BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes
Tale of the tape
The read
Level of competition
BJ Penn
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 12 | 13 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 4 | 1 |
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
Matt Hughes
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 18 | 7 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 27 | 2 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.36 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 35 finish wins over 54 documented bouts
In the UFC: 10-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 wins over .500
Striking
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
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%)
Matt Hughes
Distance 44.0% (norm 80.7%) · Clinch 6.3% (norm 9.6%) · Ground 49.6% (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%)
Matt Hughes
Head 81.3% (norm 78.3%) · Body 13.0% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 5.7% (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/A | Acc | Lightweight med | Hughes L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 628 / 1594 | 39.4% | 38.3% | 153 / 425 | 36.0% | 38.5% |
| In the clinch | 210 / 279 | 75.3% | 67.5% | 46 / 61 | 75.4% | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 161 / 228 | 70.6% | 68.8% | 332 / 479 | 69.3% | 67.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 783 / 1848 | 42.4% | 35.1% | 364 / 785 | 46.4% | 36.4% |
| To the body | 162 / 191 | 84.8% | 69.1% | 117 / 125 | 93.6% | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 54 / 62 | 87.1% | 81.8% | 50 / 55 | 90.9% | 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/A | Opp acc | Lightweight med | vs Hughes L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 849 / 2259 | 37.6% | 38.8% | 138 / 430 | 32.1% | 39.1% |
| In the clinch | 170 / 280 | 60.7% | 68.6% | 49 / 62 | 79.0% | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 220 / 334 | 65.9% | 68.0% | 99 / 136 | 72.8% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 793 / 2236 | 35.5% | 35.2% | 196 / 503 | 39.0% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 242 / 360 | 67.2% | 68.2% | 63 / 87 | 72.4% | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 204 / 277 | 73.6% | 81.5% | 27 / 38 | 71.1% | 82.2% |
Grappling
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Penn has more cage time on record.