When one fighter landed more and the other controlled longer, the one who landed more has usually won the decision
In 1,615 UFC decisions since 2001 where one fighter landed more significant strikes and the other had more control time, the fighter who landed more won 1,010 (63%). When the control-time lead was three minutes or more, the fighter who landed more won 45%.
62.5%Decisions won by the fighter who landed more significant strikes when the other had more control time
1,010 of 1,615 · UFC bouts since 2001
When the control-time lead was 3 minutes or more: 44.9% (310 of 690)
Wilson 95%: 60.2% to 64.9%
How this was measured
Decisions since 2001 with complete statistics and control time on UFC Stats. Only decisions where one fighter led significant strikes landed and the other led control time are counted.
Included
- UFC decisions since 2001 with complete statistics
- One fighter led strikes landed, the other control time
Left out
- Decisions where the same fighter led both, or either was tied (2,420)
Caveats
- Measured after the fight: these are each bout's own statistics, not the fighters' styles before it. It says nothing about how a 'striker' or a 'grappler' will be scored.
- Decisions only: it describes how such fights were scored, not how often they reach the judges.
- Control time is one measure of grappling.
How it was checked
- Hold-out by period: 58.6% in 2001–2013 (n=319) and 63.5% in 2014–2026 (n=1,296).
- Reproduced exactly by an independent re-implementation written from the definition alone (28 Oct 2026).
- Survives the Benjamini–Hochberg correction across all 59 tested research hypotheses (q < 0.001).
- Research catalog entry `striker_beats_grappler_on_cards` (validated).
Sources and updates
- Greco1899/scrape_ufc_stats @5d6622f · GPL-3.0 (code); data from UFC Stats
- nlbair/ufc-data @a9c6543 · CC BY 4.0 (files)
Data as of 24 Oct 2026. Recalculated after UFC events and reviewed by an editor before any change is shown. A historical description, not a prediction for any fight.