BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Benson Henderson vs.
Frankie Edgar

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

11-3-0 Benson Henderson · UFC
18-11-1 Frankie Edgar · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

11-3-0
UFC record
18-11-1
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
42.7
AgeΔ 2.1 yrs
44.8
5'9"
HeightΔ 3"
5'6"
70"
ReachΔ 2"
68"
Southpaw
Stance
Orthodox
128.3
Layoff (months)Δ 83.5 mo
44.8
WWLLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWL
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.

Frankie Edgar hunts takedowns — 2.29 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.19 Featherweight norm.
Benson Henderson is hard to hit — absorbs 1.92 sig. strikes per minute, vs a 3.37 Lightweight norm.
Benson Henderson hunts takedowns — 1.90 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.38 Lightweight 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.

Benson Henderson

Full career not yet synced for Benson Henderson — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 10-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.5 wins over .500

Frankie Edgar

Full career not yet synced for Frankie Edgar — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 17-11 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

8263.27/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
18013.77/min · norm 3.54
4851.92/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
13462.82/min · norm 3.47
45.9%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
40.5%norm 45.0%
64.6%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
65.9%norm 54.85%
30.18/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
30.09/15 · norm 0.29

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

Benson Henderson

Distance 74.4% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 12.3% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 13.3% (norm 8.0%)

Frankie Edgar

Distance 82.5% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 4.7% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 12.9% (norm 6.5%)

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

Benson Henderson

Head 66.8% (norm 78.2%) · Body 17.9% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 15.3% (norm 7.9%)

Frankie Edgar

Head 79.6% (norm 77.4%) · Body 12.7% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 7.6% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Henderson L/AAccLightweight med Edgar L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 520 / 1340 38.8% 37.9% 1263 / 3672 34.4% 40.9%
In the clinch 154 / 222 69.4% 67.3% 129 / 207 62.3% 70.8%
On the ground 152 / 239 63.6% 69.1% 409 / 572 71.5% 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 362 / 1203 30.1% 35.0% 1195 / 3545 33.7% 37.2%
To the body 247 / 323 76.5% 69.1% 344 / 566 60.8% 68.2%
To the legs 217 / 275 78.9% 81.9% 262 / 340 77.1% 80.7%

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 · Featherweight: 126 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 Henderson L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Edgar L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 364 / 1172 31.1% 38.9% 1159 / 3660 31.7% 39.2%
In the clinch 104 / 157 66.2% 68.6% 93 / 156 59.6% 70.3%
On the ground 17 / 40 42.5% 68.0% 94 / 135 69.6% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 216 / 984 22.0% 35.1% 995 / 3447 28.9% 35.9%
To the body 166 / 250 66.4% 68.1% 204 / 317 64.4% 67.9%
To the legs 103 / 135 76.3% 81.5% 147 / 187 78.6% 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

3249.2% acc · 1.90/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
7331.5% acc · 2.29/15 · norm 1.19
5365.4% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
4265.6% def · norm 61.5%
64:5825.7% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
105:3722.1% of cage time · norm 16.7%
29:261:44 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
16:260:30 per 15 · norm 3:12
100.59/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
100.31/15 · norm 0.46

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.