Paulo Costa vs. Azamat Murzakanov

UFC 8-4-0 vs. 6-1-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
8-4-0
UFC record
6-1-0
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Light Heavyweight
35
AgeΔ 2 yrs
37
6'1"
HeightΔ 3"
5'10"
72"
ReachΔ 1"
71"
Orthodox
Stance
Southpaw
3.9
Layoff (months)Δ 0 mo
3.9
WWLLW
Last 5 (newest first)
LWWWW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Azamat Murzakanov carries real power — 1.42 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.
Paulo Costa outworks the Middleweight division — 6.15 sig. strikes landed per minute, vs a 3.25 norm.
Paulo Costa absorbs 5.96 sig. strikes per minute, well above the 3.20 Middleweight norm — hittable.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Paulo Costa

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 84
Tier 3 — regional circuit 80

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.48 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 20 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 wins over .500

Azamat Murzakanov

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 71
Tier 3 — regional circuit 80

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.88 · 7 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 16 documented bouts

In the UFC: 5-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.0 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

9346.15/min · norm 3.25
Sig. strikes landed
2834.47/min · norm 3.41
9045.96/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed
2083.29/min · norm 3.35
59.3%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
56.5%norm 48.3%
49.4%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
55.8%norm 52.9%
60.59/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
61.42/15 · norm 0.40

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

Paulo Costa

Distance 90.7% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 3.9% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 5.3% (norm 10.3%)

Azamat Murzakanov

Distance 78.8% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 4.4% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 16.8% (norm 10.4%)

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

Paulo Costa

Head 61.3% (norm 78.0%) · Body 29.2% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 9.5% (norm 8.4%)

Azamat Murzakanov

Head 80.0% (norm 79.2%) · Body 17.6% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 2.4% (norm 9.7%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Costa L/AAccMiddleweight med Murzakanov L/AAccLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 826 / 1430 57.8% 40.5% 196 / 395 49.6% 41.4%
In the clinch 49 / 62 79.0% 70.3% 18 / 22 too few to rate 70.9%
On the ground 59 / 84 70.2% 69.1% 69 / 84 82.1% 72.3%
BY TARGET
To the head 422 / 966 43.7% 38.9% 201 / 401 50.1% 38.9%
To the body 379 / 460 82.4% 71.7% 71 / 88 80.7% 71.9%
To the legs 133 / 150 88.7% 83.3% 11 / 12 too few to rate 81.8%

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 · Light Heavyweight: 93 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 Costa L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Murzakanov L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 836 / 1695 49.3% 39.5% 183 / 438 41.8% 40.4%
In the clinch 58 / 80 72.5% 70.9% 20 / 26 76.9% 68.7%
On the ground 10 / 12 too few to rate 69.0% 5 / 7 too few to rate 70.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 588 / 1359 43.3% 37.9% 98 / 319 30.7% 37.5%
To the body 195 / 293 66.6% 71.3% 50 / 76 65.8% 72.3%
To the legs 121 / 135 89.6% 82.1% 60 / 76 78.9% 83.0%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
342.9% acc · 0.30/15 · norm 1.42
Takedowns landed
321.4% acc · 0.71/15 · norm 0.87
2177.8% def · norm 63.1%
Takedowns stopped
888.9% def · norm 66.7%
8:245.5% of cage time · norm 19.75%
Control time
6:089.7% of cage time · norm 16.5%
6:210:37 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control
6:331:33 per 15 · norm 2:48
00.00/15 · norm 0.47
Submission attempts
10.24/15 · norm 0.27

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