The UFC has put on eight shows in 2020, and the results have helped rewrite the record books.
In January, Conor McGregor became the second fighter in UFC history to win by knockout in three divisions when he stopped Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in 40 seconds. February’s pay-per-view event saw Jon Jones set the record for most title fight victories with 14. And in March, Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk set a UFC women’s record for combined significant strikes with 351.
With UFC 249 scheduled for May 9, and Cerrone booked to fight Anthony Pettis, expect at least one more record to fall.
Here are five UFC records likely to be surpassed in 2020.
Total fights
Record holders: Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller, 34
Two mainstays of the UFC’s lightweight division, Cerrone and Miller, have been on top of this list for the past couple of years.
Miller entered the UFC in 2008 and took over the record from Michael Bisping in 2018. Cerrone has closed the gap over the past two years and recently took over the record at UFC 246 in his fight with McGregor. Miller’s most recent fight, in February, tied the record once again.
Tied for third place, with 32 UFC fights apiece, are Jeremy Stephens and Demian Maia.
Cerrone will own the record if the Pettis bout takes place as planned, but he and Miller probably will be going back and forth with it for the foreseeable future.
KO/TKO wins
Record holder: Vitor Belfort, 12
The former light heavyweight champion sits one ahead of four fighters: Thiago Santos, Matt Brown, Anderson Silva and Anthony Johnson.
Santos has not fought since losing a split decision against Jones at UFC 239 last July; he tore his ACL and has spent almost a year out of action. Before the Jones fight, Santos had scored three consecutive KO/TKO wins.
Brown scored his 11th KO/TKO win in his return to the UFC in December at UFC 245 against Ben Saunders.
Silva scored his 11 wins early in his career, and he hasn’t had a KO/TKO win since 2012 against Stephan Bonnar.
Johnson expressed an interest in returning to the UFC last year after retiring in 2017. The two-time title challenger scored three consecutive KO/TKO wins before his final fight against Daniel Cormier at UFC 210.
Total finishes
Record holders: Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira, 16
When it comes to both knockouts and submissions, Oliveira recently tied Cerrone at 16 with his submission victory over Kevin Lee in Brazil. The UFC’s leader in submissions with 14, Oliveira scored the first two KO/TKO wins of his UFC career in 2019.
Cerrone has gotten to 16 with KO/TKO wins in 10 fights and submissions in six. “Cowboy” has failed to score finishes in his past four fights, though, while Oliveira has been on a hot streak.
Consecutive finishes
Record holder: Anderson Silva, 8
At the end of 2017, Oliveira had lost three of his previous four bouts, all by stoppage. Since his loss to Paul Felder that December, Oliveira has won seven consecutive fights, all by finish. Oliveira started his win streak with four straight submissions, giving him the UFC record for wins by that method.
In 2019, Oliveira scored KO/TKO wins over Nik Lentz and Jared Gordon, the first two of his UFC career. At the time, Oliveira had the most fights in UFC history (23) without a KO/TKO win.
Oliveira is tied with Chuck Liddell for the second-longest finish streak in the modern era and is one behind Silva’s record, set in his first eight UFC fights.
Title defenses
Record holders: Jon Jones and Demetrious Johnson, 11
With his unanimous decision win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 248 on Feb. 8, Jones tied the record for most successful title defenses with 11.
Jones started his first reign in 2011, making eight title defenses against five former or future world champions.
Jones’ legal troubles began and he did not regain the title until December 2018. Since that win over Alexander Gustafsson, Jones has made three more successful title defenses and is expected to face Reyes or Jan Blachowicz with a chance to break the tie with Johnson.
Johnson, the former flyweight champion, made a UFC-record 11 consecutive successful title defenses during a reign from 2012 to 2018. He now fights in One Championship.