Compare Daniel Rodriguez vs Kamaru Usman — UFC matchup breakdown
Tale of the Tape
The biometric deltas where one side genuinely has an edge.
Activity & layoff
The recency dimension Tale of the Tape doesn't carry. How active each fighter has been, and how that compares to active peers in their division.
- Daniel is speeding up while opponent slows
Division percentiles below rank both fighters against the Welterweight roster (490 fighters).
Recent form
Last five pro bouts (non-UFC fights dashed + tagged), current trajectory, and the level of opposition going into this matchup.
Schedule Score
Who they've faced × what they've done. Composite + components compared head-to-head, percentile-ranked against every UFC fighter w/ ≥3 resolved bouts.
Per-tier records + bout-by-bout
| Tier | Daniel Rodriguez | Kamaru Usman |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | — | 2-3 |
| Top-5 | 0-3 | 7-0 |
| Top-15 | 3-0 | 1-0 |
| Cross-div champ | — | 1-0 |
| Cross-div ranked | 2-0 | — |
| Title-fight challenger | — | 1-0 |
| Contender-level | 1-1 | 1-0 |
| Established | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Building | 1-0 | — |
| Unproven | 2-0 | 2-0 |
- W vs Kevin Holland#1464Jul 19, 2025 · Top-15
- W vs Santiago Ponzinibbio#1469May 3, 2025 · Top-15
- W vs Alex Morono50Oct 12, 2024 · Contender-level
- L vs Kelvin Gastelum#1178Jun 22, 2024 · Top-5
- L vs Ian Machado Garry65May 13, 2023 · Top-5
- L vs Neil Magny#1373Nov 5, 2022 · Top-5
- W vs Li Jingliang45Sep 10, 2022 · Cross-div ranked
- W vs Kevin Lee45Aug 28, 2021 · Cross-div ranked
- W vs Preston Parsons8Jul 17, 2021 · Unproven
- W vs Mike Perry#1560Apr 10, 2021 · Top-15
- L vs Nicolas Dalby36Nov 21, 2020 · Contender-level
- W vs Dwight Grant12Aug 22, 2020 · Unproven
- W vs Gabe Green15May 30, 2020 · Building
- W vs Tim Means35Feb 15, 2020 · Established
- W vs Joaquin Buckley#774Jun 14, 2025 · Top-15
- L vs Khamzat Chimaev81Oct 21, 2023 · Champion
- L vs Leon EdwardsCHAMP100Mar 18, 2023 · Champion
- L vs Leon Edwards#296Aug 20, 2022 · Champion
- W vs Colby Covington#190Nov 6, 2021 · Top-5
- W vs Jorge Masvidal#483Apr 24, 2021 · Top-5
- W vs Gilbert Burns#289Feb 13, 2021 · Top-5
- W vs Jorge Masvidal#384Jul 11, 2020 · Top-5
- W vs Colby Covington#289Dec 14, 2019 · Top-5
- W vs Tyron WoodleyCHAMP100Mar 2, 2019 · Champion
- W vs Rafael Dos Anjos#391Nov 30, 2018 · Top-5
- W vs Demian Maia#586May 19, 2018 · Top-5
- W vs Emil Meek8Jan 14, 2018 · Unproven
- W vs Sergio Moraes40Sep 16, 2017 · Contender-level
- W vs Sean Strickland61Apr 8, 2017 · Cross-div champ
- W vs Warlley Alves26Nov 19, 2016 · Established
- W vs Alexander Yakovlev12Jul 23, 2016 · Unproven
- W vs Leon Edwards71Dec 19, 2015 · Champion
- W vs Hayder Hassan50Jul 12, 2015 · Title-fight challenger
All figures are 0–100 ratings (shown as %), not percentages of anything literal. Schedule strength = the average quality of every UFC opponent faced (win or lose). Win quality = the average quality of the opponents actually beaten. The composite Schedule Score combines schedule strength (65%) with win quality (35%). Per-bout opponent quality is scored on rank-at-time-of-fight (champion 100, ranks 1–5 = 90→78, ranks 6–15 = 75→60), with cross-division and P4P signals layered on, falling back to opponent UFC record-at-time for unranked opponents. For fighters with limited UFC experience the headline is held toward a rookie baseline, so debut / low-sample fighters read lower than established names. UFC ranking data is sparse before December 2018, so legacy-era fighters score from record-at-time when ranks are missing.
Career splits
Striking matchup
Each fighter's offense mapped against the other's defense — where one attacks meets where the other gets hit, across head, body, and leg. Per 15 minutes of UFC fight time.
Evenly matched striking — no clear edge either way.
Where Rodriguez attacks (green = high volume) vs where Usman gets hit (red = vulnerable) — Rodriguez’s green zones meeting Usman’s red zones are the openings.
- Head64%95th749
- Body20%92nd233
- Leg16%86th188
Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share of strikes
- Head55%71st498
- Body26%41st239
- Leg18%47th167
Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share absorbed · partly opponent-dependent
- Standing95%1,110
- Clinch2%23
- Ground3%37
- Standing82%741
- Clinch13%119
- Ground5%44
Each lane: the attacker’s strike rate (offense) vs the other’s rate absorbed (defense), graded on the division. The bar leans toward whoever wins the exchange — longer + greener = a bigger, higher-quality edge.
Full breakdown — all zones, both views
| Zone | Fighter | Landed / 15 | Accuracy | Absorbed / 15 | Career landed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Daniel Rodriguez | elite — top of division60.5 | 40% | well below average44.3 | 749 |
| Head | Kamaru Usman | top 21% of division38.4 | 43% | top 29% of division23.5 | 896 |
| Body | Daniel Rodriguez | top 8% of division18.9 | 73% | well below average15.8 | 233 |
| Body | Kamaru Usman | top 12% of division16.9 | 79% | below division average10.6 | 404 |
| Leg | Daniel Rodriguez | top 14% of division15.4 | 92% | bottom of the division13.7 | 188 |
| Leg | Kamaru Usman | below division average5.3 | 87% | around division average7.5 | 111 |
Per-15-minute rates are sourced from UFCStats fight totals across each fighter’s UFC career. Division percentile is computed against every UFC fighter who has competed in this weight class with at least two recorded bouts. Lower “absorbed” values are better — the percentile is inverted so “top of division” always means better outcome.
Grappling matchup
Takedowns, submission threat, and control. Per 15 minutes of UFC fight time, with takedown defense as a percentage of opponent attempts stopped.
Each metric graded on the division — the bar leans toward whoever wins that part of the grappling exchange (longer + greener = a bigger edge).
Usman holds a decisive grappling edge (+35).
Full breakdown — career grappling totals
| Metric | Daniel Rodriguez | Kamaru Usman |
|---|---|---|
| Takedowns landed / 15career takedowns | 0.22 | 2.863 |
| Takedown accuracycareer landed / attempted | 29%2 / 7 | 44%63 / 143 |
| Takedown defensecareer stopped / faced | 64%32 / 50 | 90%44 / 49 |
| Submission attempts / 15career attempts | 0.11 | 0.12 |
| Control time / 15 (min)career total | 0.7 min8:03 | 6.5 min146:50 |
| Time controlled by opponent / 15 (min)career total | 1.8 min19:19 | 0.7 min15:08 |
All rates computed from UFCStats fight totals across each fighter’s UFC career. Takedown defense = opponent attempts stopped ÷ opponent total attempts. Control time figures are minutes the fighter spent in a dominant position per 15 minutes of fight time. Accuracy under 8 career attempts is shown raw and ungraded — too small a sample to rate against the division.
Finishing & durability
How often each fighter ends fights early — and how often they get put away. Outcomes view, not per-minute output.
When their fights end
every pro finish on the fight clockFinish & durability rates
Full professional career
Full method breakdown
| Outcome | Daniel Rodriguez | Kamaru Usman |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | ||
| by KO / TKO | 9(45%) | 9(43%) |
| by submission | 4(20%) | 1(5%) |
| by decision | 7(35%) | 11(52%) |
| Losses | ||
| by KO / TKO | 1(20%) | 1(25%) |
| by submission | 1(20%) | 1(25%) |
| by decision | 3(60%) | 2(50%) |
Full professional career method splits, graded against the full-pro division distribution. Career KO losses are the total — clean knockouts and cut/injury stoppages can’t be separated outside the UFC corpus. Finish-time pace is UFC-only.
KO history
UFC fights only — knockout power and chin durability, head-to-head, then when the last finish landed, and on whom.
- Last time KO'dvs Ian Machado Garry3y 1mo agoUFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Almeida · May 13, 2023 · R1 · 2:57
- Last time submittedvs Neil Magny3y 7mo agoUFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Lemos · Nov 5, 2022 · R3 · 3:33
- Last time KO'dvs Leon Edwards3y 10mo agoUFC 278: Usman vs. Edwards · Aug 20, 2022 · R5 · 4:04
- Last time submittedNever submitted in the UFC
Pace & fade
How each fighter's work rate holds up as a fight wears on — round-by-round output (striking, takedown attempts, and control time combined), and whether they fade. The fade % compares round-3 output to round 1 over bouts that reached the third round.
Both lean the same way, but Rodriguez leans harder: Rodriguez builds (+20% per round through round 3), Usman builds (+8% per round through round 3). Within fights that reached round 3, Rodriguez lifts to 154% of round-1 output by round 3, Usman 120%.
Rounds backed by fewer than 2 bouts are drawn smaller and dimmed with an n= count — a deep round seen in one or two fights is a thin sample, not a settled rate. Per-round bout counts are in the breakdown below.
Full per-round breakdown — both fighters
What drives the pace · per round
The composite output line above blends these three inputs. Splitting them out shows whether a fighter’s work rate is built on striking volume, takedown pressure, or top control — and which input fades.
| Round | Fighter | Output / min | Sig landed / min | Sig absorbed / min | TD att / min | Control | Bouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Daniel Rodriguez | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 0.02 | 1% | 14 |
| R1 | Kamaru Usman | 6.5 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 0.52 | 44% | 19 |
| R2 | Daniel Rodriguez | 8.1 | 7.8 | 4.8 | 0.02 | 6% | 11 |
| R2 | Kamaru Usman | 7.2 | 4.6 | 2.9 | 0.30 | 42% | 18 |
| R3 | Daniel Rodriguez | 9.1 | 8.4 | 5.6 | 0.11 | 9% | 10 |
| R3 | Kamaru Usman | 7.7 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 0.44 | 46% | 16 |
| R4 | Daniel Rodriguez | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| R4 | Kamaru Usman | 7.5 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 0.36 | 40% | 9 |
| R5 | Daniel Rodriguez | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| R5 | Kamaru Usman | 7.2 | 4.0 | 2.7 | 0.49 | 44% | 9 |
Output / minis the headline work rate — significant strikes landed, plus 3 per takedown attempt, plus one per 15 seconds of control — so a takedown-and-grind round isn’t scored as idle the way bare striking volume would. The remaining columns are its components. Per-round rates use UFCStats per-round data (available for ~95% of bouts since 2008). Each round’s rates are averaged only over bouts that reached that round, so the bout count shrinks as rounds deepen. The final round of a finished fight is pro-rated by its actual length — a 2:30 stoppage counts as 2.5 minutes, not five — so an early finish doesn’t distort the per-minute pace.