BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Max Holloway vs.
Jeremy Stephens

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

24-9-0 Max Holloway · UFC
15-20-0 (1 NC) Jeremy Stephens · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

24-9-0
UFC record
15-20-0 (1 NC)
Featherweight
Division (benchmark)
Lightweight
34.7
AgeΔ 5.5 yrs
40.2
5'11"
HeightΔ 2"
5'9"
69"
ReachΔ 2"
71"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
0.9
Layoff (months)Δ 2 mo
2.9
WLWLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLLL
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.

Jeremy Stephens carries real power — 0.66 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.25 Lightweight norm.
Max Holloway outworks the Featherweight division — 6.92 sig. strikes landed per minute, vs a 3.54 norm.
Max Holloway rarely shoots — 0.22 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.19 Featherweight 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.

Max Holloway

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 249
Tier 3 — regional circuit 40

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.62 · 24 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 37 documented bouts

In the UFC: 20-9 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.9 wins over .500

Jeremy Stephens

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1622
Tier 3 — regional circuit 131

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.68 · 16 tier-1/2 wins · 21 finish wins over 53 documented bouts

In the UFC: 8-17 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.5 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

36936.92/min · norm 3.54
Sig. strikes landed
12813.13/min · norm 3.42
24574.60/min · norm 3.47
Sig. strikes absorbed
13273.25/min · norm 3.37
48.2%norm 45.0%
Striking accuracy
40.8%norm 43.5%
58.7%norm 54.85%
Striking defense
57.9%norm 56.3%
120.34/15 · norm 0.29
Knockdowns
180.66/15 · norm 0.25

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

Max Holloway

Distance 92.2% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 4.2% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 3.5% (norm 6.5%)

Jeremy Stephens

Distance 84.0% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 5.6% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 10.4% (norm 8.0%)

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

Max Holloway

Head 77.4% (norm 77.4%) · Body 15.7% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 6.8% (norm 7.8%)

Jeremy Stephens

Head 77.1% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.8% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 13.1% (norm 7.9%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Holloway L/AAccFeatherweight med Stephens L/AAccLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 3252 / 7071 46.0% 40.9% 942 / 2637 35.7% 37.9%
In the clinch 246 / 324 75.9% 70.8% 126 / 175 72.0% 67.3%
On the ground 195 / 271 72.0% 69.2% 213 / 326 65.3% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 2389 / 5935 40.3% 37.2% 752 / 2420 31.1% 35.0%
To the body 899 / 1207 74.5% 68.2% 222 / 307 72.3% 69.1%
To the legs 405 / 524 77.3% 80.7% 307 / 411 74.7% 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 (Featherweight: 126 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 Holloway L/AOpp accFeatherweight med vs Stephens L/AOpp accLightweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 2264 / 5640 40.1% 39.2% 1035 / 2709 38.2% 38.9%
In the clinch 126 / 202 62.4% 70.3% 113 / 165 68.5% 68.6%
On the ground 67 / 103 65.0% 69.4% 179 / 278 64.4% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 1559 / 4642 33.6% 35.9% 812 / 2468 32.9% 35.1%
To the body 346 / 618 56.0% 67.9% 238 / 349 68.2% 68.1%
To the legs 552 / 685 80.6% 81.5% 277 / 335 82.7% 81.5%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

853.3% acc · 0.22/15 · norm 1.19
Takedowns landed
3038.5% acc · 1.10/15 · norm 1.38
13681.4% def · norm 61.5%
Takedowns stopped
7861.9% def · norm 64.0%
29:455.6% of cage time · norm 16.7%
Control time
71:3117.5% of cage time · norm 19.5%
61:201:43 per 15 · norm 3:12
Time under control
91:283:21 per 15 · norm 2:46
100.28/15 · norm 0.46
Submission attempts
110.40/15 · norm 0.49

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.