By The Numbers: Justin Gaethje

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As one of the sport’s preeminent purveyors of pain and punishment, Justin Gaethje’s action hero reputation precedes him.

The blood-and-guts brawler will have his work cut out for him when he battles Tony Ferguson for the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title in the UFC 249 headliner on Saturday at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. A unification bout with undisputed champion Khabib Nurmagomedov awaits the winner in the second half of 2020, if all goes according to plan. Gaethje has rattled off three consecutive victories and finds himself back on the upswing after his first-round technical knockout of Donald Cerrone at UFC Fight Night 158 in September.

As “The Highlight” makes final preparations for his hotly anticipated showdown with Ferguson, here are some of the numbers that have come to define him:

31: Gaethje was born on Nov. 14, 1988 in Safford, Arizona—a city of less than 10,000 people in the southeast corner of the Grand Canyon State.

191: Wins as a prep wrestler at Safford High School, where he was a three-time state champion. Gaethje graduated with a 191-9 record and went on to become the University of Northern Colorado’s first NCAA All-American.

5: Promotions in which Gaethje has competed as a professional mixed martial artist. Now 4-2 in the UFC, he went 10-0 in the World Series of Fighting, 3-0 in Rage in the Cage, 3-0 in Ring of Fire and 1-0 in Brin the Thunder MMA.

18: Victories by knockout or technical knockout, nine of them inside one round. They account for 86 percent of Gaethje’s career total (21).

1: Submission win on his resume. Gaethje in his fifth professional outing disposed of Sam Young with a second-round rear-naked choke at a Rage in the Cage event.

2: Career defeats on Gaethje’s ledger. American Top Team’s Dustin Poirier and former Bellator MMA and UFC champion Eddie Alvarez were the perpetrators. 12: Seconds needed to knock out Drew Fickett at RITC 163 on Oct. 20, 2012. It remains the fastest finish of Gaethje’s career.

4: Fighters positioned ahead of Gaethje in the current UFC lightweight rankings. They are Nurmagomedov, Ferguson, Poirier and Conor McGregor.

7: Post-fight bonuses in six UFC appearances. Gaethje has been recognized for “Fight of the Night” four times and “Performance of the Night” on three occasions, providing him with an additional $350,000 of income.

8.57: Strikes landed per minute inside the Octagon—good for first on the UFC’s all-time list. Gaethje ranks ahead of Paulo Henrique Costa (8.43), Leslie Smith (7.56), Cory Sandhagen (7.14) and Shane Burgos (7.09).