Sean Strickland vs.
Santiago Ponzinibbio
Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.
The men, measured.
Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.
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.
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.
Sean Strickland
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 18 | 7 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 13 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.46 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 38 documented bouts
In the UFC: 16-6 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.5 wins over .500
Santiago Ponzinibbio
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 12 | 9 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 16 | 1 |
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
The stand-up battle.
Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Sean Strickland
Distance 94.7% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 2.0% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 3.2% (norm 10.3%)
Santiago Ponzinibbio
Distance 96.6% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 1.4% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 2.0% (norm 8.1%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Sean Strickland
Head 88.1% (norm 78.0%) · Body 9.1% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 2.8% (norm 8.4%)
Santiago Ponzinibbio
Head 83.4% (norm 78.2%) · Body 8.9% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 7.7% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Strickland L/A | Acc | Middleweight med | Ponzinibbio L/A | Acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 2239 / 5415 | 41.3% | 40.5% | 1043 / 2599 | 40.1% | 38.6% |
| In the clinch | 78 / 117 | 66.7% | 70.3% | 20 / 37 | 54.1% | 67.8% |
| On the ground | 113 / 185 | 61.1% | 69.1% | 34 / 55 | 61.8% | 67.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 1963 / 5036 | 39.0% | 38.9% | 775 / 2243 | 34.6% | 37.2% |
| To the body | 343 / 523 | 65.6% | 71.7% | 137 / 240 | 57.1% | 70.7% |
| To the legs | 124 / 158 | 78.5% | 83.3% | 185 / 208 | 88.9% | 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 Strickland L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med | vs Ponzinibbio L/A | Opp acc | Welterweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 1738 / 4517 | 38.5% | 39.5% | 1043 / 2764 | 37.7% | 39.0% |
| In the clinch | 50 / 77 | 64.9% | 70.9% | 22 / 38 | 57.9% | 68.9% |
| On the ground | 54 / 87 | 62.1% | 69.0% | 59 / 89 | 66.3% | 68.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 769 / 3096 | 24.8% | 37.9% | 669 / 2248 | 29.8% | 35.6% |
| To the body | 631 / 1021 | 61.8% | 71.3% | 232 / 378 | 61.4% | 69.6% |
| To the legs | 442 / 564 | 78.4% | 82.1% | 223 / 265 | 84.2% | 82.1% |
The ground war.
Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Strickland has more cage time on record.