Brian Melancon vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Tale of the tape
The read
Level of competition
Brian Melancon
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 1 | 2 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 2 | 0 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 4 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.89 · 3 tier-1/2 wins · 5 finish wins over 10 documented bouts
In the UFC: 1-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.5 wins over .500
Kelvin Gastelum
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 14 | 11 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 6 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.01 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 32 documented bouts
In the UFC: 12-11 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.0 wins over .500
Striking
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Brian Melancon
Distance 76.2% (norm 80.7%) · Clinch 1.6% (norm 9.6%) · Ground 22.2% (norm 8.1%)
Kelvin Gastelum
Distance 90.0% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 5.7% (norm 9.0%) · Ground 4.3% (norm 10.0%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Brian Melancon
Head 81.0% (norm 78.3%) · Body 9.5% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 9.5% (norm 8.0%)
Kelvin Gastelum
Head 80.8% (norm 78.0%) · Body 10.9% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 8.3% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Melancon L/A | Acc | Welterweight med | Gastelum L/A | Acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 20 / 48 | 41.7% | 38.5% | 1082 / 2695 | 40.1% | 40.5% |
| In the clinch | 1 / 1 | too few to rate | 67.8% | 109 / 171 | 63.7% | 70.6% |
| On the ground | 10 / 14 | too few to rate | 67.0% | 78 / 129 | 60.5% | 69.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 22 / 51 | 43.1% | 36.4% | 824 / 2419 | 34.1% | 38.8% |
| To the body | 5 / 6 | too few to rate | 70.7% | 233 / 326 | 71.5% | 71.6% |
| To the legs | 4 / 6 | too few to rate | 83.0% | 212 / 250 | 84.8% | 83.3% |
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 (Welterweight: 180 fighters · Middleweight: 178 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 Melancon L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med | vs Gastelum L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 21 / 70 | 30.0% | 39.1% | 1052 / 2613 | 40.3% | 39.5% |
| In the clinch | 5 / 6 | too few to rate | 68.9% | 102 / 153 | 66.7% | 70.4% |
| On the ground | 1 / 1 | too few to rate | 68.0% | 68 / 97 | 70.1% | 69.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 18 / 65 | 27.7% | 35.6% | 768 / 2234 | 34.4% | 37.9% |
| To the body | 4 / 6 | too few to rate | 69.6% | 274 / 406 | 67.5% | 71.3% |
| To the legs | 5 / 6 | too few to rate | 82.2% | 180 / 223 | 80.7% | 82.1% |
Grappling
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Gastelum has more cage time on record.