Carla Esparza vs.
Tecia Pennington
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.
Carla Esparza
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 10 | 8 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 9 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.0 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 8 finish wins over 27 documented bouts
In the UFC: 8-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 wins over .500
Tecia Pennington
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 11 | 8 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 4 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.03 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 2 finish wins over 23 documented bouts
In the UFC: 5-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.6 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)
Carla Esparza
Distance 75.0% (norm 86.9%) · Clinch 8.5% (norm 7.7%) · Ground 16.5% (norm 5.0%)
Tecia Pennington
Distance 88.8% (norm 86.9%) · Clinch 9.1% (norm 7.7%) · Ground 2.1% (norm 5.0%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Carla Esparza
Head 86.0% (norm 76.4%) · Body 8.1% (norm 14.9%) · Legs 5.9% (norm 9.1%)
Tecia Pennington
Head 71.3% (norm 76.4%) · Body 14.2% (norm 14.9%) · Legs 14.5% (norm 9.1%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Esparza L/A | Acc | Women's Strawweight med | Pennington L/A | Acc | Women's Strawweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 280 / 935 | 29.9% | 38.3% | 1069 / 2326 | 46.0% | 38.3% |
| In the clinch | 63 / 106 | 59.4% | 72.6% | 148 / 238 | 62.2% | 72.6% |
| On the ground | 149 / 206 | 72.3% | 75.0% | 40 / 55 | 72.7% | 75.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 363 / 1072 | 33.9% | 35.4% | 685 / 1868 | 36.7% | 35.4% |
| To the body | 71 / 101 | 70.3% | 69.3% | 264 / 371 | 71.2% | 69.3% |
| To the legs | 58 / 74 | 78.4% | 77.9% | 308 / 380 | 81.1% | 77.9% |
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 (Women's Strawweight: 63 fighters · Women's Strawweight: 63 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 Esparza L/A | Opp acc | Women's Strawweight med | vs Pennington L/A | Opp acc | Women's Strawweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 409 / 1103 | 37.1% | 39.7% | 664 / 2081 | 31.9% | 39.7% |
| In the clinch | 53 / 87 | 60.9% | 71.5% | 185 / 252 | 73.4% | 71.5% |
| On the ground | 182 / 222 | 82.0% | 74.4% | 76 / 94 | 80.9% | 74.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 473 / 1195 | 39.6% | 36.0% | 471 / 1764 | 26.7% | 36.0% |
| To the body | 90 / 119 | 75.6% | 68.4% | 288 / 433 | 66.5% | 68.4% |
| To the legs | 81 / 98 | 82.7% | 79.1% | 166 / 230 | 72.2% | 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 — Pennington has more cage time on record.