What is a significant strike in MMA?
A significant strike is a strike a stat-keeper counts as carrying real force: every strike thrown at distance, plus the power strikes thrown in the clinch or on the ground.
How it works
Stat-keepers log every strike as it is thrown and mark whether it landed. At distance, every punch, kick, knee and elbow counts as significant. In the clinch and on the ground only the strikes with real power behind them count; short taps, pushes and pawing shots go into total strikes only. Each significant strike is also tagged by target (head, body or legs) and by position (distance, clinch or ground), which is where splits such as head strikes at distance come from.
Significant strike accuracy is significant strikes landed divided by significant strikes attempted. A blocked strike counts as attempted but not landed, because only clean contact counts as a landed strike.
Worked example
Say a fighter throws 112 significant strikes over three rounds and 51 of them land. That is 51 ÷ 112 = 45.5% significant strike accuracy. If 30 of those 51 landed to the head, 12 to the body and 9 to the legs, the target split reads 30 / 12 / 9.
Good to know
Whether a strike is significant is a judgment the stat-keeper makes live, so two stat-keepers can count the same fight differently, especially in the clinch and on the ground. Judges do not score from these numbers: the Unified Rules ask them to judge effective striking, not to count strikes.
Where to see it on UFCalendar
- All-time leaderboard: Significant strikes →
- All-time leaderboard: Strike accuracy →
- All-time leaderboard: Strikes in a fight →
- Record Book →
- By the Numbers →
Get it from the API
The same data is served as JSON by the MMA Fight Data API. The endpoints that carry it:
GET /v1/fights/{id}/statsPer-fight totals for both corners: strikes by target and position, takedowns, control time.
GET /v1/fights/{id}/roundsOne bout with its result, per-fight totals for both corners, and round-by-round statistics.
GET /v1/fighters/{idOrSlug}/statsCareer statistics per scope: strike and takedown rates, accuracy, defense, submission average.
UFC fight stats in the Fight API →