Compare Melquizael Costa vs Youssef Zalal — 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.
Division percentiles below rank both fighters against the Featherweight roster (348 fighters).
Recent form
Last five pro bouts (non-UFC fights dashed + tagged), current trajectory, and the level of opposition going into this matchup.
Common opponents
The single UFC opponent both fighters have faced. Reads as a directional signal, not a verdict.
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 | Melquizael Costa | Youssef Zalal |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | — | 0-1 |
| Top-5 | 0-1 | 2-1 |
| Top-15 | 2-1 | — |
| Cross-div ranked | 0-1 | 1-0 |
| Established | 2-0 | 1-1-1 |
| Building | 3-0 | 1-0 |
| Unproven | — | 3-1 |
- L vs Arnold Allen#778May 16, 2026 · Top-5
- W vs Dan Ige#1468Feb 21, 2026 · Top-15
- W vs Morgan Charriere18Dec 13, 2025 · Building
- W vs Julian Erosa35May 17, 2025 · Established
- W vs Christian Rodriguez30Mar 29, 2025 · Established
- W vs Andre Fili#1560Feb 22, 2025 · Top-15
- W vs Shayilan Nuerdanbieke18Jun 15, 2024 · Building
- L vs Steve Garcia36Dec 9, 2023 · Cross-div ranked
- W vs Austin Lingo18Jul 15, 2023 · Building
- L vs Thiago Moises#1561Jan 21, 2023 · Top-15
- L vs Aljamain Sterling#583Apr 25, 2026 · Top-5
- W vs Josh Emmett#878Oct 4, 2025 · Top-5
- W vs Calvin Kattar#1077Feb 15, 2025 · Top-5
- W vs Jack Shore45Nov 2, 2024 · Cross-div ranked
- W vs Jarno Errens8Aug 10, 2024 · Unproven
- W vs Billy Quarantillo30Mar 23, 2024 · Established
- D vs Da'Mon Blackshear22Aug 13, 2022 · Established
- L vs Sean Woodson22Jun 5, 2021 · Established
- L vs SeungWoo Choi8Feb 6, 2021 · Unproven
- L vs Ilia Topuria68Oct 10, 2020 · Champion
- W vs Peter Barrett8Aug 8, 2020 · Unproven
- W vs Jordan Griffin8Jun 27, 2020 · Unproven
- W vs Austin Lingo15Feb 8, 2020 · Building
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 Costa attacks (green = high volume) vs where Zalal gets hit (red = vulnerable) — Costa’s green zones meeting Zalal’s red zones are the openings.
- Head47%49th216
- Body30%84th138
- Leg23%82nd108
Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share of strikes
- Head62%85th180
- Body22%79th64
- Leg16%70th48
Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share absorbed · partly opponent-dependent
- Standing83%382
- Clinch9%42
- Ground8%38
- Standing80%235
- Clinch16%47
- Ground3%10
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 | Melquizael Costa | around division average31.0 | 34% | around division average33.5 | 216 |
| Head | Youssef Zalal | below division average27.9 | 43% | top 15% of division20.7 | 288 |
| Body | Melquizael Costa | top 16% of division16.8 | 64% | around division average10.7 | 138 |
| Body | Youssef Zalal | below division average7.8 | 71% | top 21% of division7.2 | 76 |
| Leg | Melquizael Costa | top 18% of division13.2 | 82% | above division average6.2 | 108 |
| Leg | Youssef Zalal | around division average8.4 | 83% | top 30% of division5.3 | 90 |
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).
Zalal has the grappling edge (+8).
Full breakdown — career grappling totals
| Metric | Melquizael Costa | Youssef Zalal |
|---|---|---|
| Takedowns landed / 15career takedowns | 1.511 | 1.820 |
| Takedown accuracycareer landed / attempted | 35%11 / 31 | 32%20 / 63 |
| Takedown defensecareer stopped / faced | 51%27 / 53 | 56%24 / 43 |
| Submission attempts / 15career attempts | 0.86 | 1.314 |
| Control time / 15 (min)career total | 2.5 min18:02 | 4.4 min47:25 |
| Time controlled by opponent / 15 (min)career total | 4.8 min34:28 | 3.8 min41:23 |
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 | Melquizael Costa | Youssef Zalal |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | ||
| by KO / TKO | 9(35%) | 4(22%) |
| by submission | 8(31%) | 10(56%) |
| by decision | 9(35%) | 4(22%) |
| Losses | ||
| by KO / TKO | 2(25%) | 0(0%) |
| by submission | 2(25%) | 0(0%) |
| by decision | 4(50%) | 6(100%) |
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 Steve Garcia2y 6mo agoUFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutierrez · Dec 9, 2023 · R2 · 1:01
- Last time submittedvs Thiago Moises3y 5mo agoUFC 283: Teixeira vs. Hill · Jan 21, 2023 · R2 · 4:05
- Last time KO'dNever finished by strikes in the UFC
- 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 Zalal leans harder: Zalal builds (+18% per round through round 3), Costa builds (+10% per round through round 3). Within fights that reached round 3, Costa lifts to 125% of round-1 output by round 3, Zalal 148%.
Faded points are drawn from a single bout that reached that round, so they’re less reliable than the solid points averaged over many fights.
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 | Melquizael Costa | 5.8 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.33 | 21% | 10 |
| R1 | Youssef Zalal | 4.8 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.36 | 22% | 13 |
| R2 | Melquizael Costa | 5.7 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 0.20 | 14% | 7 |
| R2 | Youssef Zalal | 4.7 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.36 | 38% | 11 |
| R3 | Melquizael Costa | 7.0 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 0.41 | 19% | 5 |
| R3 | Youssef Zalal | 6.7 | 3.7 | 2.1 | 0.53 | 35% | 9 |
| R4 | Melquizael Costa | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 0.00 | 0% | 1 |
| R4 | Youssef Zalal | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 0.00 | 4% | 1 |
| R5 | Melquizael Costa | 2.8 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 0.20 | 0% | 1 |
| R5 | Youssef Zalal | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.00 | 0% | 1 |
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.