Two welterweights on the heels of extended layoffs will face one
another when the
Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to London, as
Gunnar
Nelson takes on
Takashi
Sato in a featured
UFC Fight Night 204 attraction on Saturday at the O2 Arena.
Nelson enters the cage on a two-fight losing streak. The
Renzo
Gracie-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has not competed
since he dropped a unanimous decision to
Gilbert
Burns at UFC Fight Night 160 on Sept. 28, 2019—more than 900
days ago. Sato, meanwhile, has two of his past three bouts. He last
appeared at UFC on ESPN 18, where he tapped to a second-round
arm-triangle choke from
Miguel
Baeza on Nov. 28, 2020.
As Nelson and Sato make final preparations for their confrontation
at 170 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied
them to this point:
33: Years of age for Nelson, who was born on July 28, 1988 in
Akureyri, Iceland.
12: Nelson victories by submission, accounting for 71% of his
career total (17). His methods of choice: seven rear-naked chokes,
two armbars, two guillotine chokes and one neck crank. Nelson owns
four other victories by knockout or technical knockout and one more
by decision.
25: Rounds completed by Nelson as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on six different occasions and
carries a 1-4-1 record in those bouts.
11: First-round finishes on the Nelson resume, with three of them
having taken place inside the Octagon. He submitted
DaMarques
Johnson with a rear-naked choke in 3:34 at UFC on Fuel TV 5,
dismissed
Omari
Akhmedov with a guillotine choke in 4:36 at UFC Fight Night 37
and took care of
Brandon
Thatch with a rear-naked choke in 2:54 at UFC 189.
.779: Cumulative winning percentage between the five
opponents—Burns,
Leon
Edwards,
Santiago
Ponzinibbio,
Demian Maia
and
Rick
Story—who have defeated Nelson. They boast a combined record of
116-33.
31: Years of age for Sato, who was born in Tokyo on June 9,
1990.
11: Sato wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 73%
of his career total (15). His list of victims includes
Jason Witt,
Ben
Saunders,
Matt Vaile
and
Masayuki
Hamagishi. Sato holds two other wins by submission and two more
by decision.
29: Seconds needed for Sato to punch out
Yasuaki
Miura at a Tribe Tokyo Fight show on Nov. 3, 2014. Having
occurred more than seven years ago, it remains the fastest finish
of his 19-fight career.
5: Organizations in which Sato has plied his mixed martial arts
trade. He has gone 9-2 in
Pancrase,
2-2 in the UFC, 2-0 in Deep, 1-0 in Grandslam MMA and 1-0 in Tribe
Tokyo Fight.
68: Combined victories between the four men—Baeza,
Belal
Muhammad,
Glaico
Franca and
Kenta
Takagi—who have beaten Sato. They sport a cumulative winning
.673 (68-33) winning percentage.