Aljamain
Sterling
knew his position would require him to keep the wolves
at bay and likely expected a former champion to be at or near the
front of the pack.
The
Serra-Longo Fight Team will defend his undisputed
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight crown against
T.J.
Dillashaw in the
UFC 280 co-headliner on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates. Sterling steps inside the Octagon on the
strength of a seven-fight winning streak. He last appeared at UFC
273, where he took a split verdict from
Petr Yan in
their April 9 rematch. Dillashaw, meanwhile, has rattled off five
victories across his past six outings. He last competed on July 24,
when he eked out a split decision over
Cory
Sandhagen in their UFC on ESPN 27 main event.
As Sterling and Dillashaw take aim at one another in their struggle
for supremacy at 135 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that
have accompanied them to this point:
33: Years of age for Sterling, who was born on July 31, 1989 in
Uniondale, New York.
8: Sterling victories by submission, accounting for 38% of his
career total (eight). His methods of choice: five rear-naked
chokes, one arm-triangle choke, one guillotine choke and one
kneebar. Sterling holds two other victories by knockout or
technical knockout (10%), 10 more by decision (47%) and another by
disqualification (5%).
52: Rounds completed by Sterling as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on 12 different occasions and
carries a 10-2 record in those bouts.
12: Consecutive calendar years in which Sterling has fought at
least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2022, he went 5-0 in
2011, 2-0 in 2012, 1-0 in 2013, 2-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 0-1 in
2016, 2-2 in 2017, 2-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 1-0 in
2021.
.716: Cumulative winning percentage between the three men—
Marlon
Moraes,
Raphael
Assuncao and
Bryan
Caraway—who have beaten Sterling. They boast a combined record
of 73-28-1.
36: Years of age for Dillashaw, who was born on Feb. 7, 1986 in
Sonora, California.
8: Dillashaw wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
47% of his career total (17). His list of UFC victims:
Cody
Garbrandt (twice),
Renan Barao
(twice),
Joe Soto,
Hugo
Viana,
Issei
Tamura. Dillashaw owns three other wins by submission (18%) and
six more by decision (35%).
1,114: Significant strikes landed by Dillashaw as a UFC
bantamweight, placing him second on the promotion’s all-time list
at 135 pounds. Only
Rob Font has
connected with more (1,118).
153: Seconds needed for Dillashaw to put away
Vaughan Lee
with a neck crank at UFC on Fuel TV 4 on July 11, 2012. More than a
decade later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
90: Combined victories between the four men—Assuncao,
Henry
Cejudo,
Dominick
Cruz and
John
Dodson—who have defeated Dillashaw. They sport a cumulative
.763 winning percentage at 90-28.