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Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida

UFC 18-7-0 vs. 6-5-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
18-7-0
UFC record
6-5-0
Welterweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
53
AgeΔ 4 yrs
49
5'9"
HeightΔ 3"
6'0"
73"
ReachΔ 1"
74"
Switch
Stance
Orthodox
180.8
Layoff (months)Δ 6.3 mo
187.1
LLWWW
Last 5 (newest first)
LWLWW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Ricardo Almeida is a submission threat — 1.46 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.45 Middleweight norm.
Ricardo Almeida hunts takedowns — 4.23 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.35 Middleweight norm.
Matt Hughes owns the mat — in control 57% of cage time, vs a 18% Welterweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Matt Hughes

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 187
Tier 3 — regional circuit 272

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.36 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 35 finish wins over 54 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 wins over .500

Ricardo Almeida

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 65
Tier 3 — regional circuit 70

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.05 · 6 tier-1/2 wins · 5 finish wins over 18 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.7 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

5312.38/min · norm 3.17
Sig. strikes landed
2552.25/min · norm 3.23
2861.28/min · norm 3.08
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
1541.36/min · norm 3.20
55.0%norm 44.75%
Striking accuracy
53.3%norm 47.4%
54.5%norm 55.25%
Striking defense
58.9%norm 53.8%
30.20/15 · norm 0.38
Knockdowns
00.00/15 · norm 0.32

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

Matt Hughes

Distance 44.0% (norm 80.7%) · Clinch 6.3% (norm 9.6%) · Ground 49.6% (norm 8.1%)

Ricardo Almeida

Distance 54.6% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 11.5% (norm 9.0%) · Ground 33.9% (norm 10.0%)

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

Matt Hughes

Head 81.3% (norm 78.3%) · Body 13.0% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 5.7% (norm 8.0%)

Ricardo Almeida

Head 74.9% (norm 78.0%) · Body 15.7% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 9.4% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Hughes L/AAccWelterweight med Almeida L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 153 / 425 36.0% 38.5% 116 / 261 44.4% 40.5%
In the clinch 46 / 61 75.4% 67.8% 37 / 55 67.3% 70.6%
On the ground 332 / 479 69.3% 67.0% 102 / 162 63.0% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 364 / 785 46.4% 36.4% 156 / 358 43.6% 38.8%
To the body 117 / 125 93.6% 70.7% 64 / 75 85.3% 71.6%
To the legs 50 / 55 90.9% 83.0% 35 / 45 77.8% 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 (Welterweight: 180 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 Hughes L/AOpp accWelterweight med vs Almeida L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 138 / 430 32.1% 39.1% 68 / 238 28.6% 39.5%
In the clinch 49 / 62 79.0% 68.9% 59 / 85 69.4% 70.4%
On the ground 99 / 136 72.8% 68.0% 27 / 52 51.9% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 196 / 503 39.0% 35.6% 67 / 272 24.6% 37.9%
To the body 63 / 87 72.4% 69.6% 47 / 54 87.0% 71.3%
To the legs 27 / 38 71.1% 82.2% 40 / 49 81.6% 82.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
4751.1% acc · 3.16/15 · norm 1.31
Takedowns landed
3238.1% acc · 4.23/15 · norm 1.35
635.3% def · norm 63.9%
Takedowns stopped
538.5% def · norm 63.3%
117:5156.6% of cage time · norm 18.5%
Control time
53:2047.1% of cage time · norm 19.4%
29:371:59 per 15 · norm 3:15
Time under control lower is better
22:252:57 per 15 · norm 3:00
161.08/15 · norm 0.44
Submission attempts
111.46/15 · norm 0.45

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