard Mousasi (37-6-2 MMA, 4-3 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of his career.

Kyoji Horiguchi (16-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) improved to 2-0 at UFC bouts located in Japan.

Horiguchi has earned three of his five UFC victories by decision.

Chico Camus (15-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC) fell to 1-2 since he dropped to the UFC flyweight division in November 2014.

Camus has suffered three of his four UFC losses by decision.

Takeya Mizugaki

Takeya Mizugaki’s (21-9-2 MMA, 8-4 UFC) eight victories in UFC bantamweight competition are tied with T.J. Dillashaw, Urijah Faber and Renan Barao for the most wins in divisional history.

Mizugaki earned his 10th UFC/WEC bantamweight victory and tied Scott Jorgensen, Dominick Cruz and Barao for the most wins in the combined history of the weight class.

Mizugaki has earned seven of his eight UFC victories by decision. He has defeated his opponent by going the distance in 15 of his 21 professional victories.

George Roop (15-12-1 MMA, 5-8 UFC) fell to 3-5 in his past eight UFC fights.

Roop suffered his first decision loss since Oct. 29, 2011 – a span of 1,429 days (nearly four years) and seven fights.

Brandao (20-10 MMA, 6-3 UFC) has earned 16 of his 20 career victories by stoppage. That includes four of his six wins under the UFC banner.

Katsunori Kikuno (23-8-2 MMA, 2-3 UFC) has suffered all three of his UFC losses by knockout.

Mizuto Hirota (17-7-2 MMA, 0-2-1 UFC) vs. Teruto Ishihara (7-2-2 MMA, 0-0-1 UFC) was the first UFC contest to end in a draw since Norman Parke vs. Leonardo Santos at UFC fight night 38.

Preliminary card

Nakamura (31-6-2 MMA, 1-3 UFC) was successful in his first UFC bout since February 2008. He went winless inside the octagon in three attempts during his first UFC stint.

Nakamura has earned his past seven career victories by stoppage.

Li Jingliang (10-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) suffered the first submission loss of his career.

Nick Hein (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has earned seven of his past eight victories by decision. That includes all three of his UFC wins.

Yusuke Kasuya (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of his career.

Kajan Johnson (21-11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has earned both of his UFC victories by decision.

Naoyuki Kotani (33-13-7 MMA, 0-5 UFC) became the second fighter in UFC history to lose hisfirst five contests with the organization. John Alessio is the other.

Kotani is the 10th fighter overall in UFC history to suffer five or more consecutive losses inside the octagon.

Kotani suffered his first decision loss since April 25, 2010 – a span of 1,981 days (more than five years) and 16 fights.

Roger Zapata (4-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his four-fight winning streak snapped for his first defeat since his professional debut in June 2011.

Zapata suffered the first stoppage loss of his career.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 75, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.