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BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch

UFC 12-13-2 vs. 14-3-1

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
12-13-2
UFC record
14-3-1
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
47
AgeΔ 1 yrs
48
5'9"
HeightΔ 3"
6'0"
70"
ReachΔ 4"
74"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
89.3
Layoff (months)Δ 75.2 mo
164.5
LLLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LWLDW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
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 1.31 Welterweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

BJ Penn

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1213
Tier 3 — regional circuit 41

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.8 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 32 documented bouts

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

Jon Fitch

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 164
Tier 3 — regional circuit 134

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.04 · 16 tier-1/2 wins · 10 finish wins over 40 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.7 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

9992.80/min · norm 3.44
Sig. strikes landed
6302.64/min · norm 3.17
12393.48/min · norm 3.38
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
3711.55/min · norm 3.08
47.5%norm 43.65%
Striking accuracy
51.4%norm 44.75%
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 83.1%) · Clinch 13.3% (norm 7.3%) · Ground 10.9% (norm 8.0%)

Jon Fitch

Distance 44.1% (norm 80.7%) · Clinch 18.9% (norm 9.6%) · Ground 37.1% (norm 8.1%)

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

BJ Penn

Head 88.0% (norm 78.0%) · Body 9.1% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.0% (norm 8.0%)

Jon Fitch

Head 77.1% (norm 78.3%) · Body 13.8% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 9.1% (norm 8.0%)

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% 38.3% 186 / 540 34.4% 38.5%
In the clinch 210 / 279 75.3% 67.5% 136 / 231 58.9% 67.8%
On the ground 161 / 228 70.6% 68.8% 308 / 454 67.8% 67.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 783 / 1848 42.4% 35.1% 414 / 945 43.8% 36.4%
To the body 162 / 191 84.8% 69.1% 129 / 169 76.3% 70.7%
To the legs 54 / 62 87.1% 81.8% 87 / 111 78.4% 83.0%

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: 204 fighters · Welterweight: 180 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% 38.8% 171 / 517 33.1% 39.1%
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% 35.2% 211 / 604 34.9% 35.6%
To the body 242 / 360 67.2% 68.2% 69 / 96 71.9% 69.6%
To the legs 204 / 277 73.6% 81.5% 91 / 101 90.1% 82.2%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
2657.8% acc · 1.09/15 · norm 1.34
Takedowns landed
5854.7% acc · 3.64/15 · norm 1.31
10976.2% def · norm 63.7%
Takedowns stopped
3355.9% def · norm 63.9%
58:0516.3% of cage time · norm 18.95%
Control time
128:2653.7% of cage time · norm 18.5%
103:454:22 per 15 · norm 2:50
Time under control lower is better
55:033:27 per 15 · norm 3:15
120.51/15 · norm 0.48
Submission attempts
140.88/15 · norm 0.44

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