Joaquin Buckley vs.
Mike Malott
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.
Joaquin Buckley
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 14 | 8 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 2 | 0 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 5 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.4 · 16 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 29 documented bouts
In the UFC: 9-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.2 wins over .500
Mike Malott
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 8 | 1 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 6 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.61 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 12 finish wins over 17 documented bouts
In the UFC: 5-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.2 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)
Joaquin Buckley
Distance 85.6% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 3.5% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 11.0% (norm 10.3%)
Mike Malott
Distance 89.4% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 2.1% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 8.5% (norm 8.1%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Joaquin Buckley
Head 79.5% (norm 78.0%) · Body 16.0% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 4.4% (norm 8.4%)
Mike Malott
Head 73.4% (norm 78.2%) · Body 14.6% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 12.0% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Buckley L/A | Acc | Middleweight med | Malott L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 544 / 1701 | 32.0% | 40.5% | 254 / 515 | 49.3% | 38.6% |
| In the clinch | 42 / 69 | 60.9% | 70.3% | 5 / 12 | too few to rate | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 137 / 218 | 62.8% | 69.1% | 42 / 49 | 85.7% | 67.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 449 / 1581 | 28.4% | 38.9% | 181 / 423 | 42.8% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 202 / 319 | 63.3% | 71.7% | 60 / 84 | 71.4% | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 72 / 88 | 81.8% | 83.3% | 60 / 69 | 87.0% | 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 (Middleweight: 174 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 Buckley L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med | vs Malott L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 440 / 1182 | 37.2% | 39.5% | 166 / 429 | 38.7% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 42 / 59 | 71.2% | 70.9% | 6 / 18 | too few to rate | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 137 / 264 | 51.9% | 69.0% | 44 / 57 | 77.2% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 425 / 1227 | 34.6% | 37.9% | 139 / 395 | 35.2% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 124 / 189 | 65.6% | 71.3% | 31 / 43 | 72.1% | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 70 / 89 | 78.7% | 82.1% | 46 / 66 | 69.7% | 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 — Buckley has more cage time on record.