Clay
Collard appears to have an inside track to a
Professional Fighters League playoff berth, though the events
that unfold in the coming days figure to have the final say.
“Cassius” will do battle with two-time
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder
Steven Ray in
a three-round
PFL 6 lightweight showcase on Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in
Atlanta. Collard has won six of his past eight fights. He last
competed at PFL 3, where he laid claim to a unanimous decision over
20-year-old Japanese prospect
Yamato
Nishikawa. Ray, meanwhile, enters the cage on the heels of
back-to-back losses. He last appeared on April 14, when he wound up
on the wrong side of a unanimous verdict against
Natan
Schulte.
As Collard and Ray approach their high-stakes confrontation at 155
pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to
this point:
30: Years of age for Collard, who was born on March 10, 1993 in
Payson, Utah.
10: Collard wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
45% of his career total (22).
Dustin
Collins,
Steve Sharp
and
Lucas
Montoya highlight his list of victims. Collard holds three
other wins by submission (14%) and nine more by decision (41%).
44: Seconds needed for Collard to put away
Steve
Walser with punches at a Showdown Fights event on May 4, 2012.
More than 11 years later, it remains his fastest finish to
date.
248: Significant strikes landed by Collard during his four-fight
stay in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He absorbed 294 in
return.
169: Combined victories between the 10 opponents—
Alex
Martinez,
Raush
Manfio,
Darrick
Minner,
Tiago
dos Santos e Silva,
Gabriel
Benitez,
Max
Holloway,
Justin
Buchholz,
David
Castillo,
Oliver
Parker and
Jose
Salgado—who have defeated Collard. They sport a cumulative .686
winning percentage at 169-77-1.
33: Years of age for Ray, who was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on
March 25, 1990.
9: Ray victories by submission, accounting for 36% of his career
total (25). His methods of choice: three rear-naked chokes, one
brabo choke, one heel hook, one arm-triangle choke, one triangle
armbar, one armbar and one twister. Ray owns six other victories by
knockout or technical knockout (24%) and 10 more by decision
(40%).
57: Rounds completed by Ray as a professional mixed martial artist.
He has gone the distance on 15 different occasions and carries a
10-5 record in those bouts.
10: Organizations for which Ray has plied his mixed martial arts
trade. In addition to his 2-3 mark in the PFL, he has gone 7-4 in
the UFC, 4-2 in Cage Warriors, 4-1 in On Top, 4-0 in the Scottish
Fight Challenge, 1-1 in the British Association of Mixed Martial
Arts, 1-0 in Caledonian Combat, 1-0 in MMA Total Combat, 1-0 in
Brawl at the Bay and 0-1 in Honour.
.749: Cumulative winning percentage between the 12
opponents—Martinez, Schulte,
Olivier
Aubin-Mercier,
Leonardo
Santos,
Kajan
Johnson,
Paul Felder,
Alan
Patrick,
Ivan
Buchinger,
Curt
Warburton,
Assan Njie,
Nicholas
Musoke and
Dan Hope—who
have beaten Ray. They boast a combined record of 221-73-3.