Let’s be honest: Every now and then it’s fun to get down into the nitty-gritty statistics and see if we can’t perform some MMAth. It helps us analyze future fights and make predictions based on previous history. Fans of all sports do it, so why can’t we? It can help us look for potential trends in a fighter as well. So, with thanks to Sherdog and FightMetric.com for the raw data, let’s examine the main event of the upcoming UFC 164: Anthony Pettis vs. Benson Henderson II.

Stats for Suckas: Pettis vs. Henderson II

Anthony Pettis	Stats	Benson Henderson
26	Age	29
Roufusport	Camp	The MMA Lab
16-2	Record	19-2
Orthodox	Stance	Southpaw
72.0″	Reach	70.0″
7 (T)KO (44%)	Win Percentage	2 (T)KO (11%)
6 Submissions (38%)		8 Submissions (42%)
3 Decisions (19%)		9 Decisions (47%)
2 Decisions (100%)	Loss Percentage	1 Submission (50%)
		1 Decision (50%)
Jan. 26th, 2013, over	Last (T)KO Victory	Apr. 5th, 2009, over
Donald Cerrone		Shane Roller
Aug. 18th, 2010, over	Last Submission Victory	Apr. 24th, 2010, over
Shane Roller		Donald Cerone
Oct. 8th, 2011, over	Last Decision Victory	Apr. 20th, 2013, over
Jeremy Stephens		Gilbert Melendez
N/A	Last (T)KO Loss	N/A
N/A	Last Submission Loss	Mar. 31st, 2007, to
		Rocky Johnson
June 4th, 2011, to	Last Decision Loss	Dec. 16th, 2010, to
Clay Guida		Anthony Pettis
Triangle x3 (50%)	Submission Victories	Guillotine x4 (50%)
Punches x2 (33.3%)	by Method	RNC x2 (25%)
Injury x1 (16.7%)		Punches x2 (25%)
N/A	Submission Losses	Anaconda (100%)
	by Method
1	Longest Decision Streak	7 fights
5	Longest Finish Streak	4 fights
1	Decision Victories	7
	in the UFC
2.02	Significant Strikes	2.9
	Landed Per Minute
43%	Striking Accuracy	44%
1.41	Significant Strikes	1.56
	Absorbed Per Minute
65%	Striking Defense	66%
1.51	Average Takedown	2.83
	Attempts per 15 Min.
77%	Takedown Accuracy	48%
65%	Takedown Defense	65%
	Percentage
1.66	Average Submission	0.9
	Attempts Per 15 Min.
43.60%	Average Submission	50.10%
	Completion Rate
39, on Dec. 19th, 2009,	Most Significant Strikes	124, on Dec. 8th, 2012,
vs. Bart Palaszewski	Landed in a Fight	vs. Nate Diaz
2hrs, 4 min, 21 sec	Total Fight Time	3 hrs, 26 min, 6 sec

This, just like the first battle between these two, is going to be close. Both men are fairly evenly matched, so this could be another example of an intangible taking the day. Henderson has been on a decision streak that’s bordering on Fitch-ian, and appears to be lacking killer instinct. Pettis, however, has not had that problem, and is has succeeded in finishing the majority of his fights. In another close decision, I’m going to go with precedent and say that Pettis will get the duke and the UFC Lightweight Championship here.