The UFC makes its return to the state of Connecticut on Friday for the first time since October 2005 with UFC Fight Night 50.

The rare Friday-night FOX Sports 1-televised showcase from Ledyard’s Foxwoods Resort Casino features a middleweight rematch in the main event as Ronaldo Souza (20-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Gegard Mousasi (35-4-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) face off in a key five-round middleweight affair.

Mousasi emerged victorious by knockout in the first meeting, which took place in September 2008. He landed a flush upkick to the jaw of “Jacare” to win the DREAM middleweight grand prix.

Outside of the headliner, UFC Fight Night 50 is one of best televised events the UFC has put together since launching on its current FOX platform. For the numbers behind a fight card with eight fighters listed in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA Power Rankings, check out 65 pre-fight facts about UFC Fight Night 50.

Main event

Souza’s three-fight UFC winning streak is tied for the sixth longest active streak in the middleweight division behind champion Chris Weidman (eight), Thales Leites (four), Yoel Romero (four), Vitor Belfort (four) and Clint Hester (four).

Souza’s six-fight MMA winning streak is his longest since 2008. “Jacare” has finished all but one of the fights in that streak by knockout or submission, with just one coming outside the first round.

Souza has submitted his opponent in 14 of his 19 victories, with 12 of those finishes in the first round. His four submission victories under the now-defunct Strikeforce banner are tied for second most in company history.

Souza’s six total finishes in UFC/Strikeforce middleweight competition are the fifth most in divisional history.

Souza’s 25 completed takedowns in Strikeforce competition are the second most in organizational history behind Pat Healy (28).

Souza’s 53.2 percent takedown accuracy rate is the third highest in Strikeforce history among fighters with a minimum of five Strikeforce boutts and 20 takedown attempts. While in Strikeforce, Souza averaged 3.83 takedowns per 15 minutes of fighting, the second highest average in the promotion’s history behind Muhammed Lawal (4.46).

Mousasi will compete in his fourth UFC bout since joining the organization in April 2013. All of those contests have been main event fights.

Mousasi has earned 30 of his 35 victories by knockout (18) or submission (12). Of those stoppage wins, 28 occurred in Round 1.

Mousasi’s knockout of Renato Sobral at the 1:00 mark of Round 1 under the Strikeforce banner is the second fastest finish in a Strikeforce championship fight. The finish was only bested only by Ronda Rousey’s 54-second armbar of Sarah Kaufman.

Mousasi has landed 15 of his 25 takedown attempts (60 percent) over his past 16 bouts.

Co-main event

Alistair Overeem (37-13 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has finished his opponent by knockout or submission in all but three of his 37 victories. Of his 15 career knockout wins, 11 have stemmed from either a kick or knee strike.

Overeem is primarily thought of as a kickboxer, but he has actually ended more fights by submission (19) than by knockout (15). Of his 19 submission victories, eight are by guillotine choke.

Overeem enjoys a career takedown defense proficiency of 76 percent (UFC average is 59 percent). Since his departure from PRIDE in 2007, he’s successfully defended 21 of his opponents’ 24 takedown attempts.

Overeem has been on the losing end of the third and fourth largest statistical comeback finishes in UFC heavyweight history. He out-landed Antonio Silva by 30 significant strikes before being knocked out at UFC 156 and out-landed Travis Browne by 27 significant strikes before his demise at UFC Fight Night 26.

Overeem was the one and only heavyweight champion of the now-defunct Strikeforce organization.

Ben Rothwell (33-9 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has alternated wins and losses over his past nine professional fights.

Remaining main card

Matt Mitrione (7-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) is one of two active UFC fighters to have fought all of his professional bouts with the organization. Welterweight Amir Sadollah is the other.

Mitrione is 2-3 in his past five fights after starting his UFC career on a 5-0 run.

Mitrione has earned six of his seven career victories by knockout.

Mitrione’s seven knockdowns landed in UFC heavyweight competition are tied for the fourth most among active heavyweights behind Junior Dos Santos (11), Cain Velasquez (nine) and Andrei Arlovski (eight).

Mitrione’s 66.8 percent significant strike defense rate is the second best in UFC heavyweight history and highest among active fighters in the division. His 50.4 percent significant strike accuracy rates third best among active heavyweights with a minimum of five fights and 350 significant strike attempts.

Derrick Lewis (11-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) enters the event on an eight-fight unbeaten streak. He has earned all his victories during that stretch by knockout, including both of his wins under the UFC banner.

Joe Lauzon (23-9 MMA, 10-6 UFC) will compete in his 17th UFC lightweight contest and tie two other fighters for the fourth most fights in divisional history behind Gleison Tibau (21), Melvin Guillard (20) and Yves Edwards (19).

Lauzon has finished his opponent in 22 of his 23 career wins with 18 of those stoppages by submission. He has fought to a decision only three times in his 32-fight career and has only won one bout that has gone the distance.

Lauzon has earned nine finishes in UFC lightweight competition and is tied with B.J. Penn for the most stoppage wins in divisional history.

Lauzon has recorded seven of those nine finishes by submission and is tied with Nate Diaz and Kenny Florian for the most submission victories in UFC lightweight history.

Lauzon has attempted 26 submissions during his UFC career, the third most in company history behind Jim Miller (31) and Chris Lytle (31).

Lauzon attempts 3.2 submissions per 15 minutes of fighting, the highest rate among active UFC lightweight fighters.

Lauzon has been awarded 12 UFC fight-night bonuses during his career, which is the most in UFC lightweight history and tied with Anderson Silva for the most fight-night bonuses in UFC history.

Michael Chiesa (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has earned six of his past seven MMA victories by rear-naked-choke submission.

Chiesa is one of 15 fighters in UFC history to earn three or more rear-naked-choke submissions inside the octagon.

John Moraga (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has alternated wins and losses over his past four UFC appearances.

Moraga has earned all three of his UFC victories by a different method (decision, submission, knockout).

Moraga is one of 10 fighters in UFC history to earn a knockout stemming from standing elbow strikes. He accomplished the feat against Ulysses Gomez at UFC on FOX 4.

Moraga was the first fighter in UFC flyweight history to be stopped between rounds when John Dodson defeated him by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at UFC Fight Night 42.

Justin Scoggins (9-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes a 61-day turnaround from his TUF 19 Finale loss to Dustin Ortiz.

Scoggins, 22, is the youngest of the 20 fighters scheduled to compete at the event.

Preliminary card

Al Iaquinta (8-3-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has earned all three of his UFC victories by decision.

Rodrigo Damm (12-7 MMA, 3-2 UFC) is 1-1 since moving to the UFC lightweight division after spending his first three UFC appearances at featherweight.

Damm, 34, is the oldest of the 20 fighters scheduled to compete at the event.

Damm will compete outside of his home country of Brazil for just the second time in his UFC career.

Rafael Natal (18-5-1 MMA, 5-4-1 UFC) enters the event on a career-worst two-fight losing skid.

Chris Camozzi (19-8 MMA, 6-5 UFC) enters the event on a career-worst three-fight losing skid. He lost to Bruno Santos, Lorenz Larkin and Souza during that stretch.

Camozzi has landed 142 leg kicks throughout his UFC career, the most of any fighter in middleweight history.

Chris Beal (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) competes for the second time under the UFC banner after scoring a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his knockout of Patrick Williams at UFC 172. The flying knee finish was also awarded MMAjunkie’s “Knockout of the Month” for April 2014.

Beal is one of 12 fighters in UFC history to earn a knockout victory stemming from a flying knee.

Tateki Matusa (10-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his UFC debut on just eight days’ notice. He stepped in as an injury replacement for Dustin Kimura.

Chas Skelly (12-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) returns to the octagon just 13 days his first-round submission of Tom Niinimaki at UFC Fight Night 49 in Tulsa, Okla. Aside from one-night tournaments, no fighter has ever achieved two UFC victories in 13 days or less. Chris Leben holds the record for fastest UFC turnaround with two victories in a 14-day span.

For more on UFC Fight Night 50, 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.