BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Kamaru Usman vs.
Rafael Dos Anjos

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

16-4-0 Kamaru Usman · UFC
21-15-0 Rafael Dos Anjos · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

16-4-0
UFC record
21-15-0
Welterweight
Division (benchmark)
Lightweight
39
AgeΔ 2 yrs
41
6'0"
HeightΔ 4"
5'8"
76"
ReachΔ 6"
70"
Switch
Stance
Southpaw
0.7
Layoff (months)Δ 20.7 mo
21.4
LWLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWL
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.

Kamaru Usman owns the mat — in control 40% of cage time, vs a 18% Welterweight norm.
Kamaru Usman hunts takedowns — 2.60 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.27 Welterweight norm.
Rafael Dos Anjos hunts takedowns — 1.95 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.38 Lightweight norm.
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.

Kamaru Usman

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 164
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 40
Tier 3 — regional circuit 11

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.67 · 20 tier-1/2 wins · 10 finish wins over 26 documented bouts

In the UFC: 14-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +6.0 wins over .500

Rafael Dos Anjos

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 2115
Tier 3 — regional circuit 102

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.02 · 21 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 48 documented bouts

In the UFC: 16-14 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.2 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

15034.13/min · norm 3.17
Sig. strikes landed
18223.48/min · norm 3.42
10402.86/min · norm 3.06
Sig. strikes absorbed
16923.23/min · norm 3.37
50.9%norm 44.9%
Striking accuracy
47.1%norm 43.5%
54.6%norm 55.25%
Striking defense
60.2%norm 56.3%
100.41/15 · norm 0.38
Knockdowns
70.20/15 · norm 0.25

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

Kamaru Usman

Distance 73.7% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 10.1% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 16.3% (norm 8.1%)

Rafael Dos Anjos

Distance 79.0% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 10.5% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 10.5% (norm 8.0%)

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

Kamaru Usman

Head 76.3% (norm 78.2%) · Body 19.2% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 4.5% (norm 8.4%)

Rafael Dos Anjos

Head 74.7% (norm 78.2%) · Body 15.2% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 10.1% (norm 7.9%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Usman L/AAccWelterweight med Anjos L/AAccLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 897 / 2176 41.2% 38.6% 1224 / 3059 40.0% 37.9%
In the clinch 242 / 297 81.5% 67.8% 321 / 407 78.9% 67.3%
On the ground 364 / 480 75.8% 67.2% 277 / 405 68.4% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 945 / 2252 42.0% 37.2% 1063 / 2890 36.8% 35.0%
To the body 441 / 567 77.8% 70.7% 434 / 589 73.7% 69.1%
To the legs 117 / 134 87.3% 82.9% 325 / 392 82.9% 81.9%

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 (Welterweight: 182 fighters · Lightweight: 201 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 Usman L/AOpp accWelterweight med vs Anjos L/AOpp accLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 873 / 2090 41.8% 39.0% 1334 / 3750 35.6% 38.9%
In the clinch 123 / 147 83.7% 68.9% 235 / 324 72.5% 68.6%
On the ground 44 / 54 81.5% 68.0% 123 / 181 68.0% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 600 / 1762 34.1% 35.6% 1102 / 3462 31.8% 35.1%
To the body 263 / 330 79.7% 69.6% 352 / 530 66.4% 68.1%
To the legs 177 / 199 88.9% 82.1% 238 / 263 90.5% 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

6342.0% acc · 2.60/15 · norm 1.27
Takedowns landed
6835.6% acc · 1.95/15 · norm 1.38
4690.2% def · norm 63.9%
Takedowns stopped
9154.8% def · norm 64.0%
147:1440.5% of cage time · norm 18.5%
Control time
136:4526.1% of cage time · norm 19.5%
15:140:37 per 15 · norm 3:15
Time under control
125:273:35 per 15 · norm 2:46
20.08/15 · norm 0.45
Submission attempts
200.57/15 · norm 0.49

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.