By The Numbers: Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori

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Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori will settle their differences inside the Octagon when the Top 5 contenders square off in the UFC Fight Night 196 main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Both men have already lost to reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight titleholder Israel Adesanya.

Costa enters the cage with a 5-1 record under the UFC banner. The former Jungle Fight champion last competed at UFC 253, where he succumbed to punches and elbows from Adesanya in the second round of their lopsided Sept. 26, 2020 encounter. Vettori, meanwhile, has won five of his past six bouts. The Kings MMA export last appeared on June 12, when he dropped a unanimous verdict to Adesanya in a failed bid to unseat “The Last Stylebender” at UFC 263.

As Costa and Vettori make their final preparations, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

30: Years of age for Costa, who was born on April 21, 1991 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

11: Costa victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 85% of his career total (13). His list of UFC victims: Uriah Hall, Johny Hendricks, Oluwale Bamgbose and Garreth McClellan. Costa owns one other victory by submission—he dispatched Eduardo Ramon with a rear-naked choke at Jungle Fight 87 on May 21, 2016—and one more by decision.

7.03: Strikes landed by Costa per minute of UFC competition, placing him eighth on the promotion’s all-time list in the category. Only Sean O’Malley (8.37), Daniel Rodriguez (8.24), Leslie Smith (7.56), Justin Gaethje (7.46), Shane Burgos (7.29), Max Holloway (7.26) and Cristiane Justino (7.07) rank ahead of him.

32: Seconds needed for Costa to cut down Ademilson Borges Duarte with a head kick and follow-up punches at an Upper Fight MMA Championship show on June 15, 2013. Having occurred more than eight years ago, it remains the fastest finish of his 14-fight career.

58: Significant strikes by which Costa has outlanded the opposition in his five UFC victories. He has connected with 307 such strikes while absorbing only 249 in return from McLellan, Bamgbose, Hendricks, Hall and Yoel Romero.

28: Years of age for Vettori, who was born in Trento, Italy, on Sept. 20, 1993.

9: Vettori wins by submission, accounting for 53% of his career total (17). His methods of choice: four rear-naked chokes, three guillotine chokes, one triangle choke and one toe hold. Vettori holds two other wins by knockout or technical knockout and six more by decision.

4: Active UFC middleweights, including Vettori (50:14), who have accrued at least 50 minutes of control time inside the Octagon. Derek Brunson (1:04:26), Ed Herman (1:00:12) and Chris Weidman (56:57) are the others.

164: Significant strikes landed by Vettori in a five-round unanimous decision over Jack Hermansson in their UFC on ESPN 19 main event in December 2020. It was the third-highest total ever recorded by a UFC middleweight, exceeded only by Sean Strickland and Deron Winn. Strickland connected with 186 of them in a unanimous decision over Uriah Hall at UFC on ESPN 28, while Winn delivered 169 of them in a unanimous decision over Eric Spicely at UFC Fight Night 154.

.827: Cumulative winning percentage between the four men—Adesanya (twice), Antonio Carlos Jr., Bill Beaumont and Alessandro Grandis—who have defeated Vettori. They boast a combined record of 43-8-1.