BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Demian Maia vs.
Chris Weidman

Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.

22-11-0 Demian Maia · UFC
12-8-0 Chris Weidman · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.

22-11-0
UFC record
12-8-0
Welterweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
48.7
AgeΔ 6.6 yrs
42.1
6'1"
HeightΔ 1"
6'2"
72"
ReachΔ 6"
78"
Southpaw
Stance
Orthodox
61.8
Layoff (months)Δ 41.9 mo
19.9
LLWWW
Last 5 (newest first)
LWLLW
The read

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.

Chris Weidman hunts takedowns — 3.27 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.42 Middleweight norm.
Demian Maia is a submission threat — 0.99 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.45 Welterweight norm.
Demian Maia owns the mat — in control 38% of cage time, vs a 18% Welterweight norm.
Level of competition

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.

Demian Maia

Full career not yet synced for Demian Maia — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 16-11 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.6 wins over .500

Chris Weidman

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 128
Tier 3 — regional circuit 40

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.12 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 10 finish wins over 24 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.2 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

7391.80/min · norm 3.17
Sig. strikes landed
6263.11/min · norm 3.25
8462.07/min · norm 3.06
Sig. strikes absorbed
6793.37/min · norm 3.20
43.6%norm 44.9%
Striking accuracy
45.1%norm 47.4%
63.6%norm 55.25%
Striking defense
51.0%norm 53.8%
10.04/15 · norm 0.38
Knockdowns
50.37/15 · norm 0.32

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

Demian Maia

Distance 70.0% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 8.0% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 22.0% (norm 8.1%)

Chris Weidman

Distance 77.4% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 6.4% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 16.2% (norm 10.3%)

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

Demian Maia

Head 88.0% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.0% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 2.9% (norm 8.4%)

Chris Weidman

Head 82.3% (norm 78.0%) · Body 11.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 5.9% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Maia L/AAccWelterweight med Weidman L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 371 / 1188 31.2% 38.6% 416 / 1073 38.8% 40.5%
In the clinch 89 / 135 65.9% 67.8% 58 / 89 65.2% 70.3%
On the ground 279 / 373 74.8% 67.2% 152 / 225 67.6% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 592 / 1493 39.7% 37.2% 460 / 1141 40.3% 38.9%
To the body 108 / 153 70.6% 70.7% 100 / 164 61.0% 71.7%
To the legs 39 / 50 78.0% 82.9% 66 / 82 80.5% 83.3%

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 (Welterweight: 182 fighters · Middleweight: 174 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 Maia L/AOpp accWelterweight med vs Weidman L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 655 / 2026 32.3% 39.0% 423 / 1032 41.0% 39.5%
In the clinch 58 / 95 61.1% 68.9% 101 / 148 68.2% 70.9%
On the ground 133 / 206 64.6% 68.0% 155 / 206 75.2% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 567 / 1924 29.5% 35.6% 452 / 1094 41.3% 37.9%
To the body 106 / 185 57.3% 69.6% 127 / 169 75.1% 71.3%
To the legs 173 / 218 79.4% 82.1% 100 / 123 81.3% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.

6824.8% acc · 2.49/15 · norm 1.27
Takedowns landed
4442.3% acc · 3.27/15 · norm 1.42
2461.5% def · norm 63.9%
Takedowns stopped
2172.4% def · norm 63.1%
155:1937.9% of cage time · norm 18.5%
Control time
64:5832.2% of cage time · norm 19.75%
49:591:49 per 15 · norm 3:15
Time under control
14:431:05 per 15 · norm 3:00
270.99/15 · norm 0.45
Submission attempts
110.82/15 · norm 0.47

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.