Aljamain Sterling vs.
Henry Cejudo
Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.
The men, measured.
Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.
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.
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.
Aljamain Sterling
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 18 | 5 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.61 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 31 documented bouts
In the UFC: 16-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 wins over .500
Henry Cejudo
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 10 | 6 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 2 | 0 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 4 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.32 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 8 finish wins over 22 documented bouts
In the UFC: 9-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.7 wins over .500
The stand-up battle.
Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Aljamain Sterling
Distance 77.2% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 10.1% (norm 5.7%) · Ground 12.7% (norm 6.5%)
Henry Cejudo
Distance 78.8% (norm 85.1%) · Clinch 13.4% (norm 6.0%) · Ground 7.8% (norm 7.3%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Aljamain Sterling
Head 64.0% (norm 77.4%) · Body 23.3% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 12.7% (norm 8.4%)
Henry Cejudo
Head 72.2% (norm 75.9%) · Body 18.1% (norm 13.3%) · Legs 9.6% (norm 9.3%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Sterling L/A | Acc | Bantamweight med | Cejudo L/A | Acc | Flyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 941 / 2066 | 45.5% | 39.0% | 578 / 1394 | 41.5% | 40.0% |
| In the clinch | 209 / 270 | 77.4% | 68.7% | 157 / 237 | 66.2% | 70.4% |
| On the ground | 257 / 339 | 75.8% | 70.2% | 103 / 138 | 74.6% | 69.7% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 703 / 1712 | 41.1% | 34.9% | 457 / 1278 | 35.8% | 37.6% |
| To the body | 443 / 622 | 71.2% | 66.8% | 240 / 321 | 74.8% | 68.5% |
| To the legs | 261 / 341 | 76.5% | 79.4% | 141 / 170 | 82.9% | 80.0% |
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 (Bantamweight: 117 fighters · Flyweight: 73 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 Sterling L/A | Opp acc | Bantamweight med | vs Cejudo L/A | Opp acc | Flyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 567 / 1534 | 37.0% | 39.3% | 679 / 1751 | 38.8% | 40.1% |
| In the clinch | 92 / 134 | 68.7% | 70.4% | 122 / 165 | 73.9% | 68.8% |
| On the ground | 51 / 71 | 71.8% | 72.4% | 38 / 49 | 77.6% | 71.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 355 / 1230 | 28.9% | 34.9% | 453 / 1448 | 31.3% | 35.2% |
| To the body | 190 / 302 | 62.9% | 66.0% | 221 / 306 | 72.2% | 68.2% |
| To the legs | 165 / 207 | 79.7% | 79.1% | 165 / 211 | 78.2% | 80.3% |
The ground war.
Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Sterling has more cage time on record.