Neither
Ion
Cutelaba nor
Ryan Spann
plan to shrink when confronted with a harsher
Ultimate Fighting Championship spotlight, as they will do
battle in the
UFC on ESPN 36 co-main event this Saturday at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas. The encounter brims with opportunity.
Cutelaba has compiled a 5-5-1 record across his 11 assignments
inside the Octagon. The tightly wound Moldovan last competed at UFC
Fight Night 192, where he laid claim to a unanimous decision over
Devin
Clark in September. Spann, meanwhile, has won nine of his past
11 bouts. The
Fortis
MMA export last appeared on Sept. 18, when he submitted to a
rear-naked choke in the first round of their UFC Fight Night “Smith
vs. Spann” headliner.
As Cutelaba and Spann march toward their battleground, a look at
some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
28: Years of age for Cutelaba, who was born on Dec. 14, 1993 in
Chisinau, Moldova.
12: Cutelaba wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
75% of his career total (16). His list of UFC victims:
Khalil
Rountree,
Gadzhimurad
Antigulov and
Henrique
da Silva . Cutelaba holds two other wins by submission and two
more by decision.
7: Sub-minute finishes on the Cutelaba resume, highlighted by his
seven-second knockout of
Alexandru
Stoica at World Warriors Fighting Championship “Cage Encounter
1” on June 14, 2014 and an eight-second knockout of
Malik Merad
at WWFC “Cage Encounter 4” on Sept. 19, 2015.
10: Consecutive calendar years in which Cutelaba has fought at
least once. He went 3-0 in 2012, 2-1 with one no contest in 2013,
3-0 in 2014, 3-0 in 2015, 1-2 in 2016, 1-0 in 2017, 1-0 in 2018,
1-1 in 2019, 0-2 in 2020 and 1-0-1 in 2021.
.767: Cumulative winning percentage between the five
opponents—
Magomed
Ankalaev (twice),
Glover
Teixeira,
Jared
Cannonier,
Misha
Cirkunov and
Michal
Andryszak—who have defeated Cutelaba. They own a combined
record of 102-31.
30: Years of age for Spann, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee on
Aug. 24, 1991.
11: Spann wins by submission, accounting for 58% of his career
total (19). His methods of choice: eight guillotine chokes and
three rear-naked chokes. Spann owns five other wins by knockout or
technical knockout and three more by decision.
8: Seconds needed for Spann to flatten
Larry Crowe
with punches at Legacy Fighting Championship 42 on June 26, 2015.
Having occurred nearly seven years ago, it remains his fastest
finish to date.
5: Light heavyweight champions, including Spann, in the history of
the
Legacy Fighting Alliance organization.
Julius
Anglickas,
Alex
Polizzi,
Fabio
Cherant and
Joshua
Silveira are the others.
106: Combined victories between the seven opponents—Smith,
Johnny
Walker,
Karl
Roberson,
Trevin
Giles,
Robert
Drysdale,
Leo Leite and
Brandon
Farran—who have beaten Spann. They boast a cumulative .697
winning percentage (106-46).