BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Gilbert Melendez vs.
Arnold Allen

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

1-6-0 Gilbert Melendez · UFC
12-3-0 Arnold Allen · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

1-6-0
UFC record
12-3-0
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
44
AgeΔ 12 yrs
32
5'9"
HeightΔ 1"
5'8"
73"
ReachΔ 3"
70"
Orthodox
Stance
Southpaw
85
Layoff (months)Δ 82.3 mo
2.7
LLLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
WLWLL
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.

Gilbert Melendez rarely shoots — 0.42 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.38 Lightweight norm.
Arnold Allen is wasteful with clinch strikes — only 50% land, vs a 71% Featherweight norm.
Gilbert Melendez is wasteful with strikes at range — only 27% land, vs a 38% Lightweight 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.

Gilbert Melendez

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

In the UFC: 1-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.9 wins over .500

Arnold Allen

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 123
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 51
Tier 3 — regional circuit 40

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.69 · 17 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 25 documented bouts

In the UFC: 7-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.3 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

2942.75/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
7653.52/min · norm 3.54
4253.98/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
6843.15/min · norm 3.47
28.9%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
44.0%norm 45.0%
59.1%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
60.2%norm 54.85%
00.00/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
40.28/15 · norm 0.29

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

Gilbert Melendez

Distance 93.5% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 5.3% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 1.2% (norm 8.0%)

Arnold Allen

Distance 92.4% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 3.5% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 4.2% (norm 6.5%)

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

Gilbert Melendez

Head 89.7% (norm 78.2%) · Body 7.3% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.0% (norm 7.9%)

Arnold Allen

Head 82.7% (norm 77.4%) · Body 12.0% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 5.3% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Melendez L/AAccLightweight med Allen L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 257 / 953 27.0% 37.9% 681 / 1606 42.4% 40.9%
In the clinch 30 / 54 55.6% 67.3% 30 / 60 50.0% 70.8%
On the ground 7 / 12 too few to rate 69.1% 54 / 73 74.0% 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 229 / 914 25.1% 35.0% 562 / 1438 39.1% 37.2%
To the body 45 / 74 60.8% 69.1% 138 / 209 66.0% 68.2%
To the legs 20 / 31 64.5% 81.9% 65 / 92 70.7% 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 Melendez L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Allen L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 388 / 983 39.5% 38.9% 615 / 1617 38.0% 39.2%
In the clinch 21 / 33 63.6% 68.6% 52 / 80 65.0% 70.3%
On the ground 16 / 24 too few to rate 68.0% 17 / 22 too few to rate 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 228 / 779 29.3% 35.1% 378 / 1305 29.0% 35.9%
To the body 88 / 131 67.2% 68.1% 166 / 245 67.8% 67.9%
To the legs 109 / 130 83.8% 81.5% 140 / 169 82.8% 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

316.7% acc · 0.42/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
1860.0% acc · 1.24/15 · norm 1.19
1875.0% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
5773.1% def · norm 61.5%
5:515.5% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
32:0314.8% of cage time · norm 16.7%
9:001:15 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
28:311:58 per 15 · norm 3:12
00.00/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
40.28/15 · norm 0.46

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.