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Frankie Edgar vs. Benson Henderson

UFC 18-11-1 vs. 11-3-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
18-11-1
UFC record
11-3-0
Featherweight
Division (benchmark)
Lightweight
45
AgeΔ 3 yrs
42
5'6"
HeightΔ 3"
5'9"
68"
ReachΔ 2"
70"
Orthodox
Stance
Southpaw
47.2
Layoff (months)Δ 83.5 mo
130.7
LLLWL
Last 5 (newest first)
WWLLW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Frankie Edgar hunts takedowns — 2.29 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.17 Featherweight norm.
Benson Henderson is hard to hit — absorbs 1.92 sig. strikes per minute, vs a 3.38 Lightweight norm.
Benson Henderson hunts takedowns — 1.90 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.34 Lightweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Frankie Edgar

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1811
Tier 3 — regional circuit 60

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.15 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 36 documented bouts

In the UFC: 17-11 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 wins over .500

Benson Henderson

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1811
Tier 3 — regional circuit 122

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.03 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 14 finish wins over 43 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.5 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

18013.77/min · norm 3.52
Sig. strikes landed
8263.27/min · norm 3.44
13462.82/min · norm 3.50
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
4851.92/min · norm 3.38
40.5%norm 44.7%
Striking accuracy
45.9%norm 43.65%
65.9%norm 54.8%
Striking defense
64.6%norm 56.3%
30.09/15 · norm 0.29
Knockdowns
30.18/15 · norm 0.25

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

Frankie Edgar

Distance 82.5% (norm 85.9%) · Clinch 4.7% (norm 6.0%) · Ground 12.9% (norm 6.5%)

Benson Henderson

Distance 74.4% (norm 83.1%) · Clinch 12.3% (norm 7.3%) · Ground 13.3% (norm 8.0%)

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

Frankie Edgar

Head 79.6% (norm 77.5%) · Body 12.7% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 7.6% (norm 7.9%)

Benson Henderson

Head 66.8% (norm 78.0%) · Body 17.9% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 15.3% (norm 8.0%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Edgar L/AAccFeatherweight med Henderson L/AAccLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 1263 / 3672 34.4% 40.5% 520 / 1340 38.8% 38.3%
In the clinch 129 / 207 62.3% 70.5% 154 / 222 69.4% 67.5%
On the ground 409 / 572 71.5% 69.3% 152 / 239 63.6% 68.8%
BY TARGET
To the head 1195 / 3545 33.7% 37.1% 362 / 1203 30.1% 35.1%
To the body 344 / 566 60.8% 68.0% 247 / 323 76.5% 69.1%
To the legs 262 / 340 77.1% 80.3% 217 / 275 78.9% 81.8%

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: 127 fighters · Lightweight: 204 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 Edgar L/AOpp accFeatherweight med vs Henderson L/AOpp accLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 1159 / 3660 31.7% 39.3% 364 / 1172 31.1% 38.8%
In the clinch 93 / 156 59.6% 70.3% 104 / 157 66.2% 68.6%
On the ground 94 / 135 69.6% 69.4% 17 / 40 42.5% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 995 / 3447 28.9% 35.9% 216 / 984 22.0% 35.2%
To the body 204 / 317 64.4% 68.0% 166 / 250 66.4% 68.2%
To the legs 147 / 187 78.6% 81.5% 103 / 135 76.3% 81.5%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
7331.5% acc · 2.29/15 · norm 1.17
Takedowns landed
3249.2% acc · 1.90/15 · norm 1.34
4265.6% def · norm 61.5%
Takedowns stopped
5365.4% def · norm 63.7%
105:3722.1% of cage time · norm 16.5%
Control time
64:5825.7% of cage time · norm 18.95%
16:260:30 per 15 · norm 3:11
Time under control lower is better
29:261:44 per 15 · norm 2:50
100.31/15 · norm 0.45
Submission attempts
100.59/15 · norm 0.48

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