Skip to content

Johnny Walker vs. Thiago Santos

UFC 9-7-0 (1 NC) vs. 14-10-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
9-7-0 (1 NC)
UFC record
14-10-0
Light Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
34
AgeΔ 8 yrs
42
6'6"
HeightΔ 4"
6'2"
82"
ReachΔ 6"
76"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
0.6
Layoff (months)Δ 49.9 mo
50.5
WLWLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLWLL

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Thiago Santos carries real power — 0.88 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.32 Middleweight norm.
Johnny Walker carries real power — 0.80 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Johnny Walker rarely shoots — 0.27 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Johnny Walker

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 97
Tier 3 — regional circuit 133

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.9 · 9 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 33 documented bouts

In the UFC: 8-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.4 wins over .500

Thiago Santos

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1412
Tier 3 — regional circuit 91

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.96 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 17 finish wins over 37 documented bouts

In the UFC: 11-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.6 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

4243.79/min · norm 3.48
Sig. strikes landed
8883.72/min · norm 3.23
3272.92/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
6142.57/min · norm 3.20
53.7%norm 48.45%
Striking accuracy
48.2%norm 47.4%
48.4%norm 52.75%
Striking defense
53.9%norm 53.8%
60.80/15 · norm 0.40
Knockdowns
140.88/15 · norm 0.32

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

Johnny Walker

Distance 80.6% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 4.9% (norm 8.8%) · Ground 14.4% (norm 10.6%)

Thiago Santos

Distance 69.7% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 9.8% (norm 9.0%) · Ground 20.5% (norm 10.0%)

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

Johnny Walker

Head 59.0% (norm 78.5%) · Body 10.8% (norm 11.8%) · Legs 30.3% (norm 9.7%)

Thiago Santos

Head 65.9% (norm 78.0%) · Body 16.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 17.3% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Walker L/AAccLight Heavyweight med Santos L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 299 / 637 46.9% 41.5% 512 / 1285 39.8% 40.5%
In the clinch 32 / 39 82.1% 70.8% 150 / 181 82.9% 70.6%
On the ground 93 / 114 81.6% 72.9% 226 / 378 59.8% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 193 / 466 41.4% 39.2% 455 / 1216 37.4% 38.8%
To the body 44 / 85 51.8% 72.0% 204 / 309 66.0% 71.6%
To the legs 187 / 239 78.2% 82.1% 229 / 319 71.8% 83.3%

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 (Light Heavyweight: 94 fighters · Middleweight: 178 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 Walker L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med vs Santos L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 248 / 527 47.1% 40.6% 417 / 1085 38.4% 39.5%
In the clinch 24 / 36 66.7% 68.8% 87 / 110 79.1% 70.4%
On the ground 55 / 71 77.5% 70.4% 110 / 138 79.7% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 161 / 400 40.2% 37.7% 330 / 914 36.1% 37.9%
To the body 66 / 102 64.7% 72.9% 141 / 215 65.6% 71.3%
To the legs 100 / 132 75.8% 83.1% 143 / 204 70.1% 82.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
240.0% acc · 0.27/15 · norm 0.87
Takedowns landed
1433.3% acc · 0.88/15 · norm 1.35
950.0% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
3865.5% def · norm 63.3%
8:427.8% of cage time · norm 17.1%
Control time
31:3813.2% of cage time · norm 19.4%
20:082:41 per 15 · norm 2:50
Time under control lower is better
39:232:28 per 15 · norm 3:00
30.40/15 · norm 0.28
Submission attempts
10.06/15 · norm 0.45

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