UFC 131 Results: FightMetric Reports for Dos Santos vs. Carwin, Florian vs. Nunes, and Maia vs. Munoz

Last night’s judging was like watching Manny Ramirez shag flyballs in the outfield. The judges caught some balls hit right at ’em, wandered aimlessly and made an adventure of some routine shots, and completely misplayed others leaving themselves looking foolish and incompetent and making fans wonder why the manager continues to play them in the field instead of hitting as the DH.

As always, FightMetric brings us the gory details:

• Junior dos Santos turned Shane Carwin’s face into a bloody Mark Coleman mask with a huge disparity in the striking stats. Dos Santos outlanded Carwin 104-22 in total strikes and 88-20 in significant strikes, including a knockdown in the first round.
• Very little grappling in this one. Dos Santos successfully defended two of Carwin’s three takedowns, while completing two of his own to close the fight out late in the third round. FightMetric credited him with a pass to side control as well.
• FightMetric’s Effectiveness Score gave dos Santos a 482-110 advantage. Dos Santos scored more than half of his points in the first round, awarding him a 10-8 round.
• Dos Santos’ striking performance moves him to number two in significant strikes landed per minute at 6.79. Number one? UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at 7.46. Dos Santos and Velasquez are the only fighters above 5.5. According to FightMetric, “[t]he pair also sit atop the rankings in +/-, a stat that subtracts strikes absorbed per minute (SApM) from SLpM.”
• Carwin dropped from number one in significant strikes landed per minute to number eleven. He entered with 7.65 SLpM, and left with 4.44.
• Kenny Florian started slow in his featherweight debut. While Florian edged Diego Nunes in total strikes in round one (22-15), all of Nunes strikes were significant compared to half of Florian’s. Florian turned it up in rounds two and three, outlanding Nunes by a 90-19 margin (31-16 significant strikes) in the two rounds combined.
• FightMetric scored Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz a 29-29 draw, with a 10-10 score in the third round.
• Round one was all striking outside of one failed Munoz takedown attempt. Maia outlanded Munoz in every category, including total strikes (23-7) and significant strikes (20-5).
• Munoz dominated the second round. He won every striking category, including total strikes (53-4) and significant strikes (28-4), completing a takedown, and being credited for an arm triangle attempt. FightMetric credited Maia for his guillotine.
• The third round provided ambiguity. Munoz had slight edges in the striking, holding the advantage in total strikes (15-13) and significant strikes (11-8). Munoz completed 2 takedowns, but FightMetric credited Maia for his crank for the crucifix position. FightMetric, which requires a fighter to insert both hooks, did not credit Maia for taking the back.