Kelvin Gastelum vs.
Brian Melancon
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.
Kelvin Gastelum
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 14 | 11 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 6 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.01 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 32 documented bouts
In the UFC: 12-11 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.0 wins over .500
Brian Melancon
Full career not yet synced for Brian Melancon — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 1-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.5 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)
Kelvin Gastelum
Distance 90.0% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 5.7% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 4.3% (norm 10.3%)
Brian Melancon
Distance 76.2% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 1.6% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 22.2% (norm 8.1%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Kelvin Gastelum
Head 80.8% (norm 78.0%) · Body 10.9% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 8.3% (norm 8.4%)
Brian Melancon
Head 81.0% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.5% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 9.5% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Gastelum L/A | Acc | Middleweight med | Melancon L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 1082 / 2695 | 40.1% | 40.5% | 20 / 48 | 41.7% | 38.6% |
| In the clinch | 109 / 171 | 63.7% | 70.3% | 1 / 1 | too few to rate | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 78 / 129 | 60.5% | 69.1% | 10 / 14 | too few to rate | 67.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 824 / 2419 | 34.1% | 38.9% | 22 / 51 | 43.1% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 233 / 326 | 71.5% | 71.7% | 5 / 6 | too few to rate | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 212 / 250 | 84.8% | 83.3% | 4 / 6 | too few to rate | 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 Gastelum L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med | vs Melancon L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 1052 / 2613 | 40.3% | 39.5% | 21 / 70 | 30.0% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 102 / 153 | 66.7% | 70.9% | 5 / 6 | too few to rate | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 68 / 97 | 70.1% | 69.0% | 1 / 1 | too few to rate | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 768 / 2234 | 34.4% | 37.9% | 18 / 65 | 27.7% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 274 / 406 | 67.5% | 71.3% | 4 / 6 | too few to rate | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 180 / 223 | 80.7% | 82.1% | 5 / 6 | too few to rate | 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 — Gastelum has more cage time on record.