BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

BJ Penn vs.
Georges St-Pierre

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

12-13-2 BJ Penn · UFC
20-2-0 Georges St-Pierre · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

12-13-2
UFC record
20-2-0
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
47
AgeΔ 2 yrs
45
5'9"
HeightΔ 2"
5'11"
70"
ReachΔ 6"
76"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
86.9
Layoff (months)Δ 18.2 mo
105.1
LLLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
WWWWW
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.

Georges St-Pierre hunts takedowns — 3.94 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.27 Welterweight norm.
Georges St-Pierre owns the mat — in control 47% of cage time, vs a 18% Welterweight 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.

BJ Penn

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

In the UFC: 8-13 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.6 wins over .500

Georges St-Pierre

Full career not yet synced for Georges St-Pierre — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 17-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.0 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

9992.80/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
13133.83/min · norm 3.17
12393.48/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
4961.45/min · norm 3.06
47.5%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
53.2%norm 44.9%
56.9%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
73.1%norm 55.25%
70.29/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
90.39/15 · norm 0.38

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

BJ Penn

Distance 75.9% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 13.3% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 10.9% (norm 8.0%)

Georges St-Pierre

Distance 68.4% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 5.1% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 26.6% (norm 8.1%)

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

BJ Penn

Head 88.0% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.1% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.0% (norm 7.9%)

Georges St-Pierre

Head 74.8% (norm 78.2%) · Body 13.8% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 11.4% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Penn L/AAccLightweight med St-Pierre L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 628 / 1594 39.4% 37.9% 755 / 1689 44.7% 38.6%
In the clinch 210 / 279 75.3% 67.3% 97 / 125 77.6% 67.8%
On the ground 161 / 228 70.6% 69.1% 461 / 656 70.3% 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 783 / 1848 42.4% 35.0% 850 / 1847 46.0% 37.2%
To the body 162 / 191 84.8% 69.1% 245 / 341 71.8% 70.7%
To the legs 54 / 62 87.1% 81.9% 218 / 282 77.3% 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 Penn L/AOpp accLightweight med vs St-Pierre L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 849 / 2259 37.6% 38.9% 351 / 1613 21.8% 39.0%
In the clinch 170 / 280 60.7% 68.6% 93 / 141 66.0% 68.9%
On the ground 220 / 334 65.9% 68.0% 52 / 88 59.1% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 793 / 2236 35.5% 35.1% 289 / 1504 19.2% 35.6%
To the body 242 / 360 67.2% 68.1% 114 / 182 62.6% 69.6%
To the legs 204 / 277 73.6% 81.5% 93 / 156 59.6% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

2657.8% acc · 1.09/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
9073.8% acc · 3.94/15 · norm 1.27
10976.2% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
4685.2% def · norm 63.9%
58:0516.3% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
162:0247.3% of cage time · norm 18.5%
103:454:22 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
19:180:50 per 15 · norm 3:15
120.51/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
241.05/15 · norm 0.45

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.