Fight Facts: UFC Fight Night 130

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all 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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After 22 trips to the United Kingdom, the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Sunday finally touched down in the fighting city of Liverpool, England -- home of The Beatles -- and brought a bevy of hometown fighters with it. UFC Fight Night 130 featured the first first-round stoppage of an Octagon veteran’s career, a few fighters who returned to great success from extremely long layoffs and a couple mishaps on the scale along the way.

REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH: Giving out four “Performance of the Night” bonuses instead of two, UFC Fight Night 130 was the first card since UFC Fight Night 122 in November 2017 not to award a “Fight of the Night” bonus.

SKIN OF HIS TEETH: Darren Till remained undefeated after taking a controversial decision win over Stephen Thompson, bringing his record to 17-0-1.

BOLD STRATEGY, COTTON: Till joined John Lineker and Michel Prazeres as the only fighters in company history to miss weight by at least three pounds and win more than once. Till previously weighed in five pounds heavy against Jessin Ayari and won by decision.

FIRST FIRST: Neil Magny stopped the debuting Craig White in the first round of their co-main event, marking the first time he has ever won a fight inside the first five minutes.

RETURN TO FORM: Before he submitted Nordine Taleb, Claudio Henrique da Silva’s most recent bout had taken place at UFC Fight Night 56 in November 2014. When he recorded that last win, neither Gillian Robertson nor Molly McCann had begun their pro MMA careers. In between Silva’s appearances, Magny competed in 10 bouts inside the Octagon.

YOU MIGHT FEEL A LITTLE PRESSURE: In his fifth UFC appearance, Darren Stewart finally recorded his first win inside the Octagon, as he stopped Eric Spicely with punches. “The Dentist” initially won his promotional debut against Francimar Barroso, but it was later overturned due to an accidental head butt that led to the stoppage.

BLEW HIS HOUSE DOWN: Tom Breese knocked out Daniel Kelly in the first round and now sports 10 finishes in 11 career wins.

MISSING THE MARK: Missing weight by one pound, McCann became the first fighter in 2018 to miss weight and lose. The seven others all won. McCann joined John Lineker as the second fighter in UFC history to miss weight and get put to sleep by a submission.

SUPER FLYWEIGHT: Of the last 15 fighters to miss weight, the only two to do so and lose have been McCann and Karine Gevorgyan. They both compete in the UFC’s women’s flyweight division.

THE NUMBER 23: Having just celebrated her 23rd birthday, Gillian Robertson scored the 23rd rear-naked choke to put a fighter to sleep in UFC history.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into this event, the UFC had never been to the city of Liverpool, McCann had never been stopped and Till had never fought into the fifth round.

BOM BOM BOM: Till became the first recorded fighter in UFC history to ever walk out to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” the crowd erupting into song when it played in the arena. In his three previous fights, Till had walked out to Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” Said Till, “When I come out to those drums of Phil Collins, you’re going to know that I’m the [expletive] man” … In 13 recorded uses of Guns N’ Roses songs, only once has a fighter prevailed when accompanied by the band. It happened when Jake Matthews submitted Dashon Johnson at UFC Fight Night 43 in June 2014. Mads Burnell walked out to “Paradise City” and was likely up on the scorecards entering the third round before being submitted by Arnold Allen … In another recorded UFC walkout music first, Makwan Amirkhani walked out to Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” before his bout with Jason Knight, winning a close decision after being dropped twice in the first round. Amirkhani has now walked out to a different song in each of his five UFC appearances.

Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012, and while writing for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many UFC fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on twitter at @jaypettry.