BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Punahele Soriano vs.
Nikolay Veretennikov

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

7-4-0 Punahele Soriano · UFC
2-4-0 Nikolay Veretennikov · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

7-4-0
UFC record
2-4-0
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
33.7
AgeΔ 2.9 yrs
36.6
5'11"
HeightΔ 2"
6'1"
72"
ReachΔ 2"
74"
Southpaw
Stance
Orthodox
5.5
Layoff (months)Δ 2.8 mo
2.7
WWWWL
Last 5 (newest first)
LWLWL
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.

Punahele Soriano carries real power — 0.84 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.32 Middleweight norm.
Nikolay Veretennikov rarely shoots — 0.50 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.27 Welterweight norm.
Punahele Soriano owns the mat — in control 31% of cage time, vs a 20% Middleweight 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.

Punahele Soriano

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 94
Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) 10
Tier 3 — regional circuit 30

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.53 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 9 finish wins over 17 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-2 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.3 wins over .500

Nikolay Veretennikov

Full career not yet synced for Nikolay Veretennikov — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 0-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.2 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

4904.60/min · norm 3.25
Sig. strikes landed
1522.56/min · norm 3.17
3663.44/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed
2023.40/min · norm 3.06
56.0%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
53.7%norm 44.9%
47.5%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
44.0%norm 55.25%
60.84/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
00.00/15 · norm 0.38

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

Punahele Soriano

Distance 61.6% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 6.1% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 32.3% (norm 10.3%)

Nikolay Veretennikov

Distance 81.6% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 13.4% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 4.9% (norm 8.1%)

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

Punahele Soriano

Head 85.5% (norm 78.0%) · Body 12.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 1.7% (norm 8.4%)

Nikolay Veretennikov

Head 67.8% (norm 78.2%) · Body 27.2% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 4.9% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Soriano L/AAccMiddleweight med Veretennikov L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 220 / 539 40.8% 40.5% 110 / 231 47.6% 38.6%
In the clinch 42 / 53 79.2% 70.3% 34 / 38 89.5% 67.8%
On the ground 228 / 283 80.6% 69.1% 8 / 14 too few to rate 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 388 / 748 51.9% 38.9% 77 / 192 40.1% 37.2%
To the body 91 / 112 81.2% 71.7% 61 / 77 79.2% 70.7%
To the legs 11 / 15 too few to rate 83.3% 14 / 14 too few to rate 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 Soriano L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Veretennikov L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 312 / 627 49.8% 39.5% 113 / 246 45.9% 39.0%
In the clinch 46 / 62 74.2% 70.9% 8 / 12 too few to rate 68.9%
On the ground 8 / 8 too few to rate 69.0% 81 / 103 78.6% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 190 / 490 38.8% 37.9% 150 / 276 54.3% 35.6%
To the body 126 / 153 82.4% 71.3% 22 / 38 57.9% 69.6%
To the legs 50 / 54 92.6% 82.1% 30 / 47 63.8% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

1348.1% acc · 1.83/15 · norm 1.42
Takedowns landed
222.2% acc · 0.50/15 · norm 1.27
2048.8% def · norm 63.1%
Takedowns stopped
1866.7% def · norm 63.9%
32:3730.6% of cage time · norm 19.75%
Control time
3:486.4% of cage time · norm 18.5%
18:322:36 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control
28:557:17 per 15 · norm 3:15
10.14/15 · norm 0.47
Submission attempts
20.50/15 · norm 0.45

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

Next move

Let the engine settle it.