Daniel Santos vs.
John Castaneda
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.
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: 2-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.6 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)
Daniel Santos
Distance 87.6% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 4.8% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 7.6% (norm 6.5%)
John Castaneda
Distance 92.9% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 4.7% (norm 5.7%) · Ground 2.3% (norm 6.5%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Daniel Santos
Head 79.7% (norm 77.4%) · Body 13.8% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 6.5% (norm 7.8%)
John Castaneda
Head 69.8% (norm 77.4%) · Body 12.5% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 17.7% (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% | 40.9% | 540 / 1078 | 50.1% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 32 / 42 | 76.2% | 70.8% | 38 / 55 | 69.1% | 68.7% |
| On the ground | 52 / 67 | 77.6% | 69.2% | 21 / 27 | 77.8% | 70.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 238 / 703 | 33.9% | 37.2% | 341 / 810 | 42.1% | 34.9% |
| To the body | 79 / 122 | 64.8% | 68.2% | 94 / 145 | 64.8% | 66.8% |
| To the legs | 40 / 57 | 70.2% | 80.7% | 164 / 205 | 80.0% | 79.4% |
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: 126 fighters · Bantamweight: 117 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% | 39.2% | 563 / 1240 | 45.4% | 39.3% |
| In the clinch | 20 / 30 | 66.7% | 70.3% | 67 / 100 | 67.0% | 70.4% |
| On the ground | 10 / 12 | too few to rate | 69.4% | 5 / 9 | too few to rate | 72.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 264 / 615 | 42.9% | 35.9% | 396 / 1031 | 38.4% | 34.9% |
| To the body | 75 / 100 | 75.0% | 67.9% | 117 / 164 | 71.3% | 66.0% |
| To the legs | 34 / 38 | 89.5% | 81.5% | 122 / 154 | 79.2% | 79.1% |
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 — Castaneda has more cage time on record.