UFC president Dana White is pushing Saturday’s UFC 254 pay-per-view card hard.
“This thing is trending off the charts for us right now,” White told TMZ. “So, today is Tuesday, it’s the end of Tuesday going into Wednesday, on Monday, this thing was trending to be the biggest fight we have ever had. Not Thursday, not Friday, Monday.”
“It is trending bigger than (UFC 229) right now,” White said. “Will the trend hold? One of the things that is a big negative for us is that it is not in primetime at home and it is hard to message that to people.”
A lightweight title unification bout headlines the ESPN+ steaming pay-per-view card. In that contest, Khabib Nurmagomedov puts his 28-0 record and his lightweight crown on the line against former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion and current UFC interim titleholder Justin Gaethje.
Before UFC 254 takes place at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, here are some facts, stats and numbers for Nurmagomedov and Gaethje.
Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje Facts, Stats and Numbers
| Nurmagomedov | Gaethje |
|---|---|
| Nurmagomedov | Gaethje |
| Nurmagomedov has the second longest winning streak in UFC lightweight history at 11. | Gaethje is on a four-fight winning streak, |
| Nurmagomedov ranks second in UFC lightweight history with three title fight wins. | Gaethje has one (interim) title fight win. |
| Nurmagomedov ranks 10th in UFC lightweight history in longest average fight time at 14:15 | Gaethje’s average fight time is 10:11. |
| Nurmagomedov ranks third in UFC lightweight history in control time at 1:28:13 | |
| Nurmagomedov ranks second in UFC lightweight history in control time percentage at 56.3% | |
| Nurmagomedov ranks third in UFC lightweight history with top position time of 1:03.33 | |
| Nurmagomedov ranks eighth in UFC lightweight history with top position percentage of 40.5% | |
| Nurmagomedov ranks seventh in UFC lightweight history in bottom position time of 1:46 | Gaethje ranks third in UFC lightweight history in bottom position time of 0:17. |
| Nurmagomedov ranks sixth in UFC lightweight history in bottom position percentage of 1.13% | Gaethje ranks third in UFC lightweight history in bottom position percentage of 0.4% |
| Nurmagomedov ranks second in UFC lightweight history in striking differential at plus 2.15 | Gaethje has a striking differential of minus 0.63 |
| Nurmagomedov ranks eighth in UFC lightweight history in strikes absorbed per minute at 1.70 | Gaethje absorbs 8.37 strikes per minute. |
| Nurmagomedov ranks second in UFC lightweight history in takedowns with 57 | Gaethje has zero takedowns. |
| Nurmagomedov has been awarded two-fight night bonuses. | Gaethje is tied for seventh in most fight-night bonuses in UFC lightweight history with 9. |
| Nurmagomedov’s significant striking accuracy is 49% | Gaethje ranks first in UFC lightweight history In significant striking accuracy of 59.2 % |
| Nurmagomedov lands 4.11 significant strikes per minute | Gaethje ranks first in UFC lightweight history In significant striking landed per minute at 7.74 |
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