BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Chase Hooper vs.
Steve Garcia

Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.

9-5-0 Chase Hooper · UFC
8-3-0 Steve Garcia · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.

9-5-0
UFC record
8-3-0
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
26.9
AgeΔ 7.3 yrs
34.2
6'1"
HeightΔ 1"
6'0"
74"
ReachΔ 1"
75"
Southpaw
Stance
Southpaw
0.6
Layoff (months)Δ 1.1 mo
1.7
WLLWW
Last 5 (newest first)
LWWWW
The read

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.

Steve Garcia carries real power — 1.76 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.29 Featherweight norm.
Chase Hooper is a submission threat — 2.05 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.49 Lightweight norm.
Chase Hooper hunts takedowns — 2.82 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.38 Lightweight norm.
Level of competition

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.

Chase Hooper

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 105
Tier 3 — regional circuit 70

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.38 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 23 documented bouts

In the UFC: 2-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.2 wins over .500

Steve Garcia

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 145
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 10
Tier 3 — regional circuit 41

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.58 · 15 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 25 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.8 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

5054.32/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
3394.98/min · norm 3.54
3573.05/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
1372.01/min · norm 3.47
47.6%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
47.1%norm 45.0%
40.6%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
63.2%norm 54.85%
10.13/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
81.76/15 · norm 0.29

Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)

Chase Hooper

Distance 72.4% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 9.5% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 18.1% (norm 8.0%)

Steve Garcia

Distance 78.5% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 2.9% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 18.6% (norm 6.5%)

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

Chase Hooper

Head 81.9% (norm 78.2%) · Body 11.9% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 6.2% (norm 7.9%)

Steve Garcia

Head 85.3% (norm 77.4%) · Body 9.4% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 5.3% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.

Zone Hooper L/AAccLightweight med Garcia L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 311 / 768 40.5% 37.9% 235 / 565 41.6% 40.9%
In the clinch 59 / 101 58.4% 67.3% 12 / 21 too few to rate 70.8%
On the ground 135 / 192 70.3% 69.1% 92 / 134 68.7% 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 357 / 869 41.1% 35.0% 254 / 614 41.4% 37.2%
To the body 93 / 126 73.8% 69.1% 50 / 68 73.5% 68.2%
To the legs 55 / 66 83.3% 81.9% 35 / 38 92.1% 80.7%

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: 201 fighters · Featherweight: 126 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 Hooper L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Garcia L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 254 / 475 53.5% 38.9% 92 / 304 30.3% 39.2%
In the clinch 33 / 44 75.0% 68.6% 8 / 12 too few to rate 70.3%
On the ground 70 / 82 85.4% 68.0% 37 / 56 66.1% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 255 / 482 52.9% 35.1% 110 / 330 33.3% 35.9%
To the body 51 / 63 81.0% 68.1% 14 / 29 48.3% 67.9%
To the legs 51 / 56 91.1% 81.5% 13 / 13 too few to rate 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.

2234.4% acc · 2.82/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
457.1% acc · 0.88/15 · norm 1.19
950.0% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
1280.0% def · norm 61.5%
41:4035.6% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
10:2115.2% of cage time · norm 16.7%
24:193:07 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
25:045:31 per 15 · norm 3:12
162.05/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
20.44/15 · norm 0.46

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.