Azamat Murzakanov vs.
Paulo Costa
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.
Azamat Murzakanov
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 7 | 1 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.88 · 7 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 16 documented bouts
In the UFC: 5-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.0 wins over .500
Paulo Costa
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 8 | 4 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.48 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 20 documented bouts
In the UFC: 5-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 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)
Azamat Murzakanov
Distance 78.8% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 4.4% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 16.8% (norm 10.4%)
Paulo Costa
Distance 90.7% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 3.9% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 5.3% (norm 10.3%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Azamat Murzakanov
Head 80.0% (norm 79.2%) · Body 17.6% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 2.4% (norm 9.7%)
Paulo Costa
Head 61.3% (norm 78.0%) · Body 29.2% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 9.5% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Murzakanov L/A | Acc | Light Heavyweight med | Costa L/A | Acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 196 / 395 | 49.6% | 41.4% | 826 / 1430 | 57.8% | 40.5% |
| In the clinch | 18 / 22 | too few to rate | 70.9% | 49 / 62 | 79.0% | 70.3% |
| On the ground | 69 / 84 | 82.1% | 72.3% | 59 / 84 | 70.2% | 69.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 201 / 401 | 50.1% | 38.9% | 422 / 966 | 43.7% | 38.9% |
| To the body | 71 / 88 | 80.7% | 71.9% | 379 / 460 | 82.4% | 71.7% |
| To the legs | 11 / 12 | too few to rate | 81.8% | 133 / 150 | 88.7% | 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 Murzakanov L/A | Opp acc | Light Heavyweight med | vs Costa L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 183 / 438 | 41.8% | 40.4% | 836 / 1695 | 49.3% | 39.5% |
| In the clinch | 20 / 26 | 76.9% | 68.7% | 58 / 80 | 72.5% | 70.9% |
| On the ground | 5 / 7 | too few to rate | 70.4% | 10 / 12 | too few to rate | 69.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 98 / 319 | 30.7% | 37.5% | 588 / 1359 | 43.3% | 37.9% |
| To the body | 50 / 76 | 65.8% | 72.3% | 195 / 293 | 66.6% | 71.3% |
| To the legs | 60 / 76 | 78.9% | 83.0% | 121 / 135 | 89.6% | 82.1% |
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 — Costa has more cage time on record.