In the UFC's 31-year history, it has had 118 different champions in the 12 classes it has offered titles. Women's featherweight is now defunct, so there are now 11 active classes.
Counting interim champions, only 14 of those athletes were unbeaten when they won the championship, showing what a difficult task that is in mixed martial arts.
It's only 11.9 percent of the champions in UFC history have been unbeaten. And that jives with other major sports.
It's going on 49 years since there was last an unbeaten NCAA Division I men's basketball champion. Indiana under coach Bob Knight went 32-0 in the 1975-76 season to capture the national title. The Hoosiers were the seventh, and last, unbeaten men's basketball national champions.
In the NFL, it's only happened once, when the 1972 Miami Dolphins did it.
Counting women's featherweight, the UFC has staged 362 weight class title fights in its history. That means that in only 3.9 percent of championship fights has an unbeaten fighter won the belt.
Those are the odds staring Umar Nurmagomedov in the face as he prepares to challenge bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
UFC CEO Dana White, who got into mixed martial arts after spending the early part of the year working in boxing, said the small percentage of unbeaten champions reflects a difference in philosophy between boxing and MMA. Unbeaten champions are more common in boxing.
"We became accustomed to fighters being undefeated in boxing because the matchmaking in that sport builds and pads records with lopsided fights," White said. "In the UFC, you fight the absolute best from Day One. So when you become a world champion and you are undefeated, it’s an amazing accomplishment and a testament to how good you really are!"
Nurmagomedov earned the title shot with a victory over Cory Sandhagen in August. Dvalishvili has argued that the UFC has given Nurmagomedov a break by giving him a title shot so quickly, but Nurmagomedov is 29, has been a pro since 2016 and is 18-0 overall and 6-0 in the UFC.
He believes he's done more than enough to earn his keep and isn't apologizing for seizing the opportunity presented him. Some have said that he was pushed quicker than he might otherwise have been because he's first cousins with Khabib Nurmagomedov, the former unbeaten lightweight champion and one of the most popular fighters in UFC history.
Umar Nurmagomedov, though, has defended his position.
"I’m fighting for the title like most of the fighters," Umar said at media day. "Some of them fight for the title after one fight. Some fight in their [UFC] debut fight. It doesn't make sense to tell this that I fought for the title because of my cousin name Khabib or UFC pushed me. Aljamain Sterling fought for the title after a five-fight win streak. Why can’t I fight for the title after six?”
The 14 athletes who have won a UFC title while unbeaten -- not a tournament or super fight but a weight-class belt -- are:
• Heavyweight Mark Coleman
• Heavyweight Randy Couture
• Heavyweight Tim Sylvia
• Light heavyweight Rashad Evans
• Light heavyweight Lyoto Machida
• Heavyweight Cain Velasquez
• Women's bantamweight Ronda Rousey
• Middleweight Chris Weidman
• Women's flyweight Joanna Jedrzejczyk
• Women's bantamweight Holly Holm
* Bantamweight Cody Garbrandt
• Lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov
• Middleweight Israel Adesanya
• Featherweight Ilia Topuria.
Topuria became the most recent fighter to pull the trick when he defeated Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February to claim the belt.
Of the 14 who were unbeaten when they won their titles, only Sylvia, Machida, Rousey, Weidman, Jedrzejczyk, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Adesanya and Topuria were able to make at least one successful defense.
That shows the difficulty inherent in MMA, where there are so many ways to win, and lose, as well as the UFC's commitment to even matchmaking throughout a fighter's career.
"It’s so hard to be undefeated in this sport, especially by the time you get to [fight for] the title," White said.
Oddsmakers have Nurmagomedov as a solid favorite to become No. 15. He's -278 to win at DraftKings sportsbook, with Dvalishvili at +225. However, Nurmagomedov was well over 3-1 earlier in the week so more of the recent betting action has been on Dvalishvili.
There has been plenty of bad blood between them in the build-up, with Dvalishvili claiming Nurmagomedov disrespected him and his native country of Georgia, and Nurmagomedov insisting that Dvalishvili tried to duck him.
White said after Nurmagomedov's impressive win over Sandhagen in August that he would get the next title shot, and he held true to that. Nurmagomedov's goal is to go out and prove White made the right choice.
He said Dvalishvili was forced into the fight and only took it reluctantly.
"Of course he’s nervous,” Nurmagomedov said. “He’s maybe upset with UFC because they pushed him to fight with me. Even before he was champion, he don’t take this fight [against me]. He doesn’t want to fight with me and when he became champion, I think he tried to fight with others because others would be easier fights for him.
“He can’t tell anything to UFC or Dana to show them. He’s always talking he’s company guy, company guy, but they pushed him to fight with me.”
The truth, as usual, probably lies somewhere in the middle, but it doesn't really matter now.
The UFC pushed him because he's 18-0 and dominated Sandhagen, who is an elite opponent and clearly title worthy. He's shown in his six UFC fights that his skills, not nepotism, earned him his spot.
Dvalishvili likely knows that and was just trying to create controversy to build interest.
At this point, the talking is done. What matters now is that Nurmagomedov has the opportunity to make history and to prove that he's more than just a famous last name.
Imagn Images
Umar Nurmagomedov is 18-0 overall and 6-0 in the UFC heading into Saturday's bout at UFC 311 against Merab Dvalishvili.