UFC Fight Night 251 post-event facts: The 40-year-old's thrive in victory
The UFC's busy February schedule rolled on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 251, which went down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and featured six finishes out of 12 fights.
In the main event, former middleweight title challenger Jared Cannonier (18-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) avoided the first three-fight losing skid of his career when he fended off the surging Gregory Rodrigues (16-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC) with a fourth-round TKO in a wild comeback.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie's post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 251.
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Event stats
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The UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payout for the event totaled $186,000.
Debuting fighters went 2-0 at the event.
Cannonier, Rodrigues, Edmen Shahbazyan and Gabriel Bonfim earned $50,000 UFC Fight Night 251 fight-night bonuses.
The UFC sold VIP tickets to fans for UFC Fight Night 251, but the promotion did not make public the total number of tickets sold or the gate.
Betting favorites went 9-3 on the card.
Betting favorites fell to 2-3 in UFC headliners this year.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 2:06:09.
Jared Cannonier def. Gregory Rodrigues
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Cannonier improved to 8-4 since he dropped to the UFC middleweight division in November 2018.
Cannonier has earned 13 of his 18 career victories by stoppage. He's finished all seven of his UFC finished by knockout.
Cannonier's five knockout victories in UFC middleweight competition are tied for most among active fighters in the weight class.
Rodrigues has suffered all four of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
Youssef Zalal def. Calvin Kattar
Youssef Zalal (17-5-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) improved to 4-0 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in March 2024.
Zalal has earned four of his seven UFC victories by decision.
Calvin Kattar's (23-9 MMA, 7-7 UFC) four-fight losing skid is the longest of his career. He hasn't earned a victory since January 2022.
Kattar has suffered six of his seven UFC losses by decision.
Edmen Shahbazyan def. Dylan Budka
Shahbazyan (14-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) has earned 13 of his 14 career victories by stoppage.
Dylan Budka's (7-5 MMA, 0-3 UFC) three-fight losing skid is the longest of his career. He hasn't earned a victory since September 2023.
Budka has suffered three of his five career losses by stoppage.
Nazim Sadykhov def. Ismael Bonfim
Nazim Sadykhov (10-1-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC) has earned nine of his 10 career victories by stoppage. That includes all three of his UFC wins.
Ismael Bonfim (20-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has suffered all five of his career losses by stoppage.
Jose Delgado def. Connor Matthews
Jose Delgado (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned all nine of his career victories by stoppage.
Connor Matthews (7-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has suffered two of his three career losses by stoppage.
Matthews has suffered both of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
Angela Hill def. Ketlen Souza
Angela Hill (18-14 MMA, 13-14 UFC) improved to 12-11 since she returned to the UFC for a second stint in February 2017.
Hill’s 12 victories in UFC strawweight competition are most in divisional history.
Hill has earned 10 of her 13 UFC victories by decision.
Hill has landed 2,122 significant strikes in UFC competition, the third-most in company history behind Max Holloway (3,457) and Sean Strickland (2,197).
Ketlen Souza (15-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of her career.
Rafael Estevam def. Jesus Aguilar
Rafael Estevam (13-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned both of his UFC victories by decision.
Jesus Aguilar (11-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of his career.
Gabriel Bonfim def. Khaos Williams
Bonfim (17-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has earned 16 of his 17 career victories by stoppage. That includes three of his four UFC wins.
Khaos Williams (15-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) suffered the first stoppage loss of his career with a technical submission defeat.
Elijah Smith def. Vince Morales
Vince Morales (11-9 MMA, 3-7 UFC) suffered his fourth consecutive loss in UFC competition. He hasn't earned an octagon victory since December 2021.
Morales fell to 0-2 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in September 2024.
Morales has suffered six of his seven UFC losses by decision.
Valter Walker def. Don'Tale Mayes
Valter Walker (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has earned both of his UFC victories by submission.
Valter has earned two heel hook submission victories in UFC heavyweight competition. There has been five overall such finishes in divisional history.
Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Julia Avila
Jacqueline Cavalcanti's (9-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) three-fight UFC winning streak at women's bantamweight is tied for the third-longest active streak in the division behind Ailin Perez (five) and Macy Chiasson (four).
Cavalcanti has earned all four of her UFC victories by decision.
Julia Avila (9-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has suffered two of her three UFC losses by decision.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC Fight Night 251.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on X @MJCflipdascript.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Fight Night 251 post-event facts: The 40-year-old's thrive in victory
