Fight Facts: UFC on ESPN 65 ‘Emmett vs. Murphy’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 8,126
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 728

The Ultimate Fighting Championship shuffled quietly in and out of the UFC Apex this past Saturday, as the only Apex-based show in April. Results were largely milquetoast, few fighter stocks rose or tumbled significantly although a couple combatants likely will be looking to greener pastures in the coming months. UFC Vegas 105, also known as UFC on ESPN 65, featured the continuation of a streak of events without a “Fight of the Night,” a featherweight building an impressive resume and one of the quietest recordholders adding to his ledger.

You Can’t Fight in Here, this is the War Room: From UFC Fight Night 61 to UFC Fight Night 63—spanning five events—in 2015, the promotion elected to award four winners “Performance of the Night” checks without a “Fight of the Night.” This current four-card stretch dating back to March’s UFC Fight Night 254 is one show shy of tying that record.

It Is What It Was: Lerone Murphy outhustled Josh Emmett to get his hand raised in the headliner and advance his record to 16-0-1. He has now heard the final bell in five straight fights, with six of eight UFC outings going to decision.

How Many More to Get a Shot? By beating Emmett, Murphy advanced his win streak to eight at 145 pounds. Only three men in the history of that weight class have exceeded winning eight in a row: Arnold Allen (10), Alexander Volkanovski (11) and Max Holloway (13).

You Miss Weight, You Pay: Chang Ho Lee smashed a heavy Cortavious Romious with punches and elbows in the second stanza. The South Korean kept the pattern going where only one fighter—Chidi Njokuani—missed weight this year and prevailed. The other seven unofficial catchweight contests had the heavier competitor coming up short.

Expectedly Disappointing: The decision victory for Brad Tavares over Gerald Meerschaert made UFC middleweight history for a number of reasons. The Hawaiian entered into his 26th fight at the division, extending his own record. He tied Michael Bisping with the most wins in the weight category at 16, and his decision total of 14 not only is the most at 185 but ties Neil Magny’s all-time high.

Just a Darn Shame: Even though he set records for his win, Tavares has still never taken home a post-fight bonus. His 26-appearance total without an additional award check is the longest stretch without one in company history.

Consistency Problems: Violently ejecting Luis Gurule from the ranks of the unbeaten, Ode Osbourne put a three-fight skid behind him by drumming out “Grim.” The Wisconsin native now celebrates a stoppage rate of 77%, with over half of his wins under the UFC banner coming via strikes.

Horrible, Absolutely Horrible, Absolutely Terrible: Grinding out a split decision win over Robert Valentin, Torrez Finney amassed just four significant strikes in their 15-minute endeavor. This total is the lowest of any three-round middleweight bout to still win a decision.

Cheesed Her: Wrangling Diana Belbita with a first-round arm-triangle choke, Dione Barbosa evened her method of victory distribution to 50% per category. Half of her pro wins have come by decision, with the other half submissions.

Fifth Time Was the Charm: After five walks to the Octagon, Rhys McKee finally won a UFC fight. “Skeletor” forced the doctor to intervene and rescue Daniel Frunza from further harm after a one-sided five-minute period. His stoppage rate remains at 100% after the triumph.

0-Fer: Although McKee was able to break his winless time in the UFC, the same could not be said for Istela Nunes. Dropping a decision to Konklak “Loma Lookboonmee” Suphisara, Nunes became the seventh fighter and first woman in organizational history to go 0-5 in the UFC. While three of those names went 0-5, the others held 0-5 record plus a no contest for each.

Decisionator > Baconator: Debuting with the company in 2022, Martin Buday has notched five decision wins as a UFC heavyweight including one over Uran Satybaldiev on Saturday. Marcin Tybura (eight) and Andrei Arlovski (12) are the only big men with more in the history of that weight class.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC on ESPN 65, Joanderson Brito (22 fights) and Romious (12 fights) had never dropped consecutive bouts, Gurule (10 fights) and Satybaldiev (eight fights) had never been defeated and Frunza had never been knocked out (11 fights).

He Won’t Deny It: Murphy would have walked out to “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” by 2Pac in every one of his UFC appearances, except Dan Ige chose it first ahead of their past meeting. Murphy still has not lost with the song playing in the building as he makes his walk.

No Time for the Wicked: Since his sophomore UFC appearance, Emmett has walked out at least in part to Rebelution’s “Sky is the Limit.” The Californian sports a solid win percentage of .642 when accompanied by the tune.