BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Paul Craig vs.
Brendan Allen

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

9-10-1 (1 NC) Paul Craig · UFC
15-4-0 Brendan Allen · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

9-10-1 (1 NC)
UFC record
15-4-0
Light Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Middleweight
38.7
AgeΔ 8.1 yrs
30.6
6'3"
HeightΔ 1"
6'2"
76"
ReachΔ 1"
75"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
11
Layoff (months)Δ 9 mo
2
LNCLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
WWWLL
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.

Paul Craig is a submission threat — 1.34 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.27 Light Heavyweight norm.
Brendan Allen is a submission threat — 1.01 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.47 Middleweight norm.
Paul Craig hunts takedowns — 1.43 per 15 minutes, vs a 0.87 Light Heavyweight 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.

Paul Craig

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 910
Tier 3 — regional circuit 80

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.89 · 9 tier-1/2 wins · 17 finish wins over 29 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.5 wins over .500

Brendan Allen

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 164
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 63
Tier 3 — regional circuit 50

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.61 · 22 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 34 documented bouts

In the UFC: 13-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.8 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

4212.50/min · norm 3.41
Sig. strikes landed
8343.74/min · norm 3.25
5113.04/min · norm 3.35
Sig. strikes absorbed
8353.74/min · norm 3.20
45.4%norm 48.3%
Striking accuracy
52.3%norm 47.4%
43.4%norm 52.9%
Striking defense
48.2%norm 53.8%
10.09/15 · norm 0.40
Knockdowns
30.20/15 · norm 0.32

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

Paul Craig

Distance 78.4% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 8.6% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 12.9% (norm 10.4%)

Brendan Allen

Distance 83.3% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 5.4% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 11.3% (norm 10.3%)

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

Paul Craig

Head 68.3% (norm 79.2%) · Body 21.8% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 9.9% (norm 9.7%)

Brendan Allen

Head 79.0% (norm 78.0%) · Body 13.5% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 7.5% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Craig L/AAccLight Heavyweight med Allen L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 283 / 728 38.9% 41.4% 650 / 1328 48.9% 40.5%
In the clinch 57 / 80 71.2% 70.9% 56 / 86 65.1% 70.3%
On the ground 81 / 120 67.5% 72.3% 128 / 181 70.7% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 211 / 634 33.3% 38.9% 549 / 1260 43.6% 38.9%
To the body 133 / 202 65.8% 71.9% 172 / 215 80.0% 71.7%
To the legs 77 / 92 83.7% 81.8% 113 / 120 94.2% 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 (Light Heavyweight: 93 fighters · Middleweight: 174 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 Craig L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med vs Allen L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 281 / 584 48.1% 40.4% 718 / 1449 49.6% 39.5%
In the clinch 49 / 60 81.7% 68.7% 48 / 66 72.7% 70.9%
On the ground 181 / 259 69.9% 70.4% 69 / 97 71.1% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 353 / 713 49.5% 37.5% 681 / 1410 48.3% 37.9%
To the body 78 / 97 80.4% 72.3% 112 / 151 74.2% 71.3%
To the legs 80 / 93 86.0% 83.0% 42 / 51 82.4% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

1618.8% acc · 1.43/15 · norm 0.87
Takedowns landed
2242.3% acc · 1.48/15 · norm 1.42
635.3% def · norm 66.7%
Takedowns stopped
2455.8% def · norm 63.1%
22:4913.6% of cage time · norm 16.5%
Control time
66:1229.7% of cage time · norm 19.75%
62:195:33 per 15 · norm 2:48
Time under control
50:553:25 per 15 · norm 3:00
151.34/15 · norm 0.27
Submission attempts
151.01/15 · norm 0.47

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.