UFC Fight Night 124 post-event facts: Jeremy Stephens on cusp of all-time knockdowns record

Jeremy Stephens is one of the longest-tenured UFC fighters, and on Sunday he added another chapter to his career with a victory over Dooho Choi in UFC Fight Night 124’s main event.

Stephens’ (27-14 MMA, 14-13 UFC) power was again on display in the FS1-televised headliner at Scottrade Center in St. Louis (early prelims streamed on UFC Fight Pass). He put Choi (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) down in the second round, giving him a TKO win that placed him nearly the top of the list of one of the most notable categories in UFC history.

For more on the numbers to come out of the first UFC event of 2018, check out 40 post-event facts to come out of UFC Fight Night 124.

* * * *

General

Jeremy Stephens

The UFC-Reebok Athlete Outfitting payout for the event totaled $135,000.

Debuting fighters went 0-1 at the event.

Stephens, Choi, Darren Elkins and Marco Polo Reyes earned $50,000 UFC Fight Night 124 fight-night bonuses.

UFC Fight Night 124 drew an announced attendance of 10,052 for a live gate of $812,995.

Betting favorites went 6-5 on the card.

Total fight time for the 11-bout card was 2:05:51.

Main card

Jeremy Stephens

Stephens improved to 7-5 since he dropped to the UFC featherweight division in May 2013.

Stephens’ 17 knockdowns landed in UFC competition are second most in company history behind Anderson Silva (18).

Stephens’ 10 knockdowns landed in UFC featherweight competition are most in divisional history.

Choi suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since July 2016.

Jessica-Rose Clark and Paige VanZant

Jessica-Rose Clark (9-4 MMA, 2-0 UFC) earned her second UFC victory in a 57-day stretch. She also beat Bec Rawlings at UFC Fight Night 121 in November.

Clark has earned both of her UFC victories by decision.

Paige VanZant (7-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) was unsuccessful in her UFC flyweight debut.

VanZant suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his career. She hasn’t earned a victory since August 2016.

Kamaru Usman

Kamaru Usman (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) extended his winning streak to 11 fights. He hasn’t suffered a defeat since May 2013.

Usman’s seven-fight UFC winning streak in welterweight competition is the longest active streak in the division.

Usman became the first welterweight since Jon Fitch to start his UFC career with seven consecutive victories.

Usman has completed 28 takedowns in his seven UFC appearances

Emil Meek (9-3-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of his career.

Darren Elkins

Elkins (24-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) improved to 13-3 since he dropped to the UFC featherweight division in June 2011.

Elkins’ 13 UFC featherweight victories are second most in divisional history behind champ Max Holloway (14).

Elkins’ six-fight UFC winning streak in featherweight competition is the second-longest active streak in the division behind Holloway (11).

Elkins earned his first submission victory since May 30, 2009 – a span of 3,151 days (more than eight years) and 21 fights.

Elkins’ 36 takedowns landed in UFC featherweight competition are second most in divisional history behind Dennis Bermudez (39).

Darren Elkins and Michael Johnson

Elkins’ 21 submission attempts in UFC featherweight competition are the most in divisional history.

Elkins has landed 1,565 total strikes in UFC featherweight competition, the most in divisional history.

Michael Johnson (17-13 MMA, 9-9 UFC) was unsuccessful in his UFC featherweight debut.

Johnson fell to 1-5 in his past six fights dating back to August 2015.

Johnson suffered the eighth submission loss of his career. He’s been tapped out in all but one of his career stoppage losses.

Preliminary card

James Krause and Alex White

Alex White (12-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) fell to 1-2 since he moved up to the UFC lightweight division in January 2017.

Polo Reyes (8-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has earned seven of his eight career victories by stoppage.

Matt Frevola (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his six-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.

Irene Aldana (8-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) earned the first decision victory of her career.

Talita Bernardo (5-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in her career.

Kyung Ho Kang

Kyung Ho Kang (14-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) was successful in his return to competition from a nearly 3.5-year layoff.

Guido Cannetti (7-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has suffered all three of his career losses by submission.

Jessica Eye (12-6 MMA, 2-5 UFC) was successful in her UFC flyweight debut.

Eye snapped her four-fight losing skid for her first victory since November 2014. She’s 2-5 in her past seven fights.

Kalindra Faria (18-7-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC) became the first fighter in UFC history to suffer two losses in women’s flyweight competition.

J.J. Aldrich’s (6-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) two-fight UFC winning streak in strawweight competition is tied for the third longest active streak in the division behind Felice Herrig (four) and Tecia Torres (three).

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 124, 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.