UFC on FOX 17 post-fight facts: A rare lightweight title defense

UFC lightweight title defenses aren’t easy to come by, but Rafael dos Anjos earned his first in record-setting fashion when he stopped Donald Cerrone in a mere 66 seconds in Saturday’s UFC on FOX 17 headliner.

Orlando, Fla.’s Amway Center was the scene of dos Anjos’ (25-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) quick TKO win over Cerrone (28-7 MMA, 15-4 UFC) to defend his belt for the first time. The FOX-televised title fight closed out an event that featured eight stoppages in 13 fights, including some notable victories for more than just dos Anjos.

For more on the numbers behind the UFC’s final event of the year, check out 55 post-fight facts to come out of UFC on FOX 17.

* * * *

General

Amway Center

Dos Anjos, Vicente Luque, Nate Diaz and Michael Johnson earned $50,000 UFC on FOX 17 fight-night bonuses.

UFC on FOX 17 drew an announced attendance 14,459 for a live gate of $1.71 million.

Betting favorites went 5-7 on the card. One fight ended in a no-contest.

Total fight time for the 13-bout card was 2:00:22.

Main card

Rafael dos Anjos

Dos Anjos improved to 10-1 in his past 11 UFC appearances.

Dos Anjos’ 14 victories in UFC lightweight competition are tied with Jim Miller for third most in divisional history behind Gleison Tibau (17) and Cerrone (15).

Dos Anjos’ five-fight UFC winning streak in lightweight competition is tied for the third longest active streak in the division behind Tony Ferguson (seven) and Khabib Nurmagomedov (six).

Dos Anjos’ 66-second victory marked the fastest stoppage in UFC lightweight title-fight history.

Diaz has been awarded 11 fight-night bonuses in his UFC lightweight career, the second most in divisional history behind Joe Lauzon (13).

Diaz’s 12 post-fight bonuses in his UFC career are tied with Anderson Silva for second most in company history behind Lauzon (13).

Cerrone suffered just the second knockout loss of his career.

Cerrone fell to 0-4 in UFC/WEC title fights.

Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem (40-14 MMA, 5-3 UFC) has earned all three of his UFC stoppage victories by knockout.

Overeem’s three-fight UFC winning streak in heavyweight competition is tied for the third longest active streak in the division behind Andrei Arlovski (seven) and champ Fabricio Werdum (six).

Junior dos Santos (17-4 MMA, 11-3 UFC) has alternated wins and losses over his past six UFC appearances.

Dos Santos has suffered both of his UFC stoppage losses by knockout.

Nate Diaz (18-10 MMA, 13-8 UFC) improved to 5-5 in his past 10 UFC fights.

Diaz earned his first decision victory since Dec. 30, 2011 – a span of 1,450 days (nearly four years) and six fights.

Randa Markos (5-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has alternated wins and losses over her past six career bouts.

Markos has suffered all three of her career losses by decision.

Preliminary card

Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira (21-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) has earned eight of his nine UFC victories by submission.

Oliveira’s eight submission victories in UFC competition are tied with Diaz and Frank Mir for second most in company history behind Royce Gracie (10).

Myles Jury (15-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) has suffered back-to-back losses after he started his career on a 15-fight winning streak.

Jury was unsuccessful in his UFC featherweight debut.

Jury suffered the first submission loss of his career.

Nate Marquardt (34-15-2 MMA, 12-8 UFC) improved to 2-2 since he returned to the UFC middleweight division in June 2014.

Nate Marquardt

Marquardt’s 12 victories in UFC middleweight competition are tied for fourth most in divisional history behind A. Silva (13), Yushin Okami (13) and Michael Bisping (13)

Marquardt has earned eight of his 12 career victories by stoppage.

Marquardt’s eight stoppage victories in UFC middleweight competition are third most in divisional history behind Silva (11) and Chris Leben (nine).

Marquardt’s 10 knockdowns landed in UFC middleweight competition are the second most in divisional history behind Silva (12).

C.B. Dollaway (15-8 MMA, 9-8 UFC) suffered his third consecutive loss to extend the long skid of his career.

Dollaway has suffered five of his eight UFC losses by stoppage.

Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko (12-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) extended her winning streak to five fights. She hasn’t suffered a defeat since September 2010.

Sarah Kaufman (17-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in her career.

Kaufman suffered the first decision loss of her career.

Tamdan McCrory (14-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) successfully returned to the UFC for his first octagon victory since March 2009.

McCrory improved to 3-0 since he returned to MMA competition from a five-year layoff in September 2014.

McCrory has earned 13 of his 14 career victories by stoppage.

McCrory has earned three of his four UFC victories by stoppage.

Josh Samman (12-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) suffered his first submission loss since March 28, 2008 – a span of 2,822 days (nearly eight years) and 11 fights.

Nik Lentz

Nik Lentz (26-7-2 MMA, 10-4-1 UFC) was successful in his return to the UFC lightweight division. He earned his first victory in the weight class since March 2011.

Lentz has alternated wins and losses over his past five UFC appearances.

Lentz has earned eight of his 10 UFC victories by decision.

Lentz has landed two or more takedowns against 13 of his 16 UFC opponents. He’s landed a total of 54 takedowns in UFC competition, tied for the seventh most in company history.

Lentz’s three guillotine choke submission attempts gave him a total of 17 in his UFC career, the most in company history.

Danny Castillo (17-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC) suffered his fourth consecutive loss to extend the longest skid of his career. He’s just 1-5 in his past six fights and hasn’t earned a victory since April 2014.

Kamaru Usman

Kamaru Usman (7-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) earned the first decision victory of his career.

Leon Edwards (10-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has suffered both of his UFC losses by decision.

Luque (8-5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has alternated wins and losses over his past five career bouts.

Luque has earned seven of his eight career victories by stoppage.

Luque earned the 10th anaconda choke submission victory in UFC history. It was the third fastest finish in company history using the technique.

Hayder Hassan (6-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has suffered all three of his career losses by stoppage.

Hassan has suffered both of his UFC losses by submission.

Francis Ngannou (6-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned all six of his career victories by stoppage.

Luis Henrique (8-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his seven-fight undefeated streak snapped for his first loss since March 2012.

Henrique has suffered both of his career losses by knockout.

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 17, 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.