Alexa Grasso vs. Carla Esparza

UFC 9-5-1 vs. 10-6-0

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
9-5-1
UFC record
10-6-0
Women's Flyweight
Division (benchmark)
Women's Strawweight
33
AgeΔ 5 yrs
38
5'5"
HeightΔ 4"
5'1"
66"
ReachΔ 3"
63"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
4.4
Layoff (months)Δ 17.7 mo
22.1
WLLDW
Last 5 (newest first)
LLWWW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Carla Esparza hunts takedowns — 3.28 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.10 Women's Strawweight norm.
Alexa Grasso is a submission threat — 0.67 attempts per 15 minutes, vs a 0.32 Women's Flyweight norm.
Alexa Grasso rarely shoots — 0.40 takedowns per 15 minutes, vs a 1.02 Women's Flyweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

Alexa Grasso

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 95
Tier 3 — regional circuit 70

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.2 · 9 tier-1/2 wins · 6 finish wins over 22 documented bouts

In the UFC: 6-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.5 wins over .500

Carla Esparza

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 108
Tier 3 — regional circuit 90

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.0 · 10 tier-1/2 wins · 8 finish wins over 27 documented bouts

In the UFC: 8-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.1 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

9214.11/min · norm 3.91
Sig. strikes landed
4922.19/min · norm 3.77
8313.71/min · norm 3.81
Sig. strikes absorbed
6442.87/min · norm 3.94
41.1%norm 44.9%
Striking accuracy
39.5%norm 44.5%
58.7%norm 55.95%
Striking defense
54.4%norm 54.4%
20.13/15 · norm 0.09
Knockdowns
00.00/15 · norm 0.00

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

Alexa Grasso

Distance 89.7% (norm 87.6%) · Clinch 8.5% (norm 7.3%) · Ground 1.7% (norm 4.9%)

Carla Esparza

Distance 75.0% (norm 86.9%) · Clinch 8.5% (norm 7.7%) · Ground 16.5% (norm 5.0%)

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

Alexa Grasso

Head 76.6% (norm 78.1%) · Body 11.8% (norm 14.2%) · Legs 11.6% (norm 7.7%)

Carla Esparza

Head 86.0% (norm 76.4%) · Body 8.1% (norm 14.9%) · Legs 5.9% (norm 9.1%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Grasso L/AAccWomen's Flyweight med Esparza L/AAccWomen's Strawweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 750 / 2010 37.3% 39.9% 280 / 935 29.9% 38.3%
In the clinch 142 / 191 74.3% 73.3% 63 / 106 59.4% 72.6%
On the ground 29 / 39 74.4% 74.7% 149 / 206 72.3% 75.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 570 / 1716 33.2% 34.9% 363 / 1072 33.9% 35.4%
To the body 174 / 264 65.9% 69.5% 71 / 101 70.3% 69.3%
To the legs 177 / 260 68.1% 82.6% 58 / 74 78.4% 77.9%

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 Strawweight: 63 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 Grasso L/AOpp accWomen's Flyweight med vs Esparza L/AOpp accWomen's Strawweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 709 / 1838 38.6% 38.8% 409 / 1103 37.1% 39.7%
In the clinch 76 / 114 66.7% 74.1% 53 / 87 60.9% 71.5%
On the ground 46 / 61 75.4% 73.4% 182 / 222 82.0% 74.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 598 / 1692 35.3% 35.3% 473 / 1195 39.6% 36.0%
To the body 145 / 210 69.0% 69.0% 90 / 119 75.6% 68.4%
To the legs 88 / 111 79.3% 78.7% 81 / 98 82.7% 79.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
635.3% acc · 0.40/15 · norm 1.02
Takedowns landed
4936.3% acc · 3.28/15 · norm 1.10
4054.8% def · norm 58.95%
Takedowns stopped
1747.2% def · norm 64.1%
21:159.5% of cage time · norm 19.15%
Control time
63:2828.3% of cage time · norm 19.4%
54:073:37 per 15 · norm 3:03
Time under control
32:352:10 per 15 · norm 3:00
100.67/15 · norm 0.32
Submission attempts
40.27/15 · norm 0.29

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