This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
On Saturday the UFC returned to New York for UFC Fight Night 152. In the main event, a pair of former lightweights faced off at welterweight. In the end, the former lightweight champion took home the submission victory in a back-and-forth battle. The following is a by-the-numbers recap that highlights the stats and milestones that stood out on the main card, with stats courtesy of UFCStats.com.
Rafael dos Anjos survives the wrestling exchanges and stops Kevin Lee in the fourth
One of the big questions surrounding Lee's move up to welterweight was about how his physical wrestling style would translate against larger fighters. He had a lot of success with his wrestling, as he was able to score six takedowns. However, it took 16 attempts to earn those six takedowns, and Dos Anjos was able to land four takedowns of his own and ultimately finish the fight on the floor.
In terms of distance striking, Dos Anjos was expected to have the advantage, and that turned out to be the case. He outlanded Lee 33 to 27 when they were standing and not in the clinch. The former lightweight champion really needed this victory, not only to stop his losing momentum, but also to show that he can handle someone who wants to pin him against the cage and wrestle him. It remains to be seen if his success here was due at least in part due to Lee's size. The welterweight division has always been full of wrestlers, so Dos Anjos will likely get that chance again.
For the fourth-round finish, Dos Anjos earned players on DraftKings 107 points. Some DFS players may have worried that Lee would nullify the Brazilian's offensive grappling and volume striking, but that did not end up happening. Dos Anjos scored via 60 significant strikes, four takedowns, four passes and one reversal.
Ian Heinisch survives on the ground against Antonio Carlos Junior
In the first round, it looked like Carlos Junior was going to be able to run away with this fight on the ground. He scored three takedowns, two passes and eight significant strikes. However, he seemed to turn the switch between striking and grappling and failed to mix the techniques. His activity fell off a cliff in the next two rounds, and he landed only seven significant strikes combined. Heinish had the advantage in striking and outlanded Carlos Junior 39 to 15 overall on significant strikes. He held his own on the ground and even won some of the scrambles.
Most of this fight was a battle for position on the ground. Unfortunately for players who took Heinisch on DraftKings, this type of fight does not result in many points. He landed only 39 significant strikes, and he ended up with only 69.5 points. That was the lowest score on the night among winning fighters and only 25 points higher than "Shoeface."
Felicia Spencer announces her presence with quick win over Megan Anderson
Anderson had the bigger name going into this contest, and she appeared to have a pretty significant size advantage. However, Spencer took this fight to the ground early, and Anderson did not have any answers. Spencer landed one of her two takedown attempts, passed to the back and finished via rear naked choke. She is now 7-0 as a professional with four submission victories.
The quick upset via submission meant big points for players who took a chance on Spencer. She earned 109 points, which was tied for the third-highest score of the night.
Vicente Luque wins short war against newcomer Derrick Krantz
For his career, Luque lands 5.13 significant strikes per minute and absorbs 4.67 per minute. This means that he lands at a very high rate, but he also eats a lot of shots. That was certainly the case here. This fight was less than four minutes long, but Luque had to overcome some adversity. Krantz ran across the cage early and hurt his opponent before moving to a dominant position on the floor. However, they eventually returned to their feet where Luque had the advantage. For the fight, he landed 72 percent of his significant strike attempts and landed 18 times with a knockdown.
Against fighters at this level, Luque is almost a must-play type of guy on DraftKings. His fights tend to turn into quick knockouts or long battles with a ton of striking volume. He tied Spencer for the third highest score of the night with 109 points.
Charles Oliveira shows developing striking against Nik Lentz
Obviously Oliveira was going to have the advantage in this fight considering he previously stopped Lentz twice. However, the fashion in which he dispatched his opponent was rather impressive. Early in his UFC career, Oliviera was mostly a brawler who did his best work on the ground with his submissions. In this fight, he showed diverse and slick striking. He landed 38 significant strikes in the fight at a 64 percent clip. He did not stray entirely from his grappling roots as he nearly submitted Lentz with a guillotine. However, in the end, he stepped forward with a right hand and stopped the fight. This was the first stoppage via strikes in his UFC career.
Oliveira was perhaps the most dominant fighter on the card, and he put up the highest score of the night on DraftKings as well. He finished with 113 points for the second round finish. He was one takedown away from the full DraftKings cycle as he scored via 38 significant strikes, three passes, one reversal, one knockdown and the second-round finish bonus.
Davi Ramos pulls out decision over Austin Hubbard
Ramos came into this fight as high as a (-550) favorite. While he did take home the decision, he had more trouble than expected with Hubbard. During the fight, Ramos was only able to land three takedowns. He passed three times, but he only had legitimate submission opportunity. In all three rounds, Ramos had the edge on significant strikes, and he finished with the advantage 63 to 44 for the fight. Hubbard kept pace when it came to volume as he attempted 116 significant strikes compared to 114 attempts for Ramos. However, Ramos was much more accurate and landed 55 percent compared to only 37 percent for Hubbard.
Players who picked Ramos on DraftKings were probably hoping for a quick submission victory. Unfortunately for those folks, that did not turn out to be the case. In the end, he earned 85.5 points, which was the third lowest score among winning fighters on the night.
