BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Diego Sanchez vs.
Marcin Held

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

19-13-0 Diego Sanchez · UFC
1-3-0 Marcin Held · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

19-13-0
UFC record
1-3-0
Welterweight
Division (benchmark)
Lightweight
44
AgeΔ 10 yrs
34
5'10"
HeightΔ 1"
5'9"
72"
ReachΔ 1"
71"
Southpaw
Stance
Orthodox
70.3
Layoff (months)Δ 35.2 mo
105.5
LWLWW
Last 5 (newest first)
WLLL
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.

Marcin Held hunts takedowns — 3.27 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.38 Lightweight norm.
Marcin Held owns the mat — in control 42% of cage time, vs a 20% Lightweight norm.
Diego Sanchez is a submission threat — 0.68 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.45 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.

Diego Sanchez

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1913
Tier 3 — regional circuit 111

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.1 · 19 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 44 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-12 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.6 wins over .500

Marcin Held

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

In the UFC: 0-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.2 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

10582.66/min · norm 3.17
Sig. strikes landed
1031.87/min · norm 3.42
12383.12/min · norm 3.06
Sig. strikes absorbed
1071.94/min · norm 3.37
37.3%norm 44.9%
Striking accuracy
32.7%norm 43.5%
56.5%norm 55.25%
Striking defense
56.9%norm 56.3%
60.23/15 · norm 0.38
Knockdowns
00.00/15 · norm 0.25

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

Diego Sanchez

Distance 74.5% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 6.6% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 18.9% (norm 8.1%)

Marcin Held

Distance 81.9% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 7.0% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 11.1% (norm 8.0%)

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

Diego Sanchez

Head 83.1% (norm 78.2%) · Body 13.3% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 3.5% (norm 8.4%)

Marcin Held

Head 94.9% (norm 78.2%) · Body 3.8% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 1.3% (norm 7.9%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Sanchez L/AAccWelterweight med Held L/AAccLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 612 / 2110 29.0% 38.6% 71 / 258 27.5% 37.9%
In the clinch 112 / 188 59.6% 67.8% 12 / 22 too few to rate 67.3%
On the ground 334 / 535 62.4% 67.2% 20 / 35 57.1% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 730 / 2355 31.0% 37.2% 97 / 299 32.4% 35.0%
To the body 250 / 378 66.1% 70.7% 4 / 12 too few to rate 69.1%
To the legs 78 / 100 78.0% 82.9% 2 / 4 too few to rate 81.9%

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 · Lightweight: 201 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 Sanchez L/AOpp accWelterweight med vs Held L/AOpp accLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 862 / 2235 38.6% 39.0% 65 / 196 33.2% 38.9%
In the clinch 198 / 303 65.3% 68.9% 15 / 19 too few to rate 68.6%
On the ground 178 / 309 57.6% 68.0% 27 / 33 81.8% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 954 / 2483 38.4% 35.6% 78 / 211 37.0% 35.1%
To the body 178 / 236 75.4% 69.6% 22 / 29 75.9% 68.1%
To the legs 106 / 128 82.8% 82.1% 7 / 8 too few to rate 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

3621.7% acc · 1.36/15 · norm 1.27
Takedowns landed
1257.1% acc · 3.27/15 · norm 1.38
3347.1% def · norm 63.9%
Takedowns stopped
360.0% def · norm 64.0%
99:2225.0% of cage time · norm 18.5%
Control time
23:1142.1% of cage time · norm 19.5%
62:342:21 per 15 · norm 3:15
Time under control
12:373:26 per 15 · norm 2:46
180.68/15 · norm 0.45
Submission attempts
30.82/15 · norm 0.49

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.