BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Luis Pena vs.
Steve Garcia

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

5-3-0 Luis Pena · UFC
8-3-0 Steve Garcia · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

5-3-0
UFC record
8-3-0
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
33
AgeΔ 1 yrs
34
6'3"
HeightΔ 3"
6'0"
75"
ReachΔ 0"
75"
Southpaw
Stance
Southpaw
63.6
Layoff (months)Δ 61.9 mo
1.7
WLWLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LWWWW
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.

Steve Garcia carries real power — 1.76 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.29 Featherweight norm.
Luis Pena is a submission threat — 1.17 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.49 Lightweight norm.
Luis Pena owns the mat — in control 37% of cage time, vs a 20% 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.

Luis Pena

Full career not yet synced for Luis Pena — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 1-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.8 wins over .500

Steve Garcia

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 145
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 10
Tier 3 — regional circuit 41

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.58 · 15 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 25 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.8 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

3763.66/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
3394.98/min · norm 3.54
3203.12/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
1372.01/min · norm 3.47
46.9%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
47.1%norm 45.0%
51.1%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
63.2%norm 54.85%
10.15/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
81.76/15 · norm 0.29

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

Luis Pena

Distance 74.8% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 7.9% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 17.3% (norm 8.0%)

Steve Garcia

Distance 78.5% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 2.9% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 18.6% (norm 6.5%)

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

Luis Pena

Head 88.5% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.2% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 2.2% (norm 7.9%)

Steve Garcia

Head 85.3% (norm 77.4%) · Body 9.4% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 5.3% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Pena L/AAccLightweight med Garcia L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 246 / 600 41.0% 37.9% 235 / 565 41.6% 40.9%
In the clinch 35 / 63 55.6% 67.3% 12 / 21 too few to rate 70.8%
On the ground 95 / 139 68.3% 69.1% 92 / 134 68.7% 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 313 / 710 44.1% 35.0% 254 / 614 41.4% 37.2%
To the body 47 / 74 63.5% 69.1% 50 / 68 73.5% 68.2%
To the legs 16 / 18 too few to rate 81.9% 35 / 38 92.1% 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 (Lightweight: 201 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 Pena L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Garcia L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 279 / 592 47.1% 38.9% 92 / 304 30.3% 39.2%
In the clinch 23 / 35 65.7% 68.6% 8 / 12 too few to rate 70.3%
On the ground 18 / 28 64.3% 68.0% 37 / 56 66.1% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 147 / 439 33.5% 35.1% 110 / 330 33.3% 35.9%
To the body 73 / 113 64.6% 68.1% 14 / 29 48.3% 67.9%
To the legs 100 / 103 97.1% 81.5% 13 / 13 too few to rate 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

833.3% acc · 1.17/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
457.1% acc · 0.88/15 · norm 1.19
1648.5% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
1280.0% def · norm 61.5%
38:0937.2% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
10:2115.2% of cage time · norm 16.7%
15:272:15 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
25:045:31 per 15 · norm 3:12
81.17/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
20.44/15 · norm 0.46

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.