Waldo Cortes Acosta vs.
Ryan Spann
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.
Waldo Cortes Acosta
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 12 | 3 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 2 | 0 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 3 | 0 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.86 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 10 finish wins over 20 documented bouts
In the UFC: 7-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.4 wins over .500
Ryan Spann
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 11 | 7 |
| Tier 2 — LFA / Cage Warriors (feeder belts) | 5 | 3 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 8 | 1 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 1.1 · 16 tier-1/2 wins · 21 finish wins over 35 documented bouts
In the UFC: 6-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +1.4 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)
Waldo Cortes Acosta
Distance 90.3% (norm 79.5%) · Clinch 2.6% (norm 9.8%) · Ground 7.0% (norm 9.3%)
Ryan Spann
Distance 85.2% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 3.8% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 11.0% (norm 10.4%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Waldo Cortes Acosta
Head 80.7% (norm 79.2%) · Body 10.5% (norm 11.5%) · Legs 8.8% (norm 7.6%)
Ryan Spann
Head 87.0% (norm 79.2%) · Body 10.4% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 2.6% (norm 9.7%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Acosta L/A | Acc | Heavyweight med | Spann L/A | Acc | Light Heavyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 669 / 1410 | 47.4% | 40.1% | 219 / 656 | 33.4% | 41.4% |
| In the clinch | 24 / 41 | 58.5% | 70.6% | 22 / 29 | 75.9% | 70.9% |
| On the ground | 66 / 110 | 60.0% | 70.2% | 63 / 85 | 74.1% | 72.3% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 537 / 1260 | 42.6% | 38.9% | 229 / 670 | 34.2% | 38.9% |
| To the body | 113 / 164 | 68.9% | 76.8% | 56 / 80 | 70.0% | 71.9% |
| To the legs | 109 / 137 | 79.6% | 87.8% | 19 / 20 | too few to rate | 81.8% |
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: 93 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 Acosta L/A | Opp acc | Heavyweight med | vs Spann L/A | Opp acc | Light Heavyweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 516 / 1139 | 45.3% | 40.7% | 291 / 556 | 52.3% | 40.4% |
| In the clinch | 12 / 26 | 46.2% | 70.6% | 24 / 35 | 68.6% | 68.7% |
| On the ground | 1 / 2 | too few to rate | 72.0% | 65 / 83 | 78.3% | 70.4% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 212 / 795 | 26.7% | 38.8% | 258 / 532 | 48.5% | 37.5% |
| To the body | 108 / 150 | 72.0% | 75.1% | 43 / 54 | 79.6% | 72.3% |
| To the legs | 209 / 222 | 94.1% | 84.4% | 79 / 88 | 89.8% | 83.0% |
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 — Spann has more cage time on record.