Joe Stevenson vs.
Diego Sanchez
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.
Joe Stevenson
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 8 | 8 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 0 | 1 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 24 | 7 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.66 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 21 finish wins over 48 documented bouts
In the UFC: 6-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.2 wins over .500
Diego Sanchez
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 19 | 13 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 11 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.1 · 19 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 44 documented bouts
In the UFC: 10-12 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.6 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)
Joe Stevenson
Distance 65.9% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 7.4% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 26.7% (norm 8.0%)
Diego Sanchez
Distance 74.5% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 6.6% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 18.9% (norm 8.1%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Joe Stevenson
Head 84.7% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.2% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 6.2% (norm 7.9%)
Diego Sanchez
Head 83.1% (norm 78.2%) · Body 13.3% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 3.5% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Stevenson L/A | Acc | Lightweight med | Sanchez L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 142 / 482 | 29.5% | 37.9% | 612 / 2110 | 29.0% | 38.6% |
| In the clinch | 35 / 54 | 64.8% | 67.3% | 112 / 188 | 59.6% | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 130 / 195 | 66.7% | 69.1% | 334 / 535 | 62.4% | 67.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 225 / 619 | 36.3% | 35.0% | 730 / 2355 | 31.0% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 44 / 67 | 65.7% | 69.1% | 250 / 378 | 66.1% | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 38 / 45 | 84.4% | 81.9% | 78 / 100 | 78.0% | 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 (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 Stevenson L/A | Opp acc | Lightweight med | vs Sanchez L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 304 / 865 | 35.1% | 38.9% | 862 / 2235 | 38.6% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 26 / 55 | 47.3% | 68.6% | 198 / 303 | 65.3% | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 102 / 170 | 60.0% | 68.0% | 178 / 309 | 57.6% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 348 / 981 | 35.5% | 35.1% | 954 / 2483 | 38.4% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 63 / 83 | 75.9% | 68.1% | 178 / 236 | 75.4% | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 21 / 26 | 80.8% | 81.5% | 106 / 128 | 82.8% | 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 — Sanchez has more cage time on record.