This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
Per FightMetric, UFC Fight Night 121 set the record for the most fight time in UFC history and tied the record for the most decisions on a card. It was a long night to say the least.
The highest possible DraftKings score was 643 for a team composed of Fabricio Werdum, Jessica-Rose Clark, Elias Theodorou, Nik Lentz, Tai Tuivasa and Frank Camacho. Camacho, who earned 120 points for his win over Damien Brown, had the highest score of the night.
Fabricio Werdum won a striking battle against Marcin Tybura
Werdum came into this fight averaging 0.64 submission attempts per 15 minutes in the UFC. Against Tybura, he did not manage one attempt. Of course, FightMetric's definition of submission attempt is closer to a "near submission." Without the chance at a submission, Werdum went to his striking and performed quite well. He landed 6.2 significant strikes per minute, which is his highest rate since knocking off Cain Velasquez at UFC 188. Prior to this fight, nobody had landed more than three significant strikes against Tybura.
Werdum finished with the second highest DraftKings score of the night. He earned players 118.5 points based on 155 significant strikes, two passes and one takedown.
Jessica-Rose Clark outlanded Bec Rawlings scored the upset
Clark took this fight on short notice and made most the most of the opportunity. She outlanded Rawlings 101 to 65 and took the victory via split decision. In each and every round, Clark had the advantage in the striking game. Her output actually increased as the fight went on. She landed 5.5 significant strikes per minute in the first two rounds before landing 9.2 per minute in the final frame. The recent road has been tough for Rawlings. In her last four fights, she has been outlanded 299 to 200 on significant strikes.
Clark's pre-fight salary on DraftKings was only $7,600, but she ended up being part of most tournament-winning lineups after putting up 104.5 points.
Belal Muhammad won without his wrestling against Tim Means
Muhammad managed to win in the UFC for the first time without landing multiple takedowns. He attempted five against Means, but he only managed to land one. On the feet, he showed off improved striking. He landed all 88 of his significant strikes at distance -- that is, standing and not in the clinch. Going into this fight, he had only landed 81 percent of his significant strikes at distance. In the UFC, there are going to be fights when takedowns are hard to score. Muhammad showed that he can find other ways to win fights.
Normally a score below 100 is not good news for DraftKings players. However, on this card the average score was only 65.6, so Muhammad's 82 point total was still a helpful mark.
Jake Matthews struggled to land significant strikes against Bojan Velickovic
Matthews managed to control his bout against Velickovic with his wrestling. He scored four takedowns in the fight. However, he struggled to land meaningful strikes on the ground. He landed only eight significant strikes on the ground. Of the 50 strikes that he landed in the fight, only 20 were considered significant by FightMetric. Their definition of a significant strike is basically all strikes at distance and power strikes in the clinch and on the ground. Matthews is a solid wrestler, but he will need to learn to land power strikes on the ground to be successful against higher level competition.
Matthews had four passes and four takedowns, which usually result in a very high DraftKings score. However, he only landed 20 significant strikes, so he earned played only 77 points.
Elias Theodorou overwhelmed Dan Kelly with strikes
Theodorou is a much more active and much more diverse striker than Kelly. That was on full display in this fight. Theodorou landed 49 significant strikes to the head, 33 to the body and 36 to the legs of Kelly. He also attempted a whopping 261 strikes in the fight compared to only 113 for Kelly. Theodorou has had trouble when better strikers have forced him to move backwards. Kelly has heart, but his technical acumen was not sharp enough to pull the upset here.
Theodorou is not much of a finisher. In terms of DFS, he makes up for that by being an extremely active striker. He landed 118 significant strikes in this fight and ended up with 94 DraftKings points.
Alexander Volkanovski starched Shane Young in decision victory
This was a one-sided performance by Volkanovski. He outlanded Young 68 to 18. He landed 59 percent of his significant strikes and avoided 78 percent of Young's attempts. This was an impressive showing, and it will be interesting to see how he does against better opposition.
Volkanovski had the third-highest score of the night. He earned players 116 points based on 68 significant strikes, nine passes and five takedowns.
