Daniel Cormier vs. Roy Nelson
Tale of the tape
The read
Level of competition
Daniel Cormier
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 11 | 3 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 11 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.61 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 26 documented bouts
In the UFC: 10-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +7.5 wins over .500
Roy Nelson
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 10 | 15 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 13 | 5 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.61 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 19 finish wins over 43 documented bouts
In the UFC: 5-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.0 wins over .500
Striking
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Daniel Cormier
Distance 70.6% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 17.1% (norm 8.8%) · Ground 12.3% (norm 10.6%)
Roy Nelson
Distance 82.5% (norm 79.2%) · Clinch 13.0% (norm 9.8%) · Ground 4.5% (norm 9.3%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Daniel Cormier
Head 81.7% (norm 78.5%) · Body 10.0% (norm 11.8%) · Legs 8.3% (norm 9.7%)
Roy Nelson
Head 89.1% (norm 79.2%) · Body 6.3% (norm 11.5%) · Legs 4.6% (norm 7.6%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Cormier L/A | Acc | Light Heavyweight med | Nelson L/A | Acc | Heavyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 546 / 1175 | 46.5% | 41.5% | 315 / 970 | 32.5% | 40.1% |
| In the clinch | 209 / 284 | 73.6% | 70.8% | 83 / 153 | 54.2% | 70.4% |
| On the ground | 156 / 205 | 76.1% | 72.9% | 41 / 53 | 77.4% | 70.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 682 / 1359 | 50.2% | 39.2% | 341 / 1048 | 32.5% | 39.0% |
| To the body | 119 / 167 | 71.3% | 72.0% | 53 / 74 | 71.6% | 77.0% |
| To the legs | 110 / 138 | 79.7% | 82.1% | 45 / 54 | 83.3% | 87.8% |
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 (Light Heavyweight: 94 fighters · 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 Cormier L/A | Opp acc | Light Heavyweight med | vs Nelson L/A | Opp acc | Heavyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 570 / 1236 | 46.1% | 40.6% | 710 / 1438 | 49.4% | 40.7% |
| In the clinch | 134 / 201 | 66.7% | 68.8% | 259 / 354 | 73.2% | 70.6% |
| On the ground | 24 / 33 | 72.7% | 70.4% | 16 / 18 | too few to rate | 72.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 412 / 1062 | 38.8% | 37.7% | 640 / 1402 | 45.6% | 39.3% |
| To the body | 199 / 256 | 77.7% | 72.9% | 237 / 293 | 80.9% | 75.1% |
| To the legs | 117 / 152 | 77.0% | 83.1% | 108 / 115 | 93.9% | 84.4% |
Grappling
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Nelson has more cage time on record.