Steven
Ray
broke
Anthony
Pettis once. Now he must prove he can do so again.
“Braveheart” will rematch the top-seeded Pettis when their 2022
Professional Fighters League semifinal headlines
PFL 7 on Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ray
submitted the onetime
World Extreme Cagefighting and
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder with a twister under
the PFL 5 lights in June. Neither man has fought since.
As Ray and Pettis prepare for their second encounter in a matter of
months, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to
this point:
35: Years of age for Pettis, who was born in Milwaukee on Jan. 27,
1987.
11: Pettis wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
44% of his career total (25). His list of victims includes
Stephen
Thompson,
Donald
Cerrone,
Joe Lauzon and
Danny
Castillo. Pettis holds eight other wins by submission (32%) and
six more by decision (24%).
4: Sub-minute finishes on the Pettis resume, all under the
Gladiators Cage Fighting banner. He punched out
Tom
Erspamer in 24 seconds at GFS “Super Brawl” on Jan. 27, 2007,
earned an injury-related TKO against
Lonny
Amdahl in 12 seconds at GFS “Rumble in the Cage” on Aug. 17,
2007, struck
Michael
Skinner into submission in 36 seconds at GFS “Season’s
Beatings” on Dec. 1, 2007 and cut down
Gabe
Walbridge with punches in 56 seconds at GFS “Season’s Beatings”
on Dec. 13, 2008.
560: Days spent by Pettis as undisputed UFC lightweight champion.
He struck gold when he submitted
Benson
Henderson with an armbar in the first round of their UFC 164
main event on Aug. 31, 2013 and made one successful title defense
before surrendering it in a five-round unanimous decision loss to
Rafael dos
Anjos at UFC 185 on March 14, 2015. It ranks as the
fourth-longest reign in the history of the division, trailing only
Khabib
Nurmagomedov (1,077), B.J Penn (812) and
Frankie
Edgar (687).
330: Combined victories between the 13 opponents—Ray,
Raush
Manfio,
Clay
Collard,
Diego
Ferreira,
Nate Diaz,
Tony
Ferguson,
Dustin
Poirier,
Max
Holloway,
Edson
Barboza,
Eddie
Alvarez,
Rafael dos
Anjos,
Clay Guida and
Bart
Palaszewski—who have defeated Pettis. They own a cumulative
.710 winning percentage (330-135).
32: Years of age for Ray, who was born on March 25, 1990 in
Kirkcaldy, Scotland.
9: Ray victories by submission, accounting for 37.5% of his career
total (24). His methods of choice: three rear-naked chokes, one
brabo choke, one heel hook, one arm-triangle choke, one triangle
armbar, one armbar and one twister. Ray owns six other victories by
knockout or technical knockout (25%) and nine more by decision
(37.5%).
57: Seconds needed for Ray to punch out
John Quinn at
On Top 3 on Sept. 24, 2011. Having occurred nearly 11 years ago, it
remains his fastest finish to date.
10: Countries in which Ray has competed as a mixed martial artist.
He has gone 11-3 in his native Scotland, 6-2 in England, 2-1 in
Ireland, 2-1 in the United States, 1-0 in Poland, 1-0 in Canada,
1-0 in Singapore, 0-1 in the United Arab Emirates, 0-1 in Brazil
and 0-1 in Sweden.
.743: Cumulative winning percentage between the 10
opponents—
Alex
Martinez,
Leonardo
Santos,
Kajan
Johnson,
Paul Felder,
Alan
Patrick,
Ivan
Buchinger,
Curt
Warburton,
Assan Njie,
Nicholas
Musoke and
Dan Hope—who
have beaten Ray. They sport a combined record of 179-60-2.