BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Santiago Ponzinibbio vs.
Michel Pereira

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

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

The men, measured.

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

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

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

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

Striking

The stand-up battle.

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

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

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

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

Santiago Ponzinibbio

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

Michel Pereira

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

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

Santiago Ponzinibbio

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

Michel Pereira

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

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Ponzinibbio L/AAccWelterweight med Pereira L/AAccMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 1043 / 2599 40.1% 38.6% 629 / 1294 48.6% 40.5%
In the clinch 20 / 37 54.1% 67.8% 83 / 99 83.8% 70.3%
On the ground 34 / 55 61.8% 67.2% 40 / 70 57.1% 69.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 775 / 2243 34.6% 37.2% 352 / 905 38.9% 38.9%
To the body 137 / 240 57.1% 70.7% 319 / 457 69.8% 71.7%
To the legs 185 / 208 88.9% 82.9% 81 / 101 80.2% 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 (Welterweight: 182 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 Ponzinibbio L/AOpp accWelterweight med vs Pereira L/AOpp accMiddleweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 1043 / 2764 37.7% 39.0% 557 / 1273 43.8% 39.5%
In the clinch 22 / 38 57.9% 68.9% 62 / 90 68.9% 70.9%
On the ground 59 / 89 66.3% 68.0% 140 / 177 79.1% 69.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 669 / 2248 29.8% 35.6% 471 / 1154 40.8% 37.9%
To the body 232 / 378 61.4% 69.6% 155 / 225 68.9% 71.3%
To the legs 223 / 265 84.2% 82.1% 133 / 161 82.6% 82.1%
Grappling

The ground war.

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

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

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.