Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson
Tale of the tape
The read
Level of competition
Mauricio Rua
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 11 | 12 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 14 | 2 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.79 · 11 tier-1/2 wins · 20 finish wins over 40 documented bouts
In the UFC: 10-10 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.0 wins over .500
Dan Henderson
| Competition tier | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — UFC / DWCS / PFL / Bellator / ONE / Rizin | 8 | 9 |
| Tier 3 — regional circuit | 18 | 6 |
Tier-weighted record quality: 0.6 · 8 tier-1/2 wins · 15 finish wins over 41 documented bouts
In the UFC: 5-8 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.8 wins over .500
Striking
Significant strikes — landed & absorbed
Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)
Mauricio Rua
Distance 76.7% (norm 80.5%) · Clinch 10.7% (norm 8.6%) · Ground 12.6% (norm 10.4%)
Dan Henderson
Distance 66.6% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 19.0% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 14.5% (norm 10.3%)
What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)
Mauricio Rua
Head 72.8% (norm 79.2%) · Body 11.3% (norm 11.7%) · Legs 16.0% (norm 9.7%)
Dan Henderson
Head 79.2% (norm 78.0%) · Body 8.9% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 11.9% (norm 8.4%)
Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone
Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.
| Zone | Rua L/A | Acc | Light Heavyweight med | Henderson L/A | Acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 621 / 1322 | 47.0% | 41.4% | 265 / 769 | 34.5% | 40.5% |
| In the clinch | 130 / 184 | 70.7% | 70.9% | 150 / 219 | 68.5% | 70.3% |
| On the ground | 137 / 217 | 63.1% | 72.3% | 111 / 167 | 66.5% | 69.1% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 527 / 1254 | 42.0% | 38.9% | 327 / 915 | 35.7% | 38.9% |
| To the body | 140 / 194 | 72.2% | 71.9% | 86 / 103 | 83.5% | 71.7% |
| To the legs | 221 / 275 | 80.4% | 81.8% | 113 / 137 | 82.5% | 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 Rua L/A | Opp acc | Light Heavyweight med | vs Henderson L/A | Opp acc | Middleweight med |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BY POSITION | ||||||
| At distance | 605 / 1462 | 41.4% | 40.4% | 431 / 1068 | 40.4% | 39.5% |
| In the clinch | 148 / 225 | 65.8% | 68.7% | 90 / 146 | 61.6% | 70.9% |
| On the ground | 164 / 233 | 70.4% | 70.4% | 171 / 245 | 69.8% | 69.0% |
| BY TARGET | ||||||
| To the head | 616 / 1529 | 40.3% | 37.5% | 471 / 1185 | 39.7% | 37.9% |
| To the body | 206 / 263 | 78.3% | 72.3% | 129 / 163 | 79.1% | 71.3% |
| To the legs | 95 / 128 | 74.2% | 83.0% | 92 / 111 | 82.9% | 82.1% |
Grappling
Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Rua has more cage time on record.