Benoit Saint Denis vs.
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
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.
Benoit Saint Denis
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 9 | 4 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.53 · 9 tier-1/2 wins · 17 finish wins over 22 documented bouts
In the UFC: 6-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.9 wins over .500
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 11 | 6 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 14 | 4 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.96 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 18 finish wins over 36 documented bouts
In the UFC: 6-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 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)
Benoit Saint Denis
Distance 59.2% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 12.7% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 28.1% (norm 8.0%)
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Distance 82.6% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 11.7% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 5.6% (norm 8.1%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Benoit Saint Denis
Head 74.2% (norm 78.2%) · Body 19.3% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 6.5% (norm 7.9%)
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Head 74.7% (norm 78.2%) · Body 15.0% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 10.3% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Denis L/A | Acc | Lightweight med | Santos L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 245 / 490 | 50.0% | 37.9% | 631 / 1711 | 36.9% | 38.6% |
| In the clinch | 87 / 105 | 82.9% | 67.3% | 171 / 243 | 70.4% | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 152 / 233 | 65.2% | 69.1% | 66 / 117 | 56.4% | 67.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 304 / 614 | 49.5% | 35.0% | 499 / 1547 | 32.3% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 128 / 160 | 80.0% | 69.1% | 198 / 311 | 63.7% | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 52 / 54 | 96.3% | 81.9% | 171 / 213 | 80.3% | 82.9% |
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: 201 fighters · Welterweight: 182 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 Denis L/A | Opp acc | Lightweight med | vs Santos L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 259 / 489 | 53.0% | 38.9% | 572 / 1438 | 39.8% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 55 / 79 | 69.6% | 68.6% | 101 / 142 | 71.1% | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 41 / 44 | 93.2% | 68.0% | 69 / 93 | 74.2% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 241 / 479 | 50.3% | 35.1% | 481 / 1310 | 36.7% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 78 / 94 | 83.0% | 68.1% | 131 / 206 | 63.6% | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 36 / 39 | 92.3% | 81.5% | 130 / 157 | 82.8% | 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 — Santos has more cage time on record.