Matt Hughes vs.
Royce Gracie
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.
Matt Hughes
Full career not yet synced for Matt Hughes — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 10-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 wins over .500
Royce Gracie
Full career not yet synced for Royce Gracie — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 3-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.6 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)
Matt Hughes
Distance 44.0% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 6.3% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 49.6% (norm 8.1%)
Royce Gracie
Distance 48.0% (norm 50.2%) · Clinch 30.7% (norm 14.9%) · Ground 21.3% (norm 28.7%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Matt Hughes
Head 81.3% (norm 78.2%) · Body 13.0% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 5.7% (norm 8.4%)
Royce Gracie
Head 48.0% (norm 81.2%) · Body 18.7% (norm 8.0%) · Legs 33.3% (norm 5.2%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Hughes L/A | Acc | Welterweight med | Gracie L/A | Acc | Open Weight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 153 / 425 | 36.0% | 38.6% | 10 / 36 | 27.8% | 27.8% |
| In the clinch | 46 / 61 | 75.4% | 67.8% | 14 / 23 | too few to rate | 63.8% |
| On the ground | 332 / 479 | 69.3% | 67.2% | 12 / 16 | too few to rate | 65.8% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 364 / 785 | 46.4% | 37.2% | 18 / 36 | 50.0% | 39.3% |
| To the body | 117 / 125 | 93.6% | 70.7% | 7 / 14 | too few to rate | 90.5% |
| To the legs | 50 / 55 | 90.9% | 82.9% | 11 / 25 | 44.0% | 53.5% |
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 · Open Weight: 11 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/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med | vs Gracie L/A | Opp acc | Open Weight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 138 / 430 | 32.1% | 39.0% | 5 / 14 | too few to rate | 37.0% |
| In the clinch | 49 / 62 | 79.0% | 68.9% | 7 / 9 | too few to rate | 66.7% |
| On the ground | 99 / 136 | 72.8% | 68.0% | 48 / 79 | 60.8% | 67.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 196 / 503 | 39.0% | 35.6% | 40 / 79 | 50.6% | 47.0% |
| To the body | 63 / 87 | 72.4% | 69.6% | 12 / 14 | too few to rate | 87.9% |
| To the legs | 27 / 38 | 71.1% | 82.1% | 8 / 9 | too few to rate | 61.2% |
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 — Hughes has more cage time on record.