Skip to content

Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera

UFC 9-4-0 vs. 8-7-0 (1 NC)

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
9-4-0
UFC record
8-7-0 (1 NC)
Heavyweight
Division (benchmark)
Light Heavyweight
50
AgeΔ 1 yrs
49
6'8"
HeightΔ 5"
6'3"
80"
ReachΔ 2"
78"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
224.5
Layoff (months)Δ 66.9 mo
157.6
LWLWW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLWNCL

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Tim Sylvia carries real power — 0.55 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.29 Heavyweight norm.
Tim Sylvia rarely shoots — 0.11 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.90 Heavyweight norm.
Brandon Vera carries real power — 0.64 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.40 Light Heavyweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Tim Sylvia

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 95
Tier 3 — regional circuit 185

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.88 · 9 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 38 documented bouts

In the UFC: 6-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.5 wins over .500

Brandon Vera

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1210
Tier 3 — regional circuit 30

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.97 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 26 documented bouts

In the UFC: 3-4 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.4 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

5854.25/min · norm 3.28
Sig. strikes landed
5033.07/min · norm 3.48
3452.51/min · norm 3.19
Sig. strikes absorbed lower is better
4802.93/min · norm 3.37
41.8%norm 47.5%
Striking accuracy
55.8%norm 48.45%
62.2%norm 52.5%
Striking defense
52.5%norm 52.75%
50.55/15 · norm 0.29
Knockdowns
70.64/15 · norm 0.40

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

Tim Sylvia

Distance 81.7% (norm 79.2%) · Clinch 13.8% (norm 9.8%) · Ground 4.5% (norm 9.3%)

Brandon Vera

Distance 68.9% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 24.5% (norm 8.8%) · Ground 6.5% (norm 10.6%)

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

Tim Sylvia

Head 86.6% (norm 79.2%) · Body 6.6% (norm 11.5%) · Legs 6.9% (norm 7.6%)

Brandon Vera

Head 56.7% (norm 78.5%) · Body 19.8% (norm 11.8%) · Legs 23.5% (norm 9.7%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Sylvia L/AAccHeavyweight med Vera L/AAccLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 396 / 1144 34.6% 40.1% 289 / 621 46.5% 41.5%
In the clinch 137 / 194 70.6% 70.4% 171 / 221 77.4% 70.8%
On the ground 52 / 63 82.5% 70.2% 43 / 59 72.9% 72.9%
BY TARGET
To the head 422 / 1213 34.8% 39.0% 182 / 511 35.6% 39.2%
To the body 75 / 92 81.5% 77.0% 141 / 178 79.2% 72.0%
To the legs 88 / 96 91.7% 87.8% 180 / 212 84.9% 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 (Heavyweight: 93 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 Sylvia L/AOpp accHeavyweight med vs Vera L/AOpp accLight Heavyweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 253 / 782 32.4% 40.7% 193 / 572 33.7% 40.6%
In the clinch 51 / 63 81.0% 70.6% 198 / 284 69.7% 68.8%
On the ground 41 / 68 60.3% 72.2% 89 / 154 57.8% 70.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 200 / 738 27.1% 39.3% 283 / 764 37.0% 37.7%
To the body 64 / 88 72.7% 75.1% 95 / 118 80.5% 72.9%
To the legs 81 / 87 93.1% 84.4% 102 / 128 79.7% 83.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
1100.0% acc · 0.11/15 · norm 0.90
Takedowns landed
853.3% acc · 0.73/15 · norm 0.87
3375.0% def · norm 63.2%
Takedowns stopped
2960.4% def · norm 66.7%
22:1316.2% of cage time · norm 17.2%
Control time
26:4016.3% of cage time · norm 17.1%
25:572:49 per 15 · norm 2:28
Time under control lower is better
62:085:40 per 15 · norm 2:50
10.11/15 · norm 0.16
Submission attempts
20.18/15 · norm 0.28

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