The
Professional Fighters League plans to hitch its wagon to two
genuine action heroes when it kickstarts its 2022 schedule.
Clay
Collard will face
Jeremy
Stephens in the
PFL 1 main event on Wednesday at Esports Stadium Arlington in
Arlington, Texas, where competitors in the lightweight and light
heavyweight divisions begin their quests for $1 million. Collard
has rattled off four wins across his past five outings. He last
appeared on Aug. 13, when he wound up on the wrong side of a
unanimous decision against
Raush
Manfio in the 2021 lightweight semifinals. Stephens, meanwhile,
enters his organizational debut on a three-fight losing streak and
in search of his first victory since 2018. The
Alliance MMA mainstay has not competed outside the
Ultimate Fighting Championship in nearly 15 years.
As Collard and Stephens move ever closer to their potential
firefight at 155 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have
accompanied them to this point:
29: Years of age for Collard, who was born on March 10, 1993 in
Payson, Utah.
10: Collard victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting
for 50% of his career total (20). His list of victims includes
Lucas
Montoya,
Steve Sharp
and
Dustin
Collins. Collard holds three other victories by submission and
seven more by decision.
44: Seconds needed for Collard to put away
Steve
Walser with punches at Showdown Fights 7 on May 4, 2012. Having
occurred nearly a decade ago, it remains his fastest finish to
date.
5: States in which Collard has plied his MMA trade. He has gone
16-4 with one no contest in his native Utah, 2-2 in Nevada, 2-0 in
New Jersey, 0-1 in Oklahoma and 0-1 in Florida. Collard has also
fought once in Mexico, where he lost a unanimous decision to
Gabriel
Benitez at UFC 188 on June 13, 2015.
.680: Cumulative winning percentage between the nine men—Manfio,
Benitez,
Darrick
Minner,
Tiago
dos Santos e Silva,
Max
Holloway,
Justin
Buchholz,
David
Castillo,
Oliver
Parker and
Jose
Salgado—who have defeated Collard. They boast a combined record
of 153-70-2.
35: Years of age for Stephens, who was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on
May 26, 1986.
19: Stephens wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
68% of his career total (28). His list of victims includes
Josh Emmett,
Doo Ho
Choi,
Dennis
Bermudez and
Rafael dos
Anjos. Stephens owns two other wins by submission and seven
more by decision.
18: Knockdowns landed by Stephens as a member of the UFC roster,
tying him with former middleweight champion
Anderson
Silva for second on the promotion’s all-time list. Only
Donald
Cerrone (20) has been credited with more.
76: Rounds completed by Stephens as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on 19 different occasions and
carries a 7-12 record in those bouts.
508: Combined victories between the 19 men who have beaten
Stephens: Gamrot, Holloway, Cerrone,
Calvin
Kattar,
Yair
Rodriguez,
Zabit
Magomedsharipov,
Jose Aldo,
Renato
Carneiro,
Frankie
Edgar,
Charles
Oliveira,
Cub Swanson,
Yves
Edwards,
Anthony
Pettis,
Melvin
Guillard,
Gleison
Tibau,
Joe Lauzon,
Spencer
Fisher,
Din Thomas and
Chris
Mickle. They sport a cumulative .711 winning percentage
(508-199-7).