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Anthony Pettis vs. Stephen Thompson

UFC 11-9-0 vs. 12-9-1

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
11-9-0
UFC record
12-9-1
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
39
AgeΔ 4 yrs
43
5'10"
HeightΔ 2"
6'0"
72"
ReachΔ 3"
75"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
70
Layoff (months)Δ 54.7 mo
15.3
WWLLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWL

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Stephen Thompson rarely shoots — 0.23 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.31 Welterweight norm.
Anthony Pettis rarely shoots — 0.52 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.34 Lightweight norm.
Anthony Pettis is a submission threat — 0.71 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.48 Lightweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Anthony Pettis

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1213
Tier 3 — regional circuit 131

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.94 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 19 finish wins over 39 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.7 wins over .500

Stephen Thompson

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 129
Tier 3 — regional circuit 50

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.07 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 9 finish wins over 27 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-9 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.9 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

7693.32/min · norm 3.44
Sig. strikes landed
12934.05/min · norm 3.17
9243.99/min · norm 3.38
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
9593.00/min · norm 3.08
48.4%norm 43.65%
Striking accuracy
46.0%norm 44.75%
52.9%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
54.9%norm 55.25%
40.26/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
100.47/15 · norm 0.38

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

Anthony Pettis

Distance 89.7% (norm 83.1%) · Clinch 5.0% (norm 7.3%) · Ground 5.3% (norm 8.0%)

Stephen Thompson

Distance 93.2% (norm 80.7%) · Clinch 4.2% (norm 9.6%) · Ground 2.6% (norm 8.1%)

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

Anthony Pettis

Head 76.0% (norm 78.0%) · Body 16.0% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 8.1% (norm 8.0%)

Stephen Thompson

Head 79.0% (norm 78.3%) · Body 15.4% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 5.6% (norm 8.0%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Pettis L/AAccLightweight med Thompson L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 657 / 1425 46.1% 38.3% 1158 / 2618 44.2% 38.5%
In the clinch 53 / 79 67.1% 67.5% 88 / 119 73.9% 67.8%
On the ground 59 / 85 69.4% 68.8% 47 / 73 64.4% 67.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 497 / 1207 41.2% 35.1% 857 / 2220 38.6% 36.4%
To the body 162 / 254 63.8% 69.1% 305 / 432 70.6% 70.7%
To the legs 110 / 128 85.9% 81.8% 131 / 158 82.9% 83.0%

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 (Lightweight: 204 fighters · Welterweight: 180 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 Pettis L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Thompson L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 686 / 1607 42.7% 38.8% 666 / 1731 38.5% 39.1%
In the clinch 136 / 190 71.6% 68.6% 146 / 204 71.6% 68.9%
On the ground 102 / 165 61.8% 68.0% 147 / 191 77.0% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 519 / 1408 36.9% 35.2% 512 / 1495 34.2% 35.6%
To the body 222 / 328 67.7% 68.2% 172 / 276 62.3% 69.6%
To the legs 183 / 226 81.0% 81.5% 275 / 355 77.5% 82.2%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
840.0% acc · 0.52/15 · norm 1.34
Takedowns landed
535.7% acc · 0.23/15 · norm 1.31
5755.9% def · norm 63.7%
Takedowns stopped
5063.3% def · norm 63.9%
26:5911.6% of cage time · norm 18.95%
Control time
19:186.0% of cage time · norm 18.5%
74:394:49 per 15 · norm 2:50
Time under control lower is better
60:122:49 per 15 · norm 3:15
110.71/15 · norm 0.48
Submission attempts
00.00/15 · norm 0.44

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