BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Rafael Natal vs.
Sean Spencer

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

9-7-1 Rafael Natal · UFC
3-5-0 Sean Spencer · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

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

9-7-1
UFC record
3-5-0
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
43.6
AgeΔ 4.5 yrs
39.1
6'0"
HeightΔ 2"
5'10"
77"
ReachΔ 3"
74"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
108.5
Layoff (months)Δ 10.3 mo
118.8
LLLWW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWL
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.

Sean Spencer rarely shoots — 0.14 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.27 Welterweight norm.
Rafael Natal hunts takedowns — 2.55 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.42 Middleweight norm.
Sean Spencer outworks the Welterweight division — 4.24 sig. strikes landed per minute, vs a 3.17 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.

Rafael Natal

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

In the UFC: 3-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +0.7 wins over .500

Sean Spencer

Full career not yet synced for Sean Spencer — 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

6563.10/min · norm 3.25
Sig. strikes landed
4564.24/min · norm 3.17
5242.48/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed
4324.02/min · norm 3.06
47.9%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
32.4%norm 44.9%
57.6%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
60.7%norm 55.25%
50.35/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
30.42/15 · norm 0.38

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

Rafael Natal

Distance 76.6% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 8.1% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 15.3% (norm 10.3%)

Sean Spencer

Distance 92.6% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 6.0% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 1.4% (norm 8.1%)

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

Rafael Natal

Head 71.2% (norm 78.0%) · Body 12.5% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 16.3% (norm 8.4%)

Sean Spencer

Head 87.1% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.7% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 3.2% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Natal L/AAccMiddleweight med Spencer L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 432 / 1049 41.2% 40.5% 391 / 1302 30.0% 38.6%
In the clinch 79 / 111 71.2% 70.3% 49 / 84 58.3% 67.8%
On the ground 145 / 210 69.0% 69.1% 16 / 20 too few to rate 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 379 / 976 38.8% 38.9% 345 / 1225 28.2% 37.2%
To the body 93 / 171 54.4% 71.7% 77 / 136 56.6% 70.7%
To the legs 184 / 223 82.5% 83.3% 34 / 45 75.6% 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 Natal L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Spencer L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 369 / 1016 36.3% 39.5% 332 / 947 35.1% 39.0%
In the clinch 58 / 89 65.2% 70.9% 60 / 97 61.9% 68.9%
On the ground 97 / 131 74.0% 69.0% 40 / 56 71.4% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 315 / 950 33.2% 37.9% 278 / 898 31.0% 35.6%
To the body 73 / 117 62.4% 71.3% 54 / 98 55.1% 69.6%
To the legs 136 / 169 80.5% 82.1% 100 / 104 96.2% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

3634.3% acc · 2.55/15 · norm 1.42
Takedowns landed
133.3% acc · 0.14/15 · norm 1.27
2777.1% def · norm 63.1%
Takedowns stopped
4069.0% def · norm 63.9%
53:3925.4% of cage time · norm 19.75%
Control time
7:006.5% of cage time · norm 18.5%
30:472:10 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control
23:143:14 per 15 · norm 3:15
70.50/15 · 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 — Natal has more cage time on record.

Next move

Let the engine settle it.