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Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua

UFC 9-9-0 vs. 11-12-1

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
9-9-0
UFC record
11-12-1
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Light Heavyweight
56
AgeΔ 12 yrs
44
5'11"
HeightΔ 2"
6'1"
74"
ReachΔ 2"
76"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
120.4
Layoff (months)Δ 75.5 mo
44.9
LWLWL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWD

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Dan Henderson carries real power — 0.66 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.32 Middleweight norm.
Mauricio Rua carries real power — 0.79 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Mauricio Rua hunts takedowns — 1.53 per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Dan Henderson

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 89
Tier 3 — regional circuit 186

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.6 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 41 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.8 wins over .500

Mauricio Rua

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1112
Tier 3 — regional circuit 142

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.79 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 40 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-10 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.0 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

5262.55/min · norm 3.23
Sig. strikes landed
8883.35/min · norm 3.48
6923.36/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
9173.46/min · norm 3.37
45.5%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
51.5%norm 48.45%
52.6%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
52.2%norm 52.75%
90.66/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
140.79/15 · norm 0.40

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

Dan Henderson

Distance 66.6% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 19.0% (norm 9.0%) · Ground 14.5% (norm 10.0%)

Mauricio Rua

Distance 76.7% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 10.7% (norm 8.8%) · Ground 12.6% (norm 10.6%)

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

Dan Henderson

Head 79.2% (norm 78.0%) · Body 8.9% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 11.9% (norm 8.4%)

Mauricio Rua

Head 72.8% (norm 78.5%) · Body 11.3% (norm 11.8%) · Legs 16.0% (norm 9.7%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Henderson L/AAccMiddleweight med Rua L/AAccLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 265 / 769 34.5% 40.5% 621 / 1322 47.0% 41.5%
In the clinch 150 / 219 68.5% 70.6% 130 / 184 70.7% 70.8%
On the ground 111 / 167 66.5% 69.4% 137 / 217 63.1% 72.9%
BY TARGET
To the head 327 / 915 35.7% 38.8% 527 / 1254 42.0% 39.2%
To the body 86 / 103 83.5% 71.6% 140 / 194 72.2% 72.0%
To the legs 113 / 137 82.5% 83.3% 221 / 275 80.4% 82.1%

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: 178 fighters · Light Heavyweight: 94 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 Henderson L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Rua L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 431 / 1068 40.4% 39.5% 605 / 1462 41.4% 40.6%
In the clinch 90 / 146 61.6% 70.4% 148 / 225 65.8% 68.8%
On the ground 171 / 245 69.8% 69.0% 164 / 233 70.4% 70.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 471 / 1185 39.7% 37.9% 616 / 1529 40.3% 37.7%
To the body 129 / 163 79.1% 71.3% 206 / 263 78.3% 72.9%
To the legs 92 / 111 82.9% 82.1% 95 / 128 74.2% 83.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
1542.9% acc · 1.09/15 · norm 1.35
Takedowns landed
2742.9% acc · 1.53/15 · norm 0.87
3163.3% def · norm 63.3%
Takedowns stopped
3147.7% def · norm 66.7%
29:1315.4% of cage time · norm 19.4%
Control time
61:3423.2% of cage time · norm 17.1%
45:313:18 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control lower is better
49:342:48 per 15 · norm 2:50
50.36/15 · norm 0.45
Submission attempts
40.23/15 · norm 0.28

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