The UFC’s busy schedule rolls on tonight when the octagon travels to Hidalgo, Texas, for the first time for UFC Fight Night 94 at State Farm Arena.
A lightweight matchup headlines the FS1-televised card following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. Dustin Poirier (20-4 MMA, 12-3 UFC), No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, looks to stay unbeaten since moving back up to 155 pounds when he takes on No. 12-ranked Michael Johnson (16-10 MMA, 8-6 UFC).
Several other well-booked matchups round out the card, but none more important than the main event. For more information on the UFC’s debut in Hidalgo, check out 38 pre-fight facts about UFC Fight Night 94.
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Main event
Dustin Poirier
Poirier is 4-0 since he returned to the UFC lightweight division in April 2015.
Poirier’s four-fight UFC winning streak in lightweight competition is tied for the fourth longest active streak in the division behind Tony Ferguson (eight), Khabib Nurmagomedov (six) and Francisco Trinaldo (six).
Poirier has earned all three of his stoppage victories since returning to the lightweight division by first-round knockout.
Poirier has earned eight of his 12 UFC victories by stoppage.
Poirier’s eight stoppage victories in UFC competition since 2011 are tied for second most in the company behind Donald Cerrone (12).
Poirier is one of two fighters in UFC history to earn two or more submission victories by D’Arce choke. Ferguson also accomplished the feat.
Michael Johnson
Johnson enters the event on the third two-fight losing skid of his career. He’s never dropped three consecutive bouts.
Johnson has earned all of his UFC stoppage victories by knockout.
Johnson’s eight knockdowns landed in UFC lightweight competition are tied for second most in divisional history behind Melvin Guillard (13).
Co-main event
Derek Brunson
Derek Brunson’s (15-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) four-fight UFC winning streak in middleweight competition is the second longest active streak in the division behind Yoel Romero (seven).
Brunson is 6-1 in his past seven fights after a 2-3 stretch from 2012-2014.
Brunson’s three-fight knockout streak in UFC competition is third longest among active UFC fighters behind Stipe Miocic (four) and Mairbek Taisumov (four).
Brunson’s three-fight first-round knockout streak is tied with Miocic and Cody Garbrandt for the longest among active UFC fighters.
Brunson’s three-fight first-round knockout streak is tied for third longest in UFC history behind Don Frye (five) and Shane Carwin (four).
Brunson is one of five fighters in modern UFC history to register both a knockout and submission victory in less than one minute each. Ronda Rousey, Joe Lauzon, Tom Lawlor and Andrei Arlovski also accomplished the feat.
Uriah Hall
Uriah Hall (12-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC) has earned four of his five UFC victories by stoppage.
Hall is one of two fighters in UFC history to earn a knockout stemming from a spinning back kick to the head. Bantamweight Renan Barao also accomplished the feat.
Hall has suffered all four of his UFC losses by decision.
Remaining main card
Evan Dunham
Evan Dunham (17-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) enters the event on his first three-fight winning streak since 2010.
Dunham has earned seven of his 10 UFC victories by decision.
Dunham is the only lightweight in UFC history to land 100 or more significant strikes in three separate bouts. He’s one of 11 fighters overall in company history to accomplish the feat.
Dunham holds the UFC lightweight record for significant strikes landed (1,016) and total strikes landed (1,304).
Dunham lands 5.37 significant strikes landed per minute in UFC lightweight competition, the second highest output rate in divisional history behind T.J. Grant (6.83).
Dunham’s strike differential rate of +2.03 in UFC lightweight competition is second best in divisional history behind Grant (+2.19).
Rick Glenn (18-3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) enters the event with just one loss in his past 17 fights.
Roan Carneiro
Roan Carneiro (20-10 MMA, 3-4 UFC), 38, is the oldest of the 24 fighters scheduled to compete at the event.
Carneiro is 1-1 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in February 2015.
Carneiro returns to the UFC welterweight division for the first time since September 2008.
Carneiro absorbs just 1.25 significant strikes per minute in UFC welterweight competition, the third lowest rate in divisional history behind Pete Spratt (1.04) and Colby Covington (1.09).
Kenny Robertson (15-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) is the only fighter in UFC history to earn a submission victory by Suloev stretch. He accomplished the feat against Brock Jardine at UFC 157.
Robertson lands 53.2 percent of his significant strikes in UFC welterweight competition, the second highest rate among active fighters in the weight class behind Matt Brown (53.9 percent).
Islam Makhachev (12-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), 24, is the youngest of the 24 fighters scheduled to compete at the vent.
Chas Skelly
Chas Skelly’s (15-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) two UFC victories in a 14-day stretch between UFC Fight Night 49 and UFC Fight Night 50 stand as the shortest period between wins in modern UFC history.
Skelly attempted seven submissions against Sean Soriano at UFC Fight Night 50, the most in a UFC featherweight bout.
Skelly attempts 2.8 submissions per 15 minutes of fighting in UFC featherweight competition, the highest rate in divisional history.
Preliminary card
Sam Sicilia (15-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) is 3-5 in his past eight UFC appearances.
Augusto Montano (14-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) returns to competition for the first time since June 13, 2015. The 462-day layoff is the longest of his nearly eight-year career.
Joey Gomez (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has earned all six of his career victories by first-round knockout in a total fight time of 12:11.
For more on UFC Fight Night 94, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
FightMetric research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
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