BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Clifford Starks vs.
Dustin Jacoby

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

1-2-0 Clifford Starks · UFC
10-7-1 Dustin Jacoby · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

1-2-0
UFC record
10-7-1
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Light Heavyweight
45.3
AgeΔ 7 yrs
38.3
6'0"
HeightΔ 3"
6'3"
78"
ReachΔ 2"
76"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
159.5
Layoff (months)Δ 159.1 mo
0.4
LLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LWWWL
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.

Clifford Starks owns the mat — in control 38% of cage time, vs a 20% Middleweight norm.
Dustin Jacoby rarely shoots — 0.26 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight norm.
Dustin Jacoby outworks the Light Heavyweight division — 5.33 sig. strikes landed per minute, vs a 3.41 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.

Clifford Starks

Full career not yet synced for Clifford Starks — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 0-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.3 wins over .500

Dustin Jacoby

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 119
Tier 3 — regional circuit 111

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.02 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 33 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.1 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

451.94/min · norm 3.25
Sig. strikes landed
9355.33/min · norm 3.41
582.49/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed
7494.27/min · norm 3.35
33.1%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
45.8%norm 48.3%
58.9%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
57.8%norm 52.9%
00.00/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
70.60/15 · norm 0.40

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

Clifford Starks

Distance 84.6% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 3.7% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 11.8% (norm 10.3%)

Dustin Jacoby

Distance 93.0% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 5.0% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 2.1% (norm 10.4%)

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

Clifford Starks

Head 92.6% (norm 78.0%) · Body 6.6% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 0.7% (norm 8.4%)

Dustin Jacoby

Head 79.2% (norm 79.2%) · Body 9.4% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 11.4% (norm 9.7%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Starks L/AAccMiddleweight med Jacoby L/AAccLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 35 / 115 30.4% 40.5% 840 / 1899 44.2% 41.4%
In the clinch 3 / 5 too few to rate 70.3% 75 / 102 73.5% 70.9%
On the ground 7 / 16 too few to rate 69.1% 20 / 42 47.6% 72.3%
BY TARGET
To the head 40 / 126 31.7% 38.9% 617 / 1618 38.1% 38.9%
To the body 4 / 9 too few to rate 71.7% 129 / 192 67.2% 71.9%
To the legs 1 / 1 too few to rate 83.3% 189 / 233 81.1% 81.8%

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 (Middleweight: 174 fighters · Light Heavyweight: 93 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 Starks L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Jacoby L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 38 / 120 31.7% 39.5% 656 / 1630 40.2% 40.4%
In the clinch 16 / 17 too few to rate 70.9% 52 / 83 62.7% 68.7%
On the ground 4 / 4 too few to rate 69.0% 41 / 61 67.2% 70.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 30 / 109 27.5% 37.9% 515 / 1470 35.0% 37.5%
To the body 19 / 20 too few to rate 71.3% 98 / 147 66.7% 72.3%
To the legs 9 / 12 too few to rate 82.1% 136 / 157 86.6% 83.0%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

3100.0% acc · 1.94/15 · norm 1.42
Takedowns landed
320.0% acc · 0.26/15 · norm 0.87
360.0% def · norm 63.1%
Takedowns stopped
2757.4% def · norm 66.7%
8:5238.1% of cage time · norm 19.75%
Control time
13:197.6% of cage time · norm 16.5%
1:260:55 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control
18:321:35 per 15 · norm 2:48
00.00/15 · norm 0.47
Submission attempts
00.00/15 · norm 0.27

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.