BJ Penn vs. Rory MacDonald

UFC 12-13-2 vs. 9-4-0
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Tale of the tape

Green = edge on that line

BJ Penn

VS

Rory MacDonald

12-13-2
UFC record
9-4-0
Lightweight
Division (benchmark)
Welterweight
47
AgeΔ 10 yrs
37
5'9"
HeightΔ 3"
6'0"
70"
ReachΔ 6"
76"
Orthodox
Stance
Orthodox
86.9
Layoff (months)Δ 34.7 mo
121.6
LLLLL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLWWW

The read

Stats 25%+ off the division median
Rory MacDonald hunts takedowns — 1.77 per 15 minutes, vs a 1.27 Welterweight 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

Rory MacDonald

Competition tierWL
Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin 1410
Tier 3 — regional circuit 90

Tier-weighted record quality: 1.15 · 14 tier-1/2 wins · 16 finish wins over 34 documented bouts

In the UFC: 8-3 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.3 wins over .500

Striking

Career totals · norms = own-division medians

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

9992.80/min · norm 3.42
Sig. strikes landed
6673.75/min · norm 3.17
12393.48/min · norm 3.37
Sig. strikes absorbed
4992.80/min · norm 3.06
47.5%norm 43.5%
Striking accuracy
42.5%norm 44.9%
56.9%norm 56.3%
Striking defense
62.5%norm 55.25%
70.29/15 · norm 0.25
Knockdowns
10.08/15 · norm 0.38

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%)

Rory MacDonald

Distance 83.9% (norm 81.2%) · Clinch 6.1% (norm 9.4%) · Ground 10.1% (norm 8.1%)

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%)

Rory MacDonald

Head 82.9% (norm 78.2%) · Body 13.6% (norm 12.4%) · Legs 3.5% (norm 8.4%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

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

Zone Penn L/AAccLightweight med MacDonald L/AAccWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 628 / 1594 39.4% 37.9% 509 / 1317 38.6% 38.6%
In the clinch 210 / 279 75.3% 67.3% 55 / 95 57.9% 67.8%
On the ground 161 / 228 70.6% 69.1% 103 / 158 65.2% 67.2%
BY TARGET
To the head 783 / 1848 42.4% 35.0% 499 / 1302 38.3% 37.2%
To the body 162 / 191 84.8% 69.1% 125 / 213 58.7% 70.7%
To the legs 54 / 62 87.1% 81.9% 43 / 55 78.2% 82.9%

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 (Lightweight: 201 fighters · Welterweight: 182 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 MacDonald L/AOpp accWelterweight med
BY POSITION
At distance 849 / 2259 37.6% 38.9% 370 / 1123 32.9% 39.0%
In the clinch 170 / 280 60.7% 68.6% 59 / 105 56.2% 68.9%
On the ground 220 / 334 65.9% 68.0% 70 / 101 69.3% 68.0%
BY TARGET
To the head 793 / 2236 35.5% 35.1% 323 / 1073 30.1% 35.6%
To the body 242 / 360 67.2% 68.1% 72 / 126 57.1% 69.6%
To the legs 204 / 277 73.6% 81.5% 104 / 130 80.0% 82.1%

Grappling

Takedowns, control, submissions vs. division norm
2657.8% acc · 1.09/15 · norm 1.38
Takedowns landed
2147.7% acc · 1.77/15 · norm 1.27
10976.2% def · norm 64.0%
Takedowns stopped
4088.9% def · norm 63.9%
58:0516.3% of cage time · norm 19.5%
Control time
28:5216.2% of cage time · norm 18.5%
103:454:22 per 15 · norm 2:46
Time under control
20:471:45 per 15 · norm 3:15
120.51/15 · norm 0.49
Submission attempts
50.42/15 · norm 0.45

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

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