2022 marked another successful year inside the UFC octagon. Records were broken, new champions were crowned, and unforgettable memories were made.
As the year comes to an end and we look forward to the exciting action awaiting us in 2023, let’s celebrate this incredible year by looking at a breakdown of 2022 through numbers:
Events
- 42 Events
- 21 events at UFC Apex
- 13 pay-per-views
- 5 countries
- 3 continents
- 16 cities
Fights
There were 511 total fights (including catchweight bouts). The lightweight division had the most fights in 2022 with 66.
- Heavyweight: 39
- Light Heavyweight: 35
- Middleweight: 64
- Welterweight: 62
- Lightweight: 66
- Featherweight: 55
- Bantamweight: 61
- Flyweight: 32
- Women’s Featherweight: 5
- Women’s Bantamweight: 15
- Women’s Flyweight: 33
- Women’s Strawweight: 34
- Total Fight Time in 2022: 92 hours, 30 minutes, and 16 seconds
There were 19 title fights in 2022.
- 9 title changes (interim flyweight title included)
Five champions remained the same throughout the year.
- Aljamain Sterling, bantamweight
- Alexander Volkanovski, featherweight
- Francis Ngannou, heavyweight
- Valentina Shevchenko, women’s flyweight
- Amanda Nunes, women’s featherweight (hasn’t defended this belt since 2021)
Finishes
There were 269 finishes in 2022.
- 98 submissions
- “UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Lemos” and “UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Aspinall” had the most submissions in a single event during 2022 with five.
- The fastest submission of the year came at “UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Yan” when featherweight Sodiq Yusuff submitted newcomer Dan Shainis in 30 seconds.
There were 171 knockouts in 2022.
- “UFC on ESPN: Kattar vs. Emmett” and “UFC on ESPN: Thompson vs. Holland” tied for the most knockouts in an event during 2022 with eight.
Decisions
There were 242 decisions in 2022.
- 176 unanimous decisions
- 53 split decisions
- 8 majority decisions
- 3 draws
- 1 no contest
- 1 DQ
Miscellaneous
There were 99 debutants in 2022.
- At 18, Raul Rosas Jr. became the youngest fighter in UFC history to earn a victory when he submitted Jay Perrin in his debut at UFC 282.
There were 199 fight night bonuses awarded in 2022.
- “UFC 282: Błachowicz vs. Ankalaev” had 11 fight night bonuses, the most for an event in 2022.
- 20,845 fans watched “UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira” live from Madison Square Garden. It was the highest attendance recorded in 2022.
- “UFC 282: Błachowicz vs. Ankalaev” marked the company’s 29th consecutive sellout in full capacity arenas.
There’s no doubt 2023 will be another unforgettable year. The action returns on January 14 inside the UFC Apex when middleweights Nassourdine Imavov faces Kelvin Gastelum. Just one week later, the Octagon returns to Brazil, where light heavyweight gold is on the line at “UFC 283: Teixeira vs. Hill.”
This story first published at UFC.com.
