Tracy Cortez vs.
Vanessa Melo
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.
Tracy Cortez
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 7 | 3 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 5 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.02 · 7 tier-1/2 wins · 2 finish wins over 16 documented bouts
In the UFC: 3-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 wins over .500
Vanessa Melo
Full career not yet synced for Vanessa Melo — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 0-1 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record -0.2 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)
Tracy Cortez
Distance 81.7% (norm 87.6%) · Clinch 5.5% (norm 7.3%) · Ground 12.8% (norm 4.9%)
Vanessa Melo
Distance 98.5% (norm 80.3%) · Clinch 1.2% (norm 9.7%) · Ground 0.3% (norm 7.5%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Tracy Cortez
Head 78.5% (norm 78.1%) · Body 12.4% (norm 14.2%) · Legs 9.2% (norm 7.7%)
Vanessa Melo
Head 85.0% (norm 75.2%) · Body 8.7% (norm 14.3%) · Legs 6.3% (norm 8.8%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Cortez L/A | Acc | Women's Flyweight med | Melo L/A | Acc | Women's Bantamweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 386 / 926 | 41.7% | 39.9% | 199 / 669 | 29.7% | 38.3% |
| In the clinch | 48 / 62 | 77.4% | 73.3% | 8 / 8 | too few to rate | 73.3% |
| On the ground | 111 / 145 | 76.6% | 74.7% | 2 / 2 | too few to rate | 70.8% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 359 / 889 | 40.4% | 34.9% | 145 / 577 | 25.1% | 37.7% |
| To the body | 101 / 140 | 72.1% | 69.5% | 30 / 59 | 50.8% | 70.0% |
| To the legs | 85 / 104 | 81.7% | 82.6% | 34 / 43 | 79.1% | 80.9% |
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 (Women's Flyweight: 46 fighters · Women's Bantamweight: 40 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 Cortez L/A | Opp acc | Women's Flyweight med | vs Melo L/A | Opp acc | Women's Bantamweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 464 / 1039 | 44.7% | 38.8% | 301 / 813 | 37.0% | 41.3% |
| In the clinch | 44 / 63 | 69.8% | 74.1% | 14 / 14 | too few to rate | 74.7% |
| On the ground | 11 / 15 | too few to rate | 73.4% | 53 / 74 | 71.6% | 74.2% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 333 / 866 | 38.5% | 35.3% | 226 / 722 | 31.3% | 38.1% |
| To the body | 97 / 141 | 68.8% | 69.0% | 55 / 79 | 69.6% | 73.2% |
| To the legs | 89 / 110 | 80.9% | 78.7% | 87 / 100 | 87.0% | 80.9% |
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 — Cortez has more cage time on record.