Daniel Santos vs. John Castaneda
Tale of the tape
The read
Level of competition
Daniel Santos
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 4 | 2 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 10 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.21 · 4 tier-1/2 wins · 9 finish wins over 17 documented bouts
In the UFC: 3-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.0 wins over .500
John Castaneda
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 5 | 4 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 0 | 1 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 14 | 3 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.8 · 5 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 28 documented bouts
In the UFC: 2-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.6 wins over .500
Striking
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Daniel Santos
Distance 87.6% (norm 85.9%) · Clinch 4.8% (norm 6.0%) · Ground 7.6% (norm 6.5%)
John Castaneda
Distance 93.5% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 4.4% (norm 6.2%) · Ground 2.1% (norm 6.4%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Daniel Santos
Head 79.7% (norm 77.5%) · Body 13.8% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 6.5% (norm 7.9%)
John Castaneda
Head 69.0% (norm 77.5%) · Body 12.7% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 18.3% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Santos L/A | Acc | Featherweight med | Castaneda L/A | Acc | Bantamweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 273 / 773 | 35.3% | 40.5% | 595 / 1179 | 50.5% | 39.2% |
| In the clinch | 32 / 42 | 76.2% | 70.5% | 38 / 55 | 69.1% | 69.0% |
| On the ground | 52 / 67 | 77.6% | 69.3% | 21 / 27 | 77.8% | 70.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 238 / 703 | 33.9% | 37.1% | 363 / 870 | 41.7% | 35.3% |
| To the body | 79 / 122 | 64.8% | 68.0% | 102 / 160 | 63.8% | 66.9% |
| To the legs | 40 / 57 | 70.2% | 80.3% | 189 / 231 | 81.8% | 79.2% |
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 (Featherweight: 127 fighters · Bantamweight: 121 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 Santos L/A | Opp acc | Featherweight med | vs Castaneda L/A | Opp acc | Bantamweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 343 / 711 | 48.2% | 39.3% | 590 / 1353 | 43.6% | 39.4% |
| In the clinch | 20 / 30 | 66.7% | 70.3% | 67 / 101 | 66.3% | 70.6% |
| On the ground | 10 / 12 | too few to rate | 69.4% | 6 / 10 | too few to rate | 72.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 264 / 615 | 42.9% | 35.9% | 415 / 1134 | 36.6% | 34.9% |
| To the body | 75 / 100 | 75.0% | 68.0% | 121 / 171 | 70.8% | 66.1% |
| To the legs | 34 / 38 | 89.5% | 81.5% | 127 / 159 | 79.9% | 78.8% |
Grappling
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Castaneda has more cage time on record.