What is takedown defense in MMA?
Takedown defense is the share of an opponent's takedown attempts a fighter stops: one minus the opponent's takedowns landed divided by their takedowns attempted.
How it works
Add up every takedown opponents attempted against the fighter and every takedown they completed. Takedown defense = (attempts − landed) ÷ attempts × 100. A stuffed shot, a sprawl or an escape before control is established all count as a defended attempt.
A fighter nobody tries to take down has no takedown defense at all, not 100%, which is why the leaderboard waits for at least 50 opponent attempts.
Worked example
Opponents shoot 40 takedowns on a fighter and complete 10. The fighter's takedown defense is (40 − 10) ÷ 40 = 75%.
Good to know
Getting back up quickly after a completed takedown does not count as a defended takedown. That skill shows up instead in how little control time opponents collect.
Where to see it on UFCalendar
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/fighters/{idOrSlug}/statsCareer statistics per scope: strike and takedown rates, accuracy, defense, submission average.
GET /v1/stats/leadersOne Record Book leaderboard per promotion: career, single-fight, round, division and event boards across 48 metrics.
UFC fight stats in the Fight API →