BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

John Castaneda vs.
Nathaniel Wood

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

4-4-1 John Castaneda · UFC
11-3-0 Nathaniel Wood · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

4-4-1
UFC record
11-3-0
Bantamweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
34
AgeΔ 1 yrs
33
5'6"
HeightΔ 0"
5'6"
71"
ReachΔ 2"
69"
Switch
Stance
Orthodox
3.6
Layoff (months)Δ 1 mo
4.6
DLLWW
Last 5 (newest first)
WWWWL
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.

John Castaneda carries real power — 0.52 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.30 Bantamweight norm.
Nathaniel Wood outworks the Featherweight division — 5.64 sig. strikes landed per minute, vs a 3.54 norm.
John Castaneda absorbs 5.48 sig. strikes per minute, well above the 3.58 Bantamweight norm — hittable.
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.

John Castaneda

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 54
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 01
Tier 3 — regional circuit 143

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.8 · 5 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 28 documented bouts

In the UFC: 2-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.6 wins over .500

Nathaniel Wood

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 123
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 50
Tier 3 — regional circuit 63

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.34 · 17 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 29 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.9 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

5995.17/min · norm 3.52
Sig. strikes landed
10695.64/min · norm 3.54
6355.48/min · norm 3.58
Sig. strikes absorbed
8064.25/min · norm 3.47
51.6%norm 43.4%
Striking accuracy
51.1%norm 45.0%
52.9%norm 56.6%
Striking defense
54.5%norm 54.85%
40.52/15 · norm 0.30
Knockdowns
50.40/15 · norm 0.29

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

John Castaneda

Distance 92.9% (norm 87.4%) · Clinch 4.7% (norm 5.7%) · Ground 2.3% (norm 6.5%)

Nathaniel Wood

Distance 90.5% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 3.8% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 5.7% (norm 6.5%)

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

John Castaneda

Head 69.8% (norm 77.4%) · Body 12.5% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 17.7% (norm 8.4%)

Nathaniel Wood

Head 69.0% (norm 77.4%) · Body 8.8% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 22.2% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Castaneda L/AAccBantamweight med Wood L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 540 / 1078 50.1% 39.0% 929 / 1892 49.1% 40.9%
In the clinch 38 / 55 69.1% 68.7% 58 / 80 72.5% 70.8%
On the ground 21 / 27 77.8% 70.2% 82 / 119 68.9% 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 341 / 810 42.1% 34.9% 589 / 1443 40.8% 37.2%
To the body 94 / 145 64.8% 66.8% 112 / 184 60.9% 68.2%
To the legs 164 / 205 80.0% 79.4% 368 / 464 79.3% 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 (Bantamweight: 117 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 Castaneda L/AOpp accBantamweight med vs Wood L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 563 / 1240 45.4% 39.3% 666 / 1593 41.8% 39.2%
In the clinch 67 / 100 67.0% 70.4% 84 / 104 80.8% 70.3%
On the ground 5 / 9 too few to rate 72.4% 56 / 74 75.7% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 396 / 1031 38.4% 34.9% 507 / 1379 36.8% 35.9%
To the body 117 / 164 71.3% 66.0% 177 / 245 72.2% 67.9%
To the legs 122 / 154 79.2% 79.1% 122 / 147 83.0% 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

1139.3% acc · 1.42/15 · norm 1.12
Takedowns landed
1748.6% acc · 1.35/15 · norm 1.19
1878.3% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
3373.3% def · norm 61.5%
18:5516.3% of cage time · norm 17.4%
Control time
28:1314.9% of cage time · norm 16.7%
5:590:46 per 15 · norm 2:24
Time under control
26:482:07 per 15 · norm 3:12
10.13/15 · norm 0.28
Submission attempts
60.47/15 · norm 0.46

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.