Matt Serra vs.
BJ Penn
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 Serra
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 7 | 7 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 4 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.94 · 7 tier-1/2 wins · 7 finish wins over 18 documented bouts
In the UFC: 1-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.7 wins over .500
BJ Penn
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 12 | 13 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 4 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.8 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 32 documented bouts
In the UFC: 8-13 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.6 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 Serra
Distance 73.0% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 10.0% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 17.0% (norm 8.1%)
BJ Penn
Distance 75.9% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 13.3% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 10.9% (norm 8.0%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Matt Serra
Head 75.5% (norm 78.2%) · Body 17.6% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 6.9% (norm 8.4%)
BJ Penn
Head 88.0% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.1% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.0% (norm 7.9%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Serra L/A | Acc | Welterweight med | Penn L/A | Acc | Lightweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 198 / 611 | 32.4% | 38.6% | 628 / 1594 | 39.4% | 37.9% |
| In the clinch | 59 / 84 | 70.2% | 67.8% | 210 / 279 | 75.3% | 67.3% |
| On the ground | 76 / 142 | 53.5% | 67.2% | 161 / 228 | 70.6% | 69.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 171 / 632 | 27.1% | 37.2% | 783 / 1848 | 42.4% | 35.0% |
| To the body | 112 / 147 | 76.2% | 70.7% | 162 / 191 | 84.8% | 69.1% |
| To the legs | 50 / 58 | 86.2% | 82.9% | 54 / 62 | 87.1% | 81.9% |
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 (Welterweight: 182 fighters · Lightweight: 201 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 Serra L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med | vs Penn L/A | Opp acc | Lightweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 255 / 562 | 45.4% | 39.0% | 849 / 2259 | 37.6% | 38.9% |
| In the clinch | 91 / 111 | 82.0% | 68.9% | 170 / 280 | 60.7% | 68.6% |
| On the ground | 98 / 157 | 62.4% | 68.0% | 220 / 334 | 65.9% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 286 / 658 | 43.5% | 35.6% | 793 / 2236 | 35.5% | 35.1% |
| To the body | 125 / 134 | 93.3% | 69.6% | 242 / 360 | 67.2% | 68.1% |
| To the legs | 33 / 38 | 86.8% | 82.1% | 204 / 277 | 73.6% | 81.5% |
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 — Penn has more cage time on record.