Nikita
Krylov
personifies the modern kill-or-be-killed warrior, with
34 of his 38 professional appearances having resulted in
finishes.
The Ukrainian will look to improve his standing in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division when
he locks horns with fellow Top 10-ranked contender
Ryan Spann in
the
UFC Fight Night 220 main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex in
Las Vegas. Krylov enters the Octagon on the strength of
back-to-back victories. The former
Fight
Nights Global champion last competed at UFC 280, where he laid
claim to a three-round unanimous decision over
Volkan
Oezdemir on Oct. 22. Spann, meanwhile, has rattled off 11 wins
across his past 13 outings. The onetime
Legacy Fighting Alliance titleholder last fought on Nov. 12,
when he wiped out
Dominick
Reyes with punches in the first round of their UFC 281
pairing.
As Krylov and Spann approach their forthcoming battle at 205
pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to
this point:
30: Years of age for Krylov, who was born on March 7, 1992 in
Khrustalnyi, Ukraine.
12: Krylov victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting
for 41% of his career total (29). His list of UFC victims:
Alexander
Gustafsson,
Ed Herman,
Cody
Donovan and
Walt Harris.
Krylov owns 15 other victories by submission (52%) and two more by
decision (7%).
9: Sub-minute finishes on the Krylov resume, though only one of
them has taken place inside the Octagon. He cut down Harris with a
head kick and follow-up punches 25 seconds into their UFC on Fox 10
pairing in January 2014.
908: Total strikes landed by Krylov as a UFC light heavyweight,
placing him fifth on the promotion’s active list at 205 pounds.
Only
Jon
Jones (1,835),
Jan
Blachowicz (1,225),
Devin Clark
(1,126) and the aforementioned Gustafsson (987) have been credited
with more.
.717: Cumulative winning percentage between the eight
opponents—
Paul Craig,
Magomed
Ankalaev,
Glover
Teixeira,
Jan
Blachowicz,
Misha
Cirkunov,
Ovince St.
Preux,
Soa Palelei
and
Vladimir
Mishchenko (twice)—who have defeated Krylov. They sport a
combined record of 171-67-2.
31: Years of age for Spann, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on
Aug. 24, 1991.
12: Spann wins by submission, accounting for 57% of his career
total (21). His methods of choice: nine guillotine chokes and three
rear-naked chokes. Spann holds six other wins by knockout or
technical knockout (29%) and three more by decision (14%).
8: Seconds needed for Spann to punch out
Larry Crowe
at a Legacy Fighting Championship show on June 26, 2015. Nearly
eight years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
10: Consecutive calendar years in which Spann has fought at least
once. The
Fortis
MMA rep went 4-0 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 3-1 in 2015, 1-1 in
2016, 3-2 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019, 1-1 in 2020, 1-1 in
2021 and 2-0 in 2022.
110: Combined victories between the seven opponents—
Anthony
Smith,
Johnny
Walker,
Karl
Roberson,
Trevin
Giles,
Robert
Drysdale Leo Leite and
Brandon
Farran—who have beaten Spann. They boast a .696 cumulative
winning percentage at 110-48.