BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

BJ Penn vs.
Jon Fitch

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
14-3-1 Jon Fitch · 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
14-3-1
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
47.6
AgeΔ 0.8 yrs
48.4
5'9"
HeightΔ 3"
6'0"
70"
ReachΔ 4"
74"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
86.9
Layoff (months)Δ 75.2 mo
162.1
LLLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LWLDW
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.

Jon Fitch owns the mat — in control 54% of cage time, vs a 18% Welterweight norm.
Jon Fitch hunts takedowns — 3.64 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.27 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

Jon Fitch

Full career not yet synced for Jon Fitch — 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 +2.7 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
6302.64/min · norm 3.17
12393.48/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
3711.55/min · norm 3.06
47.5%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
51.4%norm 44.9%
56.9%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
53.7%norm 55.25%
70.29/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
20.13/15 · 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%)

Jon Fitch

Distance 44.1% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 18.9% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 37.1% (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%)

Jon Fitch

Head 77.1% (norm 78.2%) · Body 13.8% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 9.1% (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 Fitch L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 628 / 1594 39.4% 37.9% 186 / 540 34.4% 38.6%
In the clinch 210 / 279 75.3% 67.3% 136 / 231 58.9% 67.8%
On the ground 161 / 228 70.6% 69.1% 308 / 454 67.8% 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 783 / 1848 42.4% 35.0% 414 / 945 43.8% 37.2%
To the body 162 / 191 84.8% 69.1% 129 / 169 76.3% 70.7%
To the legs 54 / 62 87.1% 81.9% 87 / 111 78.4% 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 Fitch L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 849 / 2259 37.6% 38.9% 171 / 517 33.1% 39.0%
In the clinch 170 / 280 60.7% 68.6% 125 / 177 70.6% 68.9%
On the ground 220 / 334 65.9% 68.0% 75 / 107 70.1% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 793 / 2236 35.5% 35.1% 211 / 604 34.9% 35.6%
To the body 242 / 360 67.2% 68.1% 69 / 96 71.9% 69.6%
To the legs 204 / 277 73.6% 81.5% 91 / 101 90.1% 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
5854.7% acc · 3.64/15 · norm 1.27
10976.2% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
3355.9% def · norm 63.9%
58:0516.3% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
128:2653.7% of cage time · norm 18.5%
103:454:22 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
55:033:27 per 15 · norm 3:15
120.51/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
140.88/15 · 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.