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Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson

UFC 16-8-0 vs. 9-9-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
16-8-0
UFC record
9-9-0
Light Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
48
AgeΔ 8 yrs
56
6'1"
HeightΔ 2"
5'11"
74"
ReachΔ 0"
74"
Southpaw
Stance
Orthodox
101.3
Layoff (months)Δ 19.1 mo
120.4
WWLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LWLWL

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Dan Henderson carries real power — 0.66 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.32 Middleweight norm.
Lyoto Machida carries real power — 0.73 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Lyoto Machida is hard to hit — absorbs 1.62 sig. strikes per minute, vs a 3.37 Light Heavyweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Lyoto Machida

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1812
Tier 3 — regional circuit 80

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.15 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 38 documented bouts

In the UFC: 13-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.0 wins over .500

Dan Henderson

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 89
Tier 3 — regional circuit 186

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.6 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 41 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.8 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

7162.51/min · norm 3.48
Sig. strikes landed
5262.55/min · norm 3.23
4621.62/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
6923.36/min · norm 3.20
51.7%norm 48.45%
Striking accuracy
45.5%norm 47.4%
62.6%norm 52.75%
Striking defense
52.6%norm 53.8%
140.73/15 · norm 0.40
Knockdowns
90.66/15 · norm 0.32

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

Lyoto Machida

Distance 76.8% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 9.2% (norm 8.8%) · Ground 14.0% (norm 10.6%)

Dan Henderson

Distance 66.6% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 19.0% (norm 9.0%) · Ground 14.5% (norm 10.0%)

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

Lyoto Machida

Head 64.0% (norm 78.5%) · Body 20.3% (norm 11.8%) · Legs 15.7% (norm 9.7%)

Dan Henderson

Head 79.2% (norm 78.0%) · Body 8.9% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 11.9% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Machida L/AAccLight Heavyweight med Henderson L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 509 / 1063 47.9% 41.5% 265 / 769 34.5% 40.5%
In the clinch 89 / 127 70.1% 70.8% 150 / 219 68.5% 70.6%
On the ground 118 / 194 60.8% 72.9% 111 / 167 66.5% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 360 / 886 40.6% 39.2% 327 / 915 35.7% 38.8%
To the body 196 / 281 69.8% 72.0% 86 / 103 83.5% 71.6%
To the legs 160 / 217 73.7% 82.1% 113 / 137 82.5% 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 Machida L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med vs Henderson L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 301 / 996 30.2% 40.6% 431 / 1068 40.4% 39.5%
In the clinch 111 / 162 68.5% 68.8% 90 / 146 61.6% 70.4%
On the ground 50 / 77 64.9% 70.4% 171 / 245 69.8% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 204 / 799 25.5% 37.7% 471 / 1185 39.7% 37.9%
To the body 102 / 191 53.4% 72.9% 129 / 163 79.1% 71.3%
To the legs 156 / 245 63.7% 83.1% 92 / 111 82.9% 82.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
1463.6% acc · 0.73/15 · norm 0.87
Takedowns landed
1542.9% acc · 1.09/15 · norm 1.35
6576.5% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
3163.3% def · norm 63.3%
44:4115.6% of cage time · norm 17.1%
Control time
29:1315.4% of cage time · norm 19.4%
26:581:24 per 15 · norm 2:50
Time under control lower is better
45:313:18 per 15 · norm 3:00
80.42/15 · norm 0.28
Submission attempts
50.36/15 · norm 0.45

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