Wanderlei Silva vs.
Rich Franklin
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.
Wanderlei Silva
Full career not yet synced for Wanderlei Silva — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 3-7 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.1 wins over .500
Rich Franklin
Full career not yet synced for Rich Franklin — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).
In the UFC: 9-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.5 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)
Wanderlei Silva
Distance 84.1% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 10.9% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 5.1% (norm 10.4%)
Rich Franklin
Distance 79.9% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 11.5% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 8.6% (norm 10.3%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Wanderlei Silva
Head 85.7% (norm 79.2%) · Body 5.9% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 8.4% (norm 9.7%)
Rich Franklin
Head 81.6% (norm 78.0%) · Body 12.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 5.5% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Silva L/A | Acc | Light Heavyweight med | Franklin L/A | Acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 229 / 812 | 28.2% | 41.4% | 596 / 1575 | 37.8% | 40.5% |
| In the clinch | 65 / 105 | 61.9% | 70.9% | 151 / 226 | 66.8% | 70.3% |
| On the ground | 31 / 49 | 63.3% | 72.3% | 109 / 169 | 64.5% | 69.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 228 / 828 | 27.5% | 38.9% | 559 / 1608 | 34.8% | 38.9% |
| To the body | 43 / 57 | 75.4% | 71.9% | 198 / 253 | 78.3% | 71.7% |
| To the legs | 54 / 81 | 66.7% | 81.8% | 99 / 109 | 90.8% | 83.3% |
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 (Light Heavyweight: 93 fighters · Middleweight: 174 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 Silva L/A | Opp acc | Light Heavyweight med | vs Franklin L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 329 / 933 | 35.3% | 40.4% | 247 / 877 | 28.2% | 39.5% |
| In the clinch | 31 / 57 | 54.4% | 68.7% | 120 / 169 | 71.0% | 70.9% |
| On the ground | 31 / 60 | 51.7% | 70.4% | 48 / 88 | 54.5% | 69.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 282 / 906 | 31.1% | 37.5% | 231 / 879 | 26.3% | 37.9% |
| To the body | 68 / 93 | 73.1% | 72.3% | 109 / 162 | 67.3% | 71.3% |
| To the legs | 41 / 51 | 80.4% | 83.0% | 75 / 93 | 80.6% | 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 — Franklin has more cage time on record.