More often than not, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira thrives in rematches. Going into his UFC on FUEL TV 10 main event fight with Fabricio Werdum on Saturday (June 8, 2013) night, "Minotauro" was 4-1 with one "No Contest" in his career when facing an opponent for the second time.
The track record proved that he had a good chance on repeating history, but Werdum threw those numbers out the window as he avenged a 2006 defeat to the former PRIDE and interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight titleholder with the help of a second-round submission.
Speaking of submissions -- fighters tapping out or going to sleep was a common theme throughout the evening in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil, as the event featured an incredible eight submission finishes, the most ever on a single fight card in UFC history.
That's just one of many historic facts to come out of UFC on FUEL TV 10, and to see the rest of them, simply keep reading:
- Thiago Silva earned $100,000 in post-fight bonuses while Rafael Cavalcante and Erick Silva were awarded $50,000 post-fight bonuses. Silva is the 18th fighter in UFC history to receive a double post-fight bonus. The feat has happened 21 times overall in UFC history, with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva doing it on three separate occasions.
- Nogueira was submitted for just the second time in his 44-fight mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
- Werdum is the only fighter in MMA history to submit both Nogueira and Fedor Emelianenko. Dan Henderson is the only man aside from Werdum to hold wins over both Nogueira and Emelianenko.
- Raphael Assuncao won a fight by submission for the first time since March 7, 2008 -- a span of 1919 days (five-plus years) and 11 fights.
- Three of the four defeats in the career of Cavalcante are by (technical) knockout.
- UFC on FUEL TV 10 saw six fights end by first-round (technical) knockout or submission. The only events in modern UFC history with more first-round stoppages are The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, UFC Fight Night 14 and UFC 146.
- Werdum improved to 6-1 in his past seven fights with the lone defeat coming to Alistair Overeem.
- At 33 years, four months and three days of age, Leonardo Santos is the second oldest fighter to ever winner of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality show behind Roy Nelson (33 years, five months, 10 days).
- UFC on FUEL TV 10 drew an attendance of 6,286. A live gate for the event was not announced.
- E. Silva has finished his opponent by first-round (technical) knockout or submission in all three of his UFC victories. "Indio" has the second shortest average fight time in UFC welterweight history at four minutes and 23 seconds.
- Jason High was submitted for the first time in his 20-fight career, had his seven-fight win-streak snapped and was defeated for the first time since March 31, 2010 -- the date of his last UFC appearance.
- T. Silva snapped his four-fight winless streak and won a non-overturned fight for the first time since Aug. 29, 2009 -- a span of 1379 days (nearly four years).
- UFC on FUEL TV 10 tied UFC Fight Night 13 for the most total finishes on a card in modern UFC history at 10.
- Eddie Mendez was defeated by submission for the first time in his 11-fight career.
- Rony Jason's submission of Mike Wilkinson at 1:24 of round one was the fifth fastest submission win in UFC/World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) featherweight history. The record-holder is Josh Grispi, who forced Jens Pulver to tap out 33 seconds into round at WEC 41.
- Anthony Smith has lost by (technical) knockout or submission in all 10 of his professional defeats. "Lionheart" has still not gone to a decision in 27 professional fights.
- Mizuto Hirota fell to 0-2 in his career in fights outside of his home country of Japan and with his third consecutive defeat is now on the longest losing streak of his 22-fight career.
- In the eight UFC events to take place in Brazil, Brazilian fighters are 43-10 when facing opponents from other countries. Brazilian fighters went 7-0 against opponents from other countries at UFC on FUEL TV 10, which was the first time in history the host country has earned a clean sweep over foreign opposition.
- Betting favorites went 10-2 on the card, with T. Silva and Caio Magalhaes being the lone underdogs to earn victories.
- Nogueira has alternated losses and wins in his last eight UFC bouts.
- Werdum earned a submission victory for the first time since June 26, 2010 -- a span of 1078 days (nearly three years) and four fights.
- Total cage time for the UFC on FUEL TV 10 fight card was 76 minutes and 52 seconds, which is the second shortest all-time behind UFC Fight Night 13 (72 minutes, 58 seconds) for 12-fight cards.
- Raphael Assuncao improved to 4-0 since dropping to the bantamweight division.
- Godofredo Castro was defeated by (technical) knockout for the first time in his 11-fight career
- Jason extended his win-streak to eight-straight fights and has defeated his opponent by (technical) knockout or submission in 12 of his 13 professional victories.
That's a wrap for this set of UFC facts.
Did you learn anything new/interesting? Do any of the facts change your perspective on Saturday's fights?
Let us know below!
(Some facts courtesy of UFC, FightMetric, BestFightOdds and MMADecisions)
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