BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Alex Pereira vs.
Sean Strickland

Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.

10-3-0 Alex Pereira · UFC
18-7-0 Sean Strickland · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.

10-3-0
UFC record
18-7-0
Light Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
39.1
AgeΔ 3.7 yrs
35.4
6'4"
HeightΔ 3"
6'1"
79"
ReachΔ 3"
76"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
1.7
Layoff (months)Δ 1.2 mo
2.9
LWLWW
Last 5 (newest first)
WWLWL
The read

What the numbers say.

Scouting notes, auto-generated — only stats deviating more than 25% from the division median make this list. No narratives, just deviations.

Alex Pereira carries real power — 0.75 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Alex Pereira rarely shoots — 0.11 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight norm.
Sean Strickland outworks the Middleweight division — 5.98 sig. strikes landed per minute, vs a 3.25 norm.
Level of competition

Who did they actually beat?

Full-career records re-graded by the tier of opposition — the same grading the Contender Series pick model uses. Records built on tier-4 competition are worth less than records built on killers.

Alex Pereira

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 103
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 10
Tier 3 — regional circuit 21

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.62 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 17 documented bouts

In the UFC: 9-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +6.4 wins over .500

Sean Strickland

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 187
Tier 3 — regional circuit 130

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.46 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 38 documented bouts

In the UFC: 16-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.5 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

6975.01/min · norm 3.41
Sig. strikes landed
24305.98/min · norm 3.25
5183.72/min · norm 3.35
Sig. strikes absorbed
18424.53/min · norm 3.20
61.4%norm 48.3%
Striking accuracy
42.5%norm 47.4%
52.6%norm 52.9%
Striking defense
60.6%norm 53.8%
70.75/15 · norm 0.40
Knockdowns
70.26/15 · norm 0.32

Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)

Alex Pereira

Distance 85.8% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 7.3% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 6.9% (norm 10.4%)

Sean Strickland

Distance 94.7% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 2.0% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 3.2% (norm 10.3%)

What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)

Alex Pereira

Head 59.2% (norm 79.2%) · Body 19.8% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 21.0% (norm 9.7%)

Sean Strickland

Head 88.1% (norm 78.0%) · Body 9.1% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 2.8% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.

Zone Pereira L/AAccLight Heavyweight med Strickland L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 566 / 975 58.1% 41.4% 2239 / 5415 41.3% 40.5%
In the clinch 72 / 83 86.7% 70.9% 78 / 117 66.7% 70.3%
On the ground 59 / 78 75.6% 72.3% 113 / 185 61.1% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 326 / 672 48.5% 38.9% 1963 / 5036 39.0% 38.9%
To the body 180 / 225 80.0% 71.9% 343 / 523 65.6% 71.7%
To the legs 191 / 239 79.9% 81.8% 124 / 158 78.5% 83.3%

Zones with fewer than 25 attempts are marked "too few to rate". Each fighter is measured against the median of leaderboard-eligible fighters in his own division (Light Heavyweight: 93 fighters · Middleweight: 174 fighters).

What lands on them Opponents' accuracy against each man

Green ≤ division median — harder to hit than the typical man in his division.

Zone vs Pereira L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med vs Strickland L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 444 / 994 44.7% 40.4% 1738 / 4517 38.5% 39.5%
In the clinch 41 / 58 70.7% 68.7% 50 / 77 64.9% 70.9%
On the ground 33 / 40 82.5% 70.4% 54 / 87 62.1% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 283 / 781 36.2% 37.5% 769 / 3096 24.8% 37.9%
To the body 118 / 177 66.7% 72.3% 631 / 1021 61.8% 71.3%
To the legs 117 / 134 87.3% 83.0% 442 / 564 78.4% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.

150.0% acc · 0.11/15 · norm 0.87
Takedowns landed
1862.1% acc · 0.66/15 · norm 1.42
3680.0% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
5368.8% def · norm 63.1%
2:381.9% of cage time · norm 16.5%
Control time
33:528.3% of cage time · norm 19.75%
31:133:21 per 15 · norm 2:48
Time under control
26:290:58 per 15 · norm 3:00
20.22/15 · norm 0.27
Submission attempts
40.15/15 · norm 0.47

Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Strickland has more cage time on record.

Next move

Let the engine settle it.