BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Donald Cerrone vs.
Leon Edwards

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

23-14-0 (1 NC) Donald Cerrone · UFC
14-5-0 (1 NC) Leon Edwards · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

23-14-0 (1 NC)
UFC record
14-5-0 (1 NC)
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
43.4
AgeΔ 8.5 yrs
34.9
6'1"
HeightΔ 1"
6'2"
73"
ReachΔ 1"
74"
Orthodox
Stance
Southpaw
49.1
Layoff (months)Δ 40.4 mo
8.7
LLNCLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWW
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.

Donald Cerrone carries real power — 0.84 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.25 Lightweight norm.
Donald Cerrone absorbs 5.11 sig. strikes per minute, well above the 3.37 Lightweight norm — hittable.
Leon Edwards is accurate with strikes at range — lands 49%, vs a 39% 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.

Donald Cerrone

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

In the UFC: 20-13 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.8 wins over .500

Leon Edwards

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 145
Tier 3 — regional circuit 81

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.33 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 10 finish wins over 29 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-5 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

17484.90/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
8732.60/min · norm 3.17
18255.11/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
8192.44/min · norm 3.06
47.4%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
54.4%norm 44.9%
51.6%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
52.8%norm 55.25%
200.84/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
50.22/15 · norm 0.38

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

Donald Cerrone

Distance 89.1% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 6.2% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 4.7% (norm 8.0%)

Leon Edwards

Distance 83.7% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 8.9% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 7.3% (norm 8.1%)

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

Donald Cerrone

Head 71.3% (norm 78.2%) · Body 16.0% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 12.8% (norm 7.9%)

Leon Edwards

Head 71.3% (norm 78.2%) · Body 16.6% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 12.1% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Cerrone L/AAccLightweight med Edwards L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 1478 / 3290 44.9% 37.9% 662 / 1345 49.2% 38.6%
In the clinch 151 / 229 65.9% 67.3% 119 / 143 83.2% 67.8%
On the ground 119 / 172 69.2% 69.1% 92 / 118 78.0% 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 893 / 2630 34.0% 35.0% 490 / 1145 42.8% 37.2%
To the body 442 / 589 75.0% 69.1% 206 / 266 77.4% 70.7%
To the legs 413 / 472 87.5% 81.9% 177 / 195 90.8% 82.9%

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 (Lightweight: 201 fighters · Welterweight: 182 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 Cerrone L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Edwards L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 1558 / 3375 46.2% 38.9% 594 / 1434 41.4% 39.0%
In the clinch 211 / 305 69.2% 68.6% 118 / 156 75.6% 68.9%
On the ground 56 / 88 63.6% 68.0% 107 / 144 74.3% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 1069 / 2721 39.3% 35.1% 503 / 1295 38.8% 35.6%
To the body 444 / 668 66.5% 68.1% 192 / 261 73.6% 69.6%
To the legs 312 / 379 82.3% 81.5% 124 / 178 69.7% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

2428.9% acc · 1.01/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
2837.3% acc · 1.25/15 · norm 1.27
6288.6% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
7963.7% def · norm 63.9%
38:3610.8% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
70:2621.0% of cage time · norm 18.5%
19:550:50 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
89:133:59 per 15 · norm 3:15
110.46/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
80.36/15 · norm 0.45

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.