BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Michel Pereira vs.
Santiago Ponzinibbio

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

10-6-0 Michel Pereira · UFC
12-9-0 Santiago Ponzinibbio · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

10-6-0
UFC record
12-9-0
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
32.8
AgeΔ 7.1 yrs
39.9
6'1"
HeightΔ 1"
6'0"
73"
ReachΔ 0"
73"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
1.3
Layoff (months)Δ 0.9 mo
0.4
LWLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLWLL
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.

Santiago Ponzinibbio carries real power — 0.70 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.38 Welterweight norm.
Santiago Ponzinibbio absorbs 4.79 sig. strikes per minute, well above the 3.06 Welterweight norm — hittable.
Michel Pereira absorbs 4.32 sig. strikes per minute, well above the 3.20 Middleweight norm — hittable.
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.

Michel Pereira

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 106
Tier 3 — regional circuit 229

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.74 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 49 documented bouts

In the UFC: 7-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.0 wins over .500

Santiago Ponzinibbio

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 129
Tier 3 — regional circuit 161

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.12 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 21 finish wins over 38 documented bouts

In the UFC: 10-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.9 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

7524.28/min · norm 3.25
Sig. strikes landed
10974.67/min · norm 3.17
7594.32/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed
11244.79/min · norm 3.06
51.4%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
40.8%norm 44.9%
50.7%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
61.1%norm 55.25%
40.34/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
110.70/15 · norm 0.38

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

Michel Pereira

Distance 88.4% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 6.8% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 4.8% (norm 10.3%)

Santiago Ponzinibbio

Distance 96.6% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 1.4% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 2.0% (norm 8.1%)

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

Michel Pereira

Head 61.9% (norm 78.0%) · Body 31.2% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 6.9% (norm 8.4%)

Santiago Ponzinibbio

Head 83.4% (norm 78.2%) · Body 8.9% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 7.7% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Pereira L/AAccMiddleweight med Ponzinibbio L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 629 / 1294 48.6% 40.5% 1043 / 2599 40.1% 38.6%
In the clinch 83 / 99 83.8% 70.3% 20 / 37 54.1% 67.8%
On the ground 40 / 70 57.1% 69.1% 34 / 55 61.8% 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 352 / 905 38.9% 38.9% 775 / 2243 34.6% 37.2%
To the body 319 / 457 69.8% 71.7% 137 / 240 57.1% 70.7%
To the legs 81 / 101 80.2% 83.3% 185 / 208 88.9% 82.9%

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 (Middleweight: 174 fighters · Welterweight: 182 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 Pereira L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Ponzinibbio L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 557 / 1273 43.8% 39.5% 1043 / 2764 37.7% 39.0%
In the clinch 62 / 90 68.9% 70.9% 22 / 38 57.9% 68.9%
On the ground 140 / 177 79.1% 69.0% 59 / 89 66.3% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 471 / 1154 40.8% 37.9% 669 / 2248 29.8% 35.6%
To the body 155 / 225 68.9% 71.3% 232 / 378 61.4% 69.6%
To the legs 133 / 161 82.6% 82.1% 223 / 265 84.2% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

1352.0% acc · 1.11/15 · norm 1.42
Takedowns landed
926.5% acc · 0.58/15 · norm 1.27
4175.9% def · norm 63.1%
Takedowns stopped
2771.1% def · norm 63.9%
15:428.9% of cage time · norm 19.75%
Control time
11:374.9% of cage time · norm 18.5%
28:232:25 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control
11:060:42 per 15 · norm 3:15
70.60/15 · norm 0.47
Submission attempts
00.00/15 · norm 0.45

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.