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Everyone knows about some of the most famous UFC records and the fighters that hold them; Charles Oliveira, for instance, holds the record for most submission wins inside the Octagon with 12, while Donald Cerrone’s November win over Mike Perry gave him the record for not only the most UFC wins ever (21) but also the most finishes inside the Octagon as well (15).
Some UFC records, however, are far more obscure – this is usually because they’re simply not publicised, are held by fighters who have now been blacklisted by the promotion, or are for whatever reason not deemed overly important.
That doesn’t make them any less interesting though. Here are 5 UFC records you probably didn’t know about.
#1 Most pay-per-view main events – Randy Couture (18)
Randy Couture might be on the outs with the UFC now due to his 2013 move to Bellator – a move that saw him abandon a spot as a UFC analyst for Fox in the process – but it’s impossible to deny his status as a genuine headliner for the promotion over the years.
There have been bigger stars and more successful fighters than ‘The Natural’, but none have main evented as many UFC pay-per-view shows as Couture, who ended his active UFC career in 2011. ‘Captain America’ appeared in a total of 18 main events, beating out superstars like Georges St-Pierre (17), Anderson Silva (16) and Tito Ortiz (16).
The most likely reason for Couture holding this record is his sheer longevity. His first pay-per-view main event came all the way back in 1997 at Ultimate Japan, as he defeated Maurice Smith to win his first UFC Heavyweight title. His final main event came over a decade later, at 2010’s UFC 109, where he choked out a fellow legend in Mark Coleman in one of his final bouts.
Over his 18 main events, Couture fought 10 times as a Heavyweight and 8 times as a Light-Heavyweight. Impressively, he also came out on top in 11 of his pay-per-view main events – cementing his status as a legend even if the UFC no longer recognise him.
#2 Most total fight time – Frankie Edgar (6 hours, 27 minutes and 49 seconds)
Former UFC Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar has come under fire over the years and has often been labelled a ‘point-fighter’ due to the propensity for his fights going the distance and requiring the judges to decide a winner. The fact that he holds the record for most total fight time in the UFC would appear to back this up, but it’s also a record to be admired too.
Making his debut at 2007’s UFC 67, Edgar’s UFC record currently stands at an impressive 17-6-1, and only two of those losses have come at the hands of non-UFC champions – to Brian Ortega and Gray Maynard. He’s also only been finished on one occasion during his Octagon tenure.
On the other side of the coin, Edgar also hasn’t finished that many of his opponents when he’s come out on top; of his 17 wins, he’s only picked up 7 stoppages before the final buzzer. In total then, he’s been the distance on a remarkable 16 occasions.
Of those 16 fights, 8 of them were 5-round affairs, meaning even more cage time. Edgar’s current total cage time then stands at a massive 6 hours, 27 minutes and 49 seconds – over 20 minutes more than his nearest rival Michael Bisping, and the Brit has 5 more UFC fights than ‘The Answer’.
With Edgar not looking anywhere near the end of his career, we can expect this record to be extended even further by the New Jersey native – I wouldn’t even be surprised if he were to reach 10 hours inside the Octagon by the time he hangs up his gloves.
#3 Fastest submission – Oleg Taktarov vs. Anthony Macias (9 seconds)
This one’s a controversial one indeed. While it’s a well-known fact that Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig officially holds the record for the fastest knockout in UFC history with his 6-second 2006 finish of Jonathan Goulet, fewer people probably realise that the record for the fastest submission in UFC history dates all the way back to 1995 and UFC 6.
That’s likely because of the shroud of mystery that still surrounds Oleg Taktarov’s guillotine choke tapout of Anthony Macias. Russia’s Taktarov, considered a sambo expert by the UFC, was entered into the UFC 6 tournament and had qualified for the semi-finals by submitting Dave Beneteau with a guillotine earlier in the night.
He was supposed to face Patrick Smith in the semis, but instead found himself faced with alternate Macias due to an injury to Smith. And here’s where the controversy comes in; Macias shared a manager with Taktarov and when he was submitted so quickly, cries of “fix” immediately began – even from announcers Jeff Blatnick and Jim Brown.
In the years that have followed, Macias has claimed he was forced to throw the fight by his manager, and while it’s never been proven, the fact that this fight does appear to represent a rare example of a “worked” bout in the UFC likely explains why Taktarov’s record isn’t often mentioned.
#4 Most wins in a calendar year – Roger Huerta and Neil Magny (5 fights)
Rewind just over a decade, and Roger ‘El Matador’ Huerta was one of the hottest prospects inside the UFC. The first fighter to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine – who used an action shot of Huerta landing a front kick on Leonard Garcia – the Hispanic fighter was given a huge promotional push upon his UFC debut in 2006.
And for the early part of his UFC career at least, Huerta lived up to his side of the bargain. 2007 was a landmark year for the Lightweight, as he reeled off five victories in the calendar year, taking out John Halverson in February, Garcia in April, Doug Evans in June, Alberto Crane in August and finally Clay Guida in December.
Interestingly enough though – backing up the opinions of fans who saw Huerta as being “protected” by the UFC – 4 of Huerta’s victims that year were making their UFC debuts. After the Guida fight, things went swiftly downhill for ‘El Matador’ as he would only fight twice in the following 2 years and after 2 losses, left for Bellator in late 2009.
7 years later, Huerta’s record would be equalled by current Welterweight contender Neil Magny. 2014 saw him defeat Gasan Umalatov (February), Tim Means (May), Rodrigo de Lima (June), Alex Garcia (August) and William Macario (October).
While the 5 wins didn’t put him into title contention like Huerta’s did, his were arguably more impressive, as Means, Garcia and Macario were all seasoned UFC veterans by the time they fought Magny.
With the UFC’s roster still expanding and more shows expected with the ESPN deal, whether someone can go one better than Huerta and Magny and put together 6 wins in a calendar year is a huge question mark.
#5 Most knockdowns in a fight – Forrest Petz vs. Sammy Morgan (5)
Quite whether this record is an impressive one or a damning one is a bit of a question mark for me; few fans probably remember Forrest Petz, who fought 5 times in the UFC between 2006 and 2007, but he holds the record for the most knockdowns in a UFC fight – 5, during his debut fight against TUF veteran Sammy Morgan in August 2006.
Morgan, who had been viciously knocked out by Josh Burkman in his own UFC debut in October 2005, went down so many times that it seemed impossible that the fight would go the distance, and yet somehow Petz wasn’t able to put him away.
It’s debatable whether this showed a lack of knockout power on the behalf of Petz – who ended his MMA career in 2013 with 12 knockout wins of 26 overall victories – or simply showed a phenomenal chin on the part of Morgan; given ‘The Squeeze’ had only been knocked out once prior to the fight seems to suggest the latter.
Either way, Petz’s victory ended up being one of the most one-sided in UFC history, with one judge – Marcos Rosales – scoring the fight 30-23 in his favour. Given that he also dominated in the grappling department – 6 successful takedowns to Morgan’s 0, with 7 defended – it would simply appear that Petz was on another level to his opponent.
