Islam Makhachev vs.
Jack Della Maddalena
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.
Islam Makhachev
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 17 | 1 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 11 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 2.04 · 17 tier-1/2 wins · 18 finish wins over 29 documented bouts
In the UFC: 15-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.8 wins over .500
Jack Della Maddalena
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 9 | 2 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 1 | 0 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 2 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.41 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 14 finish wins over 22 documented bouts
In the UFC: 6-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +5.8 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)
Islam Makhachev
Distance 68.3% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 12.7% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 19.0% (norm 8.0%)
Jack Della Maddalena
Distance 90.3% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 5.8% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 3.9% (norm 8.1%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Islam Makhachev
Head 81.0% (norm 78.2%) · Body 15.4% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.6% (norm 7.9%)
Jack Della Maddalena
Head 73.8% (norm 78.2%) · Body 19.5% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 6.7% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Makhachev L/A | Acc | Lightweight med | Maddalena L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 278 / 567 | 49.0% | 37.9% | 514 / 1027 | 50.0% | 38.6% |
| In the clinch | 89 / 105 | 84.8% | 67.3% | 51 / 66 | 77.3% | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 118 / 158 | 74.7% | 69.1% | 35 / 44 | 79.5% | 67.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 344 / 672 | 51.2% | 35.0% | 384 / 839 | 45.8% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 114 / 128 | 89.1% | 69.1% | 155 / 222 | 69.8% | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 27 / 30 | 90.0% | 81.9% | 61 / 76 | 80.3% | 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 Makhachev L/A | Opp acc | Lightweight med | vs Maddalena L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 206 / 650 | 31.7% | 38.9% | 442 / 1187 | 37.2% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 62 / 76 | 81.6% | 68.6% | 34 / 48 | 70.8% | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 19 / 29 | 65.5% | 68.0% | 24 / 36 | 66.7% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 143 / 526 | 27.2% | 35.1% | 342 / 1050 | 32.6% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 94 / 161 | 58.4% | 68.1% | 81 / 132 | 61.4% | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 50 / 68 | 73.5% | 81.5% | 77 / 89 | 86.5% | 82.1% |
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 — Makhachev has more cage time on record.