UFC Fighter of the Year: A Data Viz Story
Tags: UFC, Sportsviz, Sports, Data Visualization, Analytics

UFC Fighter of the Year: A Data Viz Story

What does the data tell us about who should be crowned UFC Fighter of the year?

Fighter of the Year. Adesanya vs Masvidal

This past year, the UFC presented some great fights, and in the process, showcased some rising stars. There are, however, two fighters who are in contention for Fighter of the Year.

One came from the backstreets of Florida, engaging in street fights in his youth, rising up the ranks in professional martial arts and ultimately becoming the “Baddest Motherf****r” (or BMF) in the game. His name? Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, a man who put in years of work before being recognised as a global superstar, and what well deserved recognition it was. He earned the Fastest KO in UFC history, knocking out Ben Askren in five seconds (three seconds unofficially).

The other fighter came from across the Pacific seas, from a small country packed with enormous talent. He trained in Auckland, New Zealand, starting off as a kickboxer, becoming the King of the Ring Champion in New Zealand, before becoming a Middleweight Champion in Glory Kickboxing and, ultimately in the space of 14 months, becoming the Middleweight King of the UFC. His name? Israel Adesanya, “The Last Stylebender,” the pride of Nigeria and New Zealand. His rise to the middleweight crown is nothing short of legendary.

By getting the belt in 14 months and becoming the new face of the UFC, Israel Adesanya proved to the world he deserves to be remembered amongst the best of them. In comparison, the man he took the belt from, Robert Whittaker, had a three-year rise in the UFC before getting the belt from Yoel Romero. This is a similar story to current light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who also took close to three years to become champion. In comparison, Adesanya’s rise is unheard of, to say the least.

Both fighters are truly deserving of being the Fighter of the Year, as they both pulled off miraculous feats. But who deserves to be “the” Fighter of the Year? In the spirit of data-driven analysis, data visualization can illustrate some key statistics for both fighters and provide a starting point towards a deeper conversation. Let’s take a closer look!

Fight Stats in the UFC

The graph above shows the fight stats from the fighters during their time in the UFC. Israel Adesanya has still yet to be defeated in the two years he has been in the organisation, an absolutely striking statistic. Masvidal has been in the UFC since 2013, and has incurred some losses during his time. Both fighters, though, have never been knocked out or lost by submission in the UFC.

This is a testament to their divergent but highly effective fighting styles. Adesanya is a striking guru, with hidden ground strengths waiting to be seen. We saw hints of his true ground power against Kevin Gastelum, when he bounced off his back and almost locked in an arm triangle, that showed us what he is truly capable of. As for his striking, he is top of the class; from his kickboxing days, he has totaled 29 knockouts in his 75 wins. I believe we can see something similar in his time at the UFC. Adesanya is an intelligent fighter, in his own words:

“I don’t throw and hope, I aim and fire.”

He is never one to rush for a knockout, he searches and searches patiently before his opponent is where he wants him to be. His patience helps to explain his high win decision rate, as sometimes the knockout just isn’t there.

Masvidal, on the other hand, came from the streets of Florida. We saw him on an old jittery video on YouTube during the Kimbo Slice days. Masvidal is a fighter, coming for your head every chance he gets. He is a warrior in every sense of the word, and his fighting style reflects it. Apart from his superior striking skills, he is a wizard on the ground too, an American wrestler who is competent in all areas of the cage. It was strange, as his raw dog style wasn’t reflected in his early days in the UFC; in fact, he had the most split decision losses in the UFC at the beginning of his career. It all changed in 2019 though, with three KO’s in his last three fights. Has the UFC has finally awoken a hidden beast?

Fights Per Year

Masvidal, during his six years in the UFC has an average of 2.9 fights a year. That is a highly active figure, and it shows just how hard he works relative to his fellow welterweights. To put that into context, Tyron Woodley has an average of 2 fights a year, Kamaru Usman does 2.6 fights a year, and his ex-best friend Colby Covington averages 2.2 fights per year. Israel Adesanya, since being in the UFC for a little over two years, averages 2.4 fights per year, the same as Robert Whittaker. Kevin Gastelum has an average of 2.3, while Paulo Costa 1.8, and Yoel Romero averages 1.7 fights per year. This stat has a bit of a bias because of the fighting age of the fighters, but so far, there is a high degree of confidence that Israel will maintain his average in the coming years.

While Adesanya is slightly behind Masvidal, they’re both workhorses and among the most active in their respective weight classes and in the UFC

PPV Attendance over Time

The graphic above shows each fighters’ bouts during the UFC, and how the UFC have benefitted from these fighters. Clearly Masvidal has been in the game a lot longer, but he wasn’t always so prominent. He was usually a prelim fighter from 2013–2016; it was only after his win against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone that he started being recognised with more main card slots. However, after his breakout win with Cerrone, he followed it by two consecutive split decision losses by Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson.

This gave him the record for most split decision losses in the UFC. It was around then that he took a year away from the ring to realign his mind, body and soul, and he came back stronger than ever. During his hiatus he began to think about his losses in the UFC, and how he could remedy them.

“I need to end guys, I need to stop thinking like a peasant.”

Masvidal realised the record he held was not something he wanted on his conscience. He set his mind to becoming a finisher, not leaving fights up to the judges, and ultimately separating himself from the pack. Lo and behold, when he returned, he did just that, knocking out Darren Till in London, having the fastest KO in history against Ben Askren, and ultimately becoming the BMF by a TKO of Nate Diaz.

The numbers he pulled in after his time off was a massive benefit to both the UFC and himself, as he was starting to become a global superstar. UFC 244 pulled in $6.5 million, with an attendance of more than 20,000, and even more importantly, the genesis of an entirely new belt, the BMF belt. It was such an anticipating fight that even Dana White, the commander in chief decided to create a new belt for the fight, something that will go down as one of the greatest marketing feats Masvidal and Diaz pulled off for the UFC.

Around the time Masvidal returned to the cage though, there was a new dog in the yard. After this newcomer’s very first fight you could tell there was an aura about him, proclaiming that he would be the new Middleweight champion, which was undoubtedly met by naysayers and haters. However, there were a few true fans who knew Adesanya meant what he said, after watching his dominance in New Zealand and China.

In his time in the UFC, Adesanya had only one prelims slot, before being ticketed as a Main Card, Co-Main and Headliner. Each fight brought bigger and bigger numbers. His fight with Kevin Gastelum will go down as one of the greatest title fights ever. It was a five round war from start to finish, where Adesanya was willing to give his life in the cage. It showed his power, his spirit, and his impending place in the UFC’s legendary status.

If that wasn’t enough, he KO’d the reigning Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in two rounds, establishing Adesanya as the undisputed Middleweight king. UFC 243 brought in $5.47 million and had an attendance figure of 57,127. It should be no surprise then that Israel Adesanya is now the face of the UFC.

On Weight Record in UFC

Of course, a true professional must also have impeccable discipline, and it is no surprise that cutting weight is the battle before the battle in the UFC. The graph above shows the variations of weights for both fighters , they came in on-weight in all their fights even though they had small fluctuations here and there. Adesanya’s lowest weight was 183 pounds in his TKO win against Rob Wilkinson. His highest weight was 186 pounds in his decision win against Bradley Tavares.

The Middleweight limit goes from 171 to 185 pounds, which is shown the by dotted red lines. Adesanya has never had a problem making this weight, he has said he wants to go up to 205 to fight Jon Jones, or even Heavyweight (greater than 206 pounds) to fight the monstrous heavyweights. This will be an interesting journey for the Middleweight. He has already fought heavyweights in his past, but in the UFC … well thats a whole new level.

The Welterweight is anywhere from 156 to 170 pounds, and lightweight is anywhere from 146 to 155 pounds. You can see Masvidal put on a good amount of weight over the years switching from Lightweight to Welterweight, and being quite comfortable in doing so.

It all ultimately reflects both fighters to be true professionals; never once have they missed weight in the UFC despite various challenges and challengers. Masvidal has been both lightweight and welterweight and has always been one to make weight. Same goes for the Last Stylebender.

Biggest Wins

In order to remove recency bias, let’s recap the biggest wins both fighters have had over the past year. Masivdal’s resurgence into the UFC started with a KO of Darren Till, a Welterweight prospect, a sure-to-be champion. Masvidal was the underdog in this fight, away from home and relatively unknown. He put the entire welterweight division on alert after that KO. The great thing about Masvidal is that he doesn’t sell fights by being a prolific trash talker like some of his peers; he simply shows the fans just how tough he is with his fists alone.

Ben Askren was the instigator of trash talk for their next fight. Masvidal kept relatively silent during this time, and not wanting to mention him during interviews, he kept to himself. Seconds before entering the cage, the wide smile on Masvidal’s face said it all. He was coming for Ben Askren with all he had, and a few seconds later, the lights went out.

“Why did you put that bum in with me?” were Masvidal’s final words as he left the cage a bigger star than he entered.

Dana White sure was happy to sign Ben Askren to the UFC, as he became the gateway to one of the biggest fights of the year. After Diaz beat Anthony Pettis convincingly, he had one of the most chilling call outs of the UFC.

“My mans a gangster, but he ain’t no west coast gangster.”

The fans roared at the callout. Masvidal flashed the same trademark wide smile. He too wanted to see it, it needed to be done, and so it was. UFC 244 was soon set in New York’s Madison Square Garden, and what a way to showcase UFC’s 500th event.

In my opinion, it was a total dominance from Masvidal, who looked like he could not be touched. There was talk Diaz would come back better after Rounds 4 and 5, there is no arguing Nate Diaz is a warrior, and he could have come back. However in Round 2, a deep cut began forming around his eye, and in Round 3, it got too much to handle, with blood raining on the canvas. The doctors had to call the fight, and Masvidal deserved the win without any doubt. In doing so, he proved to the world he was in fact the Baddest Motherf****r the game has seen.

I believe Masvidal’s success story is truly an inspiring one for fans, a story of hard work, dedication, and rising from the ashes like a phoenix. He was honest with himself, he knew what needed to be done, and he did just that; it felt almost like a Rocky-esque reincarnation. Those three fights have given Masvidal a huge financial boost and a path to true superstardom. Well deserved, and next year only proves to be bigger and better.

On the flip side, although Adesanya’s last three fights don’t look as good on paper as Masvidal’s, it is fair to say his fights were a test for his legacy. With two decisions and a KO, it was a test he passed with flying colors.

It started with his fight against his idol, Anderson Silva. It lasted only three rounds, but what a masterclass it was. It felt like the torch had been passed on to the new generation of fighters. Israel Adesanya said it was more of a spiritual fight for him, as he was facing the man that brought him here in the first place. It really was some high level movie shit, and no doubt it would be the path of true dominance for Adesanya.

After getting through Anderson Silva, he put on an even better performance against Kevin Gastelum. Their five-round bout will inevitably go down as one of the greatest title fights ever. Whenever I feel lazy and don’t want to workout, I replay that fifth round and before I know it, I’ve got my gym gear on and ready to go, pumped up like no other pre-workout supplement could ever achieve. On paper, it will say Adesanya wins by Decision, but only those who watched the fight will know what he went through to get that “decision”.

It was a testament to his work ethic, his belief in his team and himself. It was the metamorphosis of a true martial artist. Just as a painter paints, as a singer sings, and a writer writes, a martial artist performs, and Adesanya is a performer. He has superseded the fighting aspect of martial arts and transcended to a new realm that very few reach.

After his win over Gastelum, he went on to KO Robert Whittaker in two rounds, making him the undisputed Middleweight champion. In his last three fights, Adesanya defeated a legend, a warrior and a champion. If the Fighter of the Year award accounts for the class of fighters everyone fought, well then in my opinion, Adesanya deserves it.

Fighter vs Fighter

It is clear that both Masvidal and Adesanya are deserving of the award, and to some degree, no matter how many stats are shown, there will always be debate as to who truly deserves it. The purpose of this article was not to show a definitive winner, but perhaps throw some options out there for debate. The judges’ criteria for picking the Fighter of the Year is unknown, and it would be virtually impossible to cover the full breadth of statistics.

All I can say is, that as a fan of the UFC, it has been a marvelous year of fights. Watching Masvidal’s resurgence and Adesanya’s rise in the UFC is what made, and keeps, me a fan of the sport. It’s fighters like that who put in years and years of work just to put on a exhilarating performance for us fans. That’s what I am most thankful for, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what is on offer next year. A new star perhaps? An unlikely comeback? From what we saw in 2019, it’s all possible.