Brian Ortega vs.
Aljamain Sterling
Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.
The men, measured.
Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.
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.
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.
Brian Ortega
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 8 | 5 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 2 | 0 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 6 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.34 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 22 documented bouts
In the UFC: 8-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.8 wins over .500
Aljamain Sterling
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 18 | 5 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.61 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 31 documented bouts
In the UFC: 16-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 wins over .500
The stand-up battle.
Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Brian Ortega
Distance 94.0% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 3.3% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 2.7% (norm 6.5%)
Aljamain Sterling
Distance 77.2% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 10.1% (norm 5.7%) · Ground 12.7% (norm 6.5%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Brian Ortega
Head 85.8% (norm 77.4%) · Body 9.4% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 4.8% (norm 7.8%)
Aljamain Sterling
Head 64.0% (norm 77.4%) · Body 23.3% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 12.7% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Ortega L/A | Acc | Featherweight med | Sterling L/A | Acc | Bantamweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 657 / 1868 | 35.2% | 40.9% | 941 / 2066 | 45.5% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 49 / 65 | 75.4% | 70.8% | 209 / 270 | 77.4% | 68.7% |
| On the ground | 36 / 54 | 66.7% | 69.2% | 257 / 339 | 75.8% | 70.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 528 / 1704 | 31.0% | 37.2% | 703 / 1712 | 41.1% | 34.9% |
| To the body | 136 / 187 | 72.7% | 68.2% | 443 / 622 | 71.2% | 66.8% |
| To the legs | 78 / 96 | 81.2% | 80.7% | 261 / 341 | 76.5% | 79.4% |
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 (Featherweight: 126 fighters · Bantamweight: 117 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 Ortega L/A | Opp acc | Featherweight med | vs Sterling L/A | Opp acc | Bantamweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 1063 / 2176 | 48.9% | 39.2% | 567 / 1534 | 37.0% | 39.3% |
| In the clinch | 44 / 57 | 77.2% | 70.3% | 92 / 134 | 68.7% | 70.4% |
| On the ground | 126 / 198 | 63.6% | 69.4% | 51 / 71 | 71.8% | 72.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 875 / 1998 | 43.8% | 35.9% | 355 / 1230 | 28.9% | 34.9% |
| To the body | 185 / 242 | 76.4% | 67.9% | 190 / 302 | 62.9% | 66.0% |
| To the legs | 173 / 191 | 90.6% | 81.5% | 165 / 207 | 79.7% | 79.1% |
The ground war.
Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Sterling has more cage time on record.