This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
The UFC trekked to Sao Paulo on Saturday for a card with a makeshift main event. Jimi Manuwa pulled out of his scheduled bout with Thiago Santos on Aug. 14, but luckily for the UFC, Eryk Anders stepped up on short notice and put on a show. 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 FightMetric.com.
Thiago Santos dominates the striking against Eryk Anders
Anders took this fight on extremely late notice, and while he was game for stretches, he really struggled in the standing portion of the fight. At distance, Santos outlanded Anders 41 to 17. In the clinch, the Brazilian outlanded the former college football player 46 to 6. Anders was able to score six takedowns, which kept it close. However, the striking advantage was simply too much. In the end, Santos landed 100 significant strikes at 65 percent and stopped the fight in the third round.
Santos had one of the night's best performances in the cage and in the DFS world. He had the second-highest score of the night with 108 DraftKings points. Thanks to 100 significant strikes, one pass, one takedown and one reversal, he finished only half a point behind Augusto Sakai, who had the highest score of the night on the undercard.
Alex Oliveira quickly eliminates Carlo Pedersoli
Oliveira has now has four knockout victories in his UFC career, but none of the previous were as quick as this one. He needed only 39 seconds to put away Pedersoli. During that time, he landed 7 significant strikes, with those all landing to his opponent's head. While it is a small sample size, Oliveira's accuracy was very impressive. He landed 70 percent of his attempted significant strikes including five of six once the fight hit the floor.
While DraftKings players always hope for a quick finish, Oliveira may have finished Pedersoli too quickly. He earned only 93.5 points, because he did not really have time to earn points other than the 90-point first-round finish bonus. Oliveira has proven that he can finish with his striking and his submission game, and he is always worth playing when facing opponents at this level.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira turns back the clock against Sam Alvey
Normally Alvey is the fighter who ignores volume in favor of landing the big power shot, but in this fight, that was Nogueira. Alvey actually outlanded his opponent 34 to 26 on significant strikes. In the end, Nogueira landed the one that mattered most. In the second round, he landed 14 significant strikes at 51 percent and finished the fight. This was Nogueira's first finished in the UFC since he bested Patrick Cummins at UFC 198 in 2016.
Nogueira finished with the seventh-highest DraftKings score of the night with 93 points. Entering the night, his price in DraftKings was low, as many thought his chin could not stand up to power strikes at his age. That likely may be the case going forward, so players should be careful picking a fighter on the wrong side of 40.
Andre Ewell dominates former bantamweight champion after first-round knockdown
Ewell only landed four significant strikes in the first round. However, one of them was a knockdown, which sent Barao to the floor. From there, the fight was all Ewell. Over the next two rounds, he outlanded the former bantamweight champion 49 to 25 on significant strikes. Barao had success with his ground game in the first round. He landed a pair of takedowns and 15 significant ground strikes. In rounds two and three, he managed to land only a single significant ground strike.
Ewell finished with 71.5 DraftKings points, which was the 11th-highest score of the night. Even though that score is not going to light the world on fire, his pre-fight price was rather low ($7700) since he was the underdog. While it is not the best score, some players may have gotten back good value on Ewell.
Randa Markos and Marin Rodriguez fight to a draw
In the first round, Markos scored a takedown and did solid work from the top position. She passed three times and landed 10 significant ground strikes. This also took Rodriguez out of her game, as she only landed four significant strikes in the frame. However, the next two rounds played out mostly on the feet. Rodriguez outlanded Markos 58 to 34 on significant strikes in the final two rounds.
While most fans dislike draws, DFS players find them particularly unpleasant. In draws, neither fighter earns the win bonus, so both fighters are left with subpar scores. For this fight, Markos finished with 46 points, while Rodriguez ended up with 35.
