Thiago Santos vs. Jimi Manuwa
Tale of the tape
The read
Level of competition
Thiago Santos
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 14 | 12 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 9 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.96 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 17 finish wins over 37 documented bouts
In the UFC: 11-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.6 wins over .500
Jimi Manuwa
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 6 | 6 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 11 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.12 · 6 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 23 documented bouts
In the UFC: 6-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.8 wins over .500
Striking
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Thiago Santos
Distance 69.7% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 9.8% (norm 9.0%) · Ground 20.5% (norm 10.0%)
Jimi Manuwa
Distance 75.0% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 23.3% (norm 8.8%) · Ground 1.7% (norm 10.6%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Thiago Santos
Head 65.9% (norm 78.0%) · Body 16.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 17.3% (norm 8.4%)
Jimi Manuwa
Head 61.5% (norm 78.5%) · Body 19.5% (norm 11.8%) · Legs 18.9% (norm 9.7%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Santos L/A | Acc | Middleweight med | Manuwa L/A | Acc | Light Heavyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 512 / 1285 | 39.8% | 40.5% | 180 / 400 | 45.0% | 41.5% |
| In the clinch | 150 / 181 | 82.9% | 70.6% | 104 / 124 | 83.9% | 70.8% |
| On the ground | 226 / 378 | 59.8% | 69.4% | 5 / 9 | too few to rate | 72.9% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 455 / 1216 | 37.4% | 38.8% | 119 / 328 | 36.3% | 39.2% |
| To the body | 204 / 309 | 66.0% | 71.6% | 80 / 104 | 76.9% | 72.0% |
| To the legs | 229 / 319 | 71.8% | 83.3% | 90 / 101 | 89.1% | 82.1% |
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: 178 fighters · Light Heavyweight: 94 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 Santos L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med | vs Manuwa L/A | Opp acc | Light Heavyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 417 / 1085 | 38.4% | 39.5% | 216 / 506 | 42.7% | 40.6% |
| In the clinch | 87 / 110 | 79.1% | 70.4% | 109 / 137 | 79.6% | 68.8% |
| On the ground | 110 / 138 | 79.7% | 69.0% | 10 / 16 | too few to rate | 70.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 330 / 914 | 36.1% | 37.9% | 203 / 498 | 40.8% | 37.7% |
| To the body | 141 / 215 | 65.6% | 71.3% | 76 / 99 | 76.8% | 72.9% |
| To the legs | 143 / 204 | 70.1% | 82.1% | 56 / 62 | 90.3% | 83.1% |
Grappling
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Santos has more cage time on record.