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Light Heavyweight · 2026

Best Light Heavyweight Striking Defense

Best at avoiding shots — highest percentage of opponent strikes that miss or get blocked.

Oumar Sy leads the light heavyweight Str Def board at 64% opp. strikes blocked , followed by Caio Machado (62%) and Iwo Baraniewski (59%) .

Top 25 active light heavyweight fighters by career-window Str Def. · See full light heavyweight Elo rankings →

Striking Defense in all divisions →
  1. 1
    Oumar Sy
    3-3-0 6 fights #27
    64%
  2. 2
    Caio Machado
    0-3-0 3 fights #35
    62%
  3. 3
    Iwo Baraniewski
    3-1-0 4 fights #23
    59%
  4. 4
    Navajo Stirling
    6-0-0 6 fights #4
    59%
  5. 5
    Robert Whittaker
    18-7-0 25 fights #3
    59%
  6. 6
    Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev
    3-0-0 3 fights #13
    58%
  7. 7
    Dustin Jacoby
    10-7-1 18 fights #22
    58%
  8. 8
    Diyar Nurgozhay
    2-2-0 4 fights #29
    57%
  9. 9
    Ibo Aslan
    2-3-0 5 fights #36
    56%
  10. 10
    Azamat Murzakanov
    6-1-0 7 fights #5
    56%
  11. 11
    Volkan Oezdemir
    9-7-0 16 fights #15
    55%
  12. 12
    Magomed Ankalaev
    13-2-1 17 fights #2
    55%
  13. 13
    Marcin Prachnio
    4-7-0 11 fights #38
    55%
  14. 14
    Ivan Erslan
    1-3-0 4 fights #34
    54%
  15. 15
    Sedriques Dumas
    3-6-0 10 fights #41
    53%
  16. 16
    Gerald Meerschaert
    12-15-0 27 fights #31
    53%
  17. 17
    Junior Tafa
    3-6-0 9 fights #37
    52%
  18. 18
    Brendson Ribeiro
    3-6-0 9 fights #33
    52%
  19. 19
    Jan Blachowicz
    12-9-2 23 fights #11
    52%
  20. 20
    Carlos Ulberg C
    10-1-0 11 fights #1
    51%
  21. 21
    Alonzo Menifield
    12-6-1 19 fights #10
    51%
  22. 22
    Modestas Bukauskas
    9-5-0 14 fights #19
    50%
  23. 23
    Dominick Reyes
    10-5-0 15 fights #7
    50%
  24. 24
    Felipe Franco
    1-2-0 3 fights #32
    50%
  25. 25
    Khalil Rountree Jr.
    10-7-0 18 fights #14
    50%
Other light heavyweight leaderboards
Strikes Landed per Minute Striking Accuracy Lowest Strikes Absorbed Takedowns per 15 Minutes Takedown Accuracy Takedown Defense Submission Attempts per 15 Min Knockdowns per 15 Minutes Control Time per 15 Minutes
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Career averages, calculated over a fighter's full UFC sample. Provisional fighters (fewer than 4 UFC bouts) and retired fighters are excluded so the leaderboards reflect a real career, not a one-fight outlier. Stat data sourced from UFCStats via our daily pipeline. Updated Oct 17, 2026.