Diego Ferreira vs.
Kyle Nelson
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.
Diego Ferreira
Full career not yet synced for Diego Ferreira — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 7-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.1 wins over .500
Kyle Nelson
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 5 | 6 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 12 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.79 · 5 tier-1/2 wins · 10 finish wins over 25 documented bouts
In the UFC: 4-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.9 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)
Diego Ferreira
Distance 88.0% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 3.8% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 8.3% (norm 8.0%)
Kyle Nelson
Distance 88.2% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 9.5% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 2.2% (norm 6.5%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Diego Ferreira
Head 80.2% (norm 78.2%) · Body 16.1% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.7% (norm 7.9%)
Kyle Nelson
Head 73.9% (norm 77.4%) · Body 16.6% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 9.4% (norm 7.8%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Ferreira L/A | Acc | Lightweight med | Nelson L/A | Acc | Featherweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 602 / 1716 | 35.1% | 37.9% | 346 / 796 | 43.5% | 40.9% |
| In the clinch | 50 / 74 | 67.6% | 67.3% | 54 / 86 | 62.8% | 70.8% |
| On the ground | 124 / 161 | 77.0% | 69.1% | 13 / 20 | too few to rate | 69.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 548 / 1564 | 35.0% | 35.0% | 231 / 667 | 34.6% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 169 / 314 | 53.8% | 69.1% | 108 / 150 | 72.0% | 68.2% |
| To the legs | 59 / 73 | 80.8% | 81.9% | 74 / 85 | 87.1% | 80.7% |
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 (Lightweight: 201 fighters · Featherweight: 126 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 Ferreira L/A | Opp acc | Lightweight med | vs Nelson L/A | Opp acc | Featherweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 423 / 1065 | 39.7% | 38.9% | 382 / 916 | 41.7% | 39.2% |
| In the clinch | 42 / 62 | 67.7% | 68.6% | 43 / 58 | 74.1% | 70.3% |
| On the ground | 106 / 168 | 63.1% | 68.0% | 100 / 163 | 61.3% | 69.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 413 / 1069 | 38.6% | 35.1% | 300 / 862 | 34.8% | 35.9% |
| To the body | 106 / 164 | 64.6% | 68.1% | 125 / 157 | 79.6% | 67.9% |
| To the legs | 52 / 62 | 83.9% | 81.5% | 100 / 118 | 84.7% | 81.5% |
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 — Ferreira has more cage time on record.