By The Numbers: Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum

A showdown between Top 10 middleweights will headline UFC on ESPN 22, as former champion Robert Whittaker locks horns with “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner Kelvin Gastelum on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Gastelum draws the assignment as a short-notice replacement for Paulo Costa, who withdrew from the event due to an illness.

Whittaker has rattled off 11 wins across his past 12 outings. He last competed at UFC 254 in October, when he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Jared Cannonier. Gastelum, meanwhile, closed the book on a three-fight losing streak at UFC 258, where he took a unanimous verdict from onetime Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Ian Heinisch on Feb. 13.

As Whittaker and Gastelum make their final preparations, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

30: Years of age for Whittaker, who was born on Dec. 20, 1990 in Auckland, New Zealand—a whopping 6,752 miles from Ultimate Fighting Championship headquarters in Las Vegas.

675: Significant strikes landed by Whittaker as a UFC middleweight, placing him fifth on the promotion’s all-time list at 185 pounds. Only Michael Bisping (1,384), Chris Camozzi (800), Anderson Silva (770) and Brad Tavares (753) have connected with more.

5: Whittaker wins by submission, accounting for 23% of his career total. His methods of choice: three rear-naked chokes and two armbars. Whittaker owns nine other victories by knockout or technical knockout and eight more by decision.

7: Post-fight bonuses banked by Whittaker across his 16 appearances in the UFC. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” four times and “Performance of the Night” on three occasions, resulting in $350,000 of additional income.

11: Middleweight champions, including Whittaker, in UFC history. Silva, Bisping, Dave Menne, Murilo Bustamante, Evan Tanner, Rich Franklin, Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, Georges St. Pierre and Israel Adesanya are the others. Whittaker enjoyed a 660-day reign as champion, from Dec. 7, 2017 to Oct. 6, 2019.

29: Years of age for Gastelum, who was born in San Jose, California, on Oct. 24, 1991. “Other People’s Money,” “Frankie and Johnny,” “The Fisher King,” “Ricochet” and “Little Man Tate” were the Top 5 movies at the domestic box office at the time.

6: Gastelum wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 38% of his career total. His list of victims includes the aforementioned Bisping, Tim Kennedy and Nate Marquardt. Gastelum owns four other victors by submission and six more by decision.

.785: Cumulative winning percentage between the six men—Adesanya, Weidman, Jack Hermansson, Darren Till, Neil Magny and Tyron Woodley—who have defeated Gastelum. They own a combined record of 117-30-2.

124: Significant strikes landed by Gastelum in a unanimous decision over former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016. It remains a high-water mark for the Rafael Cordeiro protégé.

5: First-round finishes to Gastelum’s credit, highlighted by his 55-second rear-naked choke submission of Bill Smallwood at a Ringside Unified Fighting event in 2012.