Fight Facts: UFC 317 ‘Topuria vs. Oliveira’

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: 8,246
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 738

The Ultimate Fighting Championship blew away even the orneriest fight fan with a spectacular gala event capping off International Fight Week. The final three bouts of the evening served as some of the best action of the year, with crushing knockouts and glorious performances up and down the card. UFC 317 featured a new pound-for-pound king ascending, a flyweight who may now be the second-best ever and a sensational brawl that will be remembered for quite some time.

King of Kings: Trouncing Charles Oliveira in the first round to gain the lightweight throne and move to 17-0, Ilia Topuria now serves as the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in two divisions without sustaining a career loss.

One for Each Shoulder: Topuria joins a club now consisting of 10 members across organizational history that have earned titles in two weight classes. Conor McGregor is the only one of those other nine that claimed them at 145 and 155 pounds.

Different Power: The punishing knockout from Topuria lifted his career finish rate to 88%. Every one of his stoppages due to strikes has been a clean knockout.

Not the Most: Oliveira sustained his ninth loss as a member of the UFC roster by stoppage. He is now tied with five other combatants for the third-most losses inside the distance in promotional history. Clay Guida’s 10 and Andrei Arlovski’s 11 serve as the most.

Final Stumbling Block: Once more falling short to a former champ, Oliveira has still never beaten an opponent who held undisputed UFC gold. His three triumphs over beltholders Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje all possessed interim lightweight straps.

Back-Take Magician: Defending his flyweight throne for the fourth time in a row, Alexandre Pantoja throttled Kai Kara-France with a rear-naked choke. His five overall championship wins trail only Demetrious Johnson’s 12 at 125 pounds.

Still Just a Number: Having turned 35 in April, “The Cannibal” defied the odds to prevail in a championship bout below 170 pounds at that age or older. Only a select few have achieved this, most recently performed by Alexander Volkanovski at featherweight.

Mighty Pants: The submission win for Pantoja proved to be a milestone at the flyweight division. He now holds sole possession of the most wins (14), stoppages (eight) and subs (six) in the history of the weight class, breaking a tie with Demetrious Johnson in all three categories.

Make That a Five-Rounder: Joshua Van and Brandon Royval banged it out for three incredible rounds, combining for 419 significant strikes landed between them. This passes the previous high at 125 pounds of Qileng Aori vs. Jeff Molina’s 305 in 2021 by over a hundred, while also claiming the top spot for a three-round match.

Twin Whirling Dervishes: Royval (215) and Van (204) now hold the No. 1 and 2 spots in flyweight history for the most sig strikes connected. They buzz past Molina’s 189.

Speedy Speed Boys: With both fighters hitting the other with over 200 significant strikes, their 15-minute barnburner serves as the first bout in UFC history where both fighters exceeded that 200 threshold.

Battle Van: Now sporting a total of 1,097 across nine outings in the Octagon thus far, Van holds the second-highest significant strike total in flyweight history. He leapfrogs Johnson and Pantoja with that performance.

Salt and Pepper Is Great Seasoning: Coming back after over 19 months away to outduel Renato Carneiro, Beneil Dariush notched his 17th win as a UFC lightweight. He and Donald Cerrone are tied for the second-most in the division, with both trailing Jim Miller’s 24.

A Living Tresemme Commercial: Needing every last second to get past Felipe Lima, Payton Talbott won on the scorecards. It marks just the second decision win in the career of the youngster, whose finish rate falls to 80%.

I Like It: With one punch—and an unnecessary hammerfist—Gregory Rodrigues iced Jack Hermansson in the opening frame. He earned his sixth knockout as a UFC middleweight, and is now two behind divisional leads Anderson Silva, Uriah Hall and Thiago Santos.

Your Move, Creep: “Robocop” now sports a stoppage rate of 82% with his win over Hermansson. He has achieved six of eight UFC victories with strikes.

Are You Joking: To continue his pattern of alternating wins and losses, Hermansson had his consciousness removed with one left hand. The last 10 bouts for “The Joker” have gone up and down in that fashion.

No Bowing Before El Nino: Blowing Hyder Amil away in 26 seconds, Jose Delgado stamped his place as another featherweight on the rise. He has still yet to win a fight by decision.

It Happened: The sole women’s bout of the evening came between Tracy Cortez and Viviane Araujo, with Cortez winning a unanimous decision. She has gone the distance in her entire seven-fight UFC tenure, with her finish rate sitting at a paltry 17%.

We Knew It Would: Araujo made her organizational debut in 2019 by icing Talita Bernardo in the third frame. The next 12 outings for Araujo ended by unanimous decision, win or lose.

This One, However, Ruled: Winner of 17 career bouts, Terrance McKinney tamed Viacheslav Borshchev with a guillotine choke in under a minute. All 17 of those victories have come inside the distance.

What More Does He Have to Do: “T. Wrecks” completed his seventh first-round finish as a member of the UFC roster by putting Borshchev away in 55 seconds. Despite this, he has yet to take home a post-fight bonus.

When Punching Doesn’t Work: A perfect 11-0 as a professional, Jacobe Smith tapped Niko Price with a rear-naked choke. He has earned 82% of his pro wins by stoppage.

A Whale of an Anchor: Ahead of the match, Smith closed as an unprecedented -2500 betting favorite to Price’s +1100 on the comeback. The two-time UFC victor Smith now holds the spot for the second-highest odds disparity in company history. Only Isaac Dulgarian at -2800 against Brendon Marotte (+1150) at UFC Fight Night 242 in 2024 surpasses him.

How Odd: In the history of the promotion, three fighters have clocked in with odds of -2000 or higher: Alexander Romanov (vs. Chase Sherman), Dulgarian and Smith. All three overwhelming favorites prevailed by submission.

Cut Heavyweight: Seeing his stoppage rate tumble to 78%, Jhonata Diniz settled for a win at the hands of the judges over UFC newcomer Alvin Hines. The streak of heavyweight decisions continues, with big men not seeing a stoppage since March, when Waldo Cortes-Acosta drummed out ex-205er Ryan Spann in the second stanza.


Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 317, Lima had never lost on the scorecards (15 fights), Amil (11 fights) and Hines (seven fights) had never been defeated and Smith had never landed a submission (10 wins).

Ay Ay Ay Ay: Ahead of his destruction of Oliveira, Topuria made his walk to the cage accompanied by “Cancion del Mariachi” performed by Antonio Banderas and Los Lobos. Fighters going with the beloved song from “Desperado” have amassed a huge win percentage of .812.

Behold a White Horse: Johnny Cash serving as one of the most popular walkout artists in UFC history, Hines selected “The Man Comes Around.” Although plenty of fighters have picked other Cash tracks as of late, he is the first one to select this tune since Tim Boetsch chose it at UFC Fight Night 146 in 2019.