BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar

UFC 12-13-2 vs. 18-11-1

Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line
12-13-2
UFC record
18-11-1
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Featherweight
47
AgeΔ 3 yrs
44
5'9"
HeightΔ 3"
5'6"
70"
ReachΔ 2"
68"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
86.9
Layoff (months)Δ 42.1 mo
44.8
LLLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWL

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Frankie Edgar hunts takedowns — 2.29 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.19 Featherweight norm.
Frankie Edgar owns the mat — in control 22% of cage time, vs a 17% Featherweight norm.

Level of competition

Full-career record by tier of opposition

BJ Penn

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1213
Tier 3 — regional circuit 41

Tier-weighted record quality: 0.8 · 12 tier-1/2 wins · 13 finish wins over 32 documented bouts

In the UFC: 8-13 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.6 wins over .500

Frankie Edgar

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1811
Tier 3 — regional circuit 60

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.15 · 18 tier-1/2 wins · 11 finish wins over 36 documented bouts

In the UFC: 17-11 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +4.3 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

9992.80/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
18013.77/min · norm 3.54
12393.48/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
13462.82/min · norm 3.47
47.5%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
40.5%norm 45.0%
56.9%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
65.9%norm 54.85%
70.29/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
30.09/15 · norm 0.29

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

BJ Penn

Distance 75.9% (norm 82.8%) · Clinch 13.3% (norm 7.6%) · Ground 10.9% (norm 8.0%)

Frankie Edgar

Distance 82.5% (norm 85.7%) · Clinch 4.7% (norm 6.1%) · Ground 12.9% (norm 6.5%)

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

BJ Penn

Head 88.0% (norm 78.2%) · Body 9.1% (norm 12.8%) · Legs 3.0% (norm 7.9%)

Frankie Edgar

Head 79.6% (norm 77.4%) · Body 12.7% (norm 12.9%) · Legs 7.6% (norm 7.8%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Penn L/AAccLightweight med Edgar L/AAccFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 628 / 1594 39.4% 37.9% 1263 / 3672 34.4% 40.9%
In the clinch 210 / 279 75.3% 67.3% 129 / 207 62.3% 70.8%
On the ground 161 / 228 70.6% 69.1% 409 / 572 71.5% 69.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 783 / 1848 42.4% 35.0% 1195 / 3545 33.7% 37.2%
To the body 162 / 191 84.8% 69.1% 344 / 566 60.8% 68.2%
To the legs 54 / 62 87.1% 81.9% 262 / 340 77.1% 80.7%

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 (Lightweight: 201 fighters · Featherweight: 126 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 Penn L/AOpp accLightweight med vs Edgar L/AOpp accFeatherweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 849 / 2259 37.6% 38.9% 1159 / 3660 31.7% 39.2%
In the clinch 170 / 280 60.7% 68.6% 93 / 156 59.6% 70.3%
On the ground 220 / 334 65.9% 68.0% 94 / 135 69.6% 69.4%
BY TARGET
To the head 793 / 2236 35.5% 35.1% 995 / 3447 28.9% 35.9%
To the body 242 / 360 67.2% 68.1% 204 / 317 64.4% 67.9%
To the legs 204 / 277 73.6% 81.5% 147 / 187 78.6% 81.5%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
2657.8% acc · 1.09/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
7331.5% acc · 2.29/15 · norm 1.19
10976.2% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
4265.6% def · norm 61.5%
58:0516.3% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
105:3722.1% of cage time · norm 16.7%
103:454:22 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
16:260:30 per 15 · norm 3:12
120.51/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
100.31/15 · norm 0.46

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