Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 252 ‘Cejudo vs. Song’

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: 8,056
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 722

The Ultimate Fighting Championship blew the doors off in Seattle, bringing a kneecapped card that still delivered for the most part on Saturday night. The prelims were dynamite, and although the headliner ended on a disappointing note, numerous storylines emerged from the fallout. UFC Seattle, also known as UFC Fight Night 252, featured the first technical decision in a UFC main event, a rising contender who calls himself “Lord” and a whole slew of delightful knockouts.

More Divisions: UFC Seattle featured not one but two pre-planned catchweight contests due to their late notice creation. With the Rob Font-Jean Matsumoto and Austin Vanderford-Nikolay Veretennikov matches intentionally occurring outside of standard weight classes, this event is the first since UFC Fight Night 211 in 2022 to be made this way.

Technical Technicalities: After Yadong Song damaged Henry Cejudo with an eye poke, Cejudo could not continue at the conclusion of Round 3. Referee Jason Herzog sent the five-rounder to the judges, who turned in a unanimous technical decision in favor of Song. It is the first technical decision since UFC on ESPN 54 in 2024 when Chris Weidman poked Bruno Silva’s eye, and the first headliner to result in this fashion.

Dusty Gold Medal: Song prevented all three of Cejudo’s official takedown attempts en route to victory. He is now the third fighter Cejudo has faced in the Octagon that did not get taken down, although T.J. Dillashaw was knocked out in 32 seconds before Cejudo could shoot.

Fluffy Time: Anthony Hernandez won the rematch with Brendan Allen at the hands of the judges. “Fluffy” has now gone the distance three times as a pro, and two of those occasions came against Allen.

Mr. Taker-Downer: Across their 15-minute endeavor, Hernandez landed four takedowns to secure the victory. With a total of 45 at 185 pounds, Hernandez eclipsed Chris Weidman’s record of 43.

Comic Sans-Level Defense: Holding on to get the win by split call, Rob Font did enough to beat Jean Matsumoto. The Brazilian grounded Font seven times, giving Font a total of 22 takedowns surrendered in his last four combined outings.

Oh Lord: Knocking Melsik Baghdasaryan’s block off in the opening frame, Jean Silva improved his win streak to 12 dating back to 2018. “Lord” has performed 14 of his 15 wins inside the distance.

Not the Best Fight: Alonzo Menifield and Julius Walker slugged out for three “Fight of the Night”-winning rounds, with “Atomic Alonzo” emerging the victor by split decision. It marked the first time that Walker had ever competed any longer than 6:38 as a pro.

Hulk Jitz: For the first time in nearly 10 years, Ion Cutelaba notched a submission win. “The Hulk” caught Ibo Aslan in an arm-triangle choke, getting his first sub since snatching an omoplata on Vitaliy Onishchenko at WWFC Cage Encounter 3 in April 2015.

Trapper Keeper: Melquizael Costa became the first fighter to snare Andre Fili in a submission since March 2015, when Godofredo Castro landed a triangle choke at UFC Fight Night 62. Fili has neither won nor lost consecutive bouts in his last 11 appearances.

Fighting is Exhausting: Keeping his 100% finish rate intact, Mansur Abdul-Malik engaged in his second-lengthiest pro match by punching out Nick Klein at 3:24 of Round 2. The Maryland native has gone to a second round twice in eight fights thus far.

Nonsense Money: Abdul-Malik closed as a monumental -1400 betting favorite and nearly got finished in the first round by Klein. For the time being, Abdul-Malik serves as the most heavily favored fighter in the Octagon this year, with Chase Hooper at -1600 against Clay Guida at UFC 310 in December the last time a fighter came in with odds that stacked.

Bashed: Before smashing Javid Basharat with one punch, Ricky Simon landed a takedown on the Afghan-born fighter. This gives Simon 44 at bantamweight, keeping him firmly in second place but well behind Merab Dvalishvili’s 79.

Ruzibomber: Putting Eric McConico away early into the second round, each of the last 23 wins for Nursulton Ruziboev have come by stoppage. The Uzbekistan native now posts a finish rate of 94% with the win.

Gladiate This: In a bit over two minutes, Modestas Bukauskas leveled Raffael Cerqueira with a flurry of fists. “The Baltic Gladiator” has seen 76% of his wins come by stoppage.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC Fight Night 252, Allen had never dropped consecutive bouts (30 fights), Matsumoto (16 fights) and Walker (six fights) had never been defeated and Basharat had never been finished (16 fights).

Feel the Beat from the Tambourine: Walker became the second fighter in UFC history to walk out to a song by ABBA when he emerged to “Dancing Queen.” The first was Pannie Kianzad at UFC on ESPN 14 in 2020 with “Take a Chance on Me,” but unlike the woman formerly known as “Sexy Scramble,” Walker lost.

I Closed My Eyes and I Slipped Away: Ahead of his victory over Veretennikov, Vanderford made his walk to the cage accompanied by “More Than a Feeling” by Boston. He is the first recorded fighter in organizational history to pick a track from this rock outfit.