Cody Garbrandt vs.
Kai Kara-France
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.
Cody Garbrandt
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 10 | 8 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 5 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.05 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 23 documented bouts
In the UFC: 7-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.5 wins over .500
Kai Kara-France
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 8 | 6 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 17 | 6 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.65 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 38 documented bouts
In the UFC: 4-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 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)
Cody Garbrandt
Distance 91.7% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 4.5% (norm 5.7%) · Ground 3.8% (norm 6.5%)
Kai Kara-France
Distance 90.6% (norm 85.1%) · Clinch 1.4% (norm 6.0%) · Ground 8.0% (norm 7.3%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Cody Garbrandt
Head 84.2% (norm 77.4%) · Body 8.3% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 7.5% (norm 8.4%)
Kai Kara-France
Head 79.8% (norm 75.9%) · Body 9.6% (norm 13.3%) · Legs 10.6% (norm 9.3%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Garbrandt L/A | Acc | Bantamweight med | Kara-France L/A | Acc | Flyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 436 / 1143 | 38.1% | 39.0% | 612 / 1602 | 38.2% | 40.0% |
| In the clinch | 41 / 56 | 73.2% | 68.7% | 16 / 25 | 64.0% | 70.4% |
| On the ground | 26 / 47 | 55.3% | 70.2% | 84 / 142 | 59.2% | 69.7% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 363 / 1049 | 34.6% | 34.9% | 455 / 1411 | 32.2% | 37.6% |
| To the body | 68 / 104 | 65.4% | 66.8% | 104 / 170 | 61.2% | 68.5% |
| To the legs | 72 / 93 | 77.4% | 79.4% | 153 / 188 | 81.4% | 80.0% |
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 (Bantamweight: 117 fighters · Flyweight: 73 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 Garbrandt L/A | Opp acc | Bantamweight med | vs Kara-France L/A | Opp acc | Flyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 575 / 1486 | 38.7% | 39.3% | 480 / 1380 | 34.8% | 40.1% |
| In the clinch | 40 / 57 | 70.2% | 70.4% | 14 / 32 | 43.8% | 68.8% |
| On the ground | 44 / 52 | 84.6% | 72.4% | 23 / 35 | 65.7% | 71.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 435 / 1231 | 35.3% | 34.9% | 383 / 1255 | 30.5% | 35.2% |
| To the body | 98 / 178 | 55.1% | 66.0% | 86 / 131 | 65.6% | 68.2% |
| To the legs | 126 / 186 | 67.7% | 79.1% | 48 / 61 | 78.7% | 80.3% |
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 — Garbrandt has more cage time on record.