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Middleweight · 2026

Best Middleweight Striking Defense

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

Ismail Naurdiev leads the middleweight Str Def board at 65% opp. strikes blocked , followed by Ozzy Diaz (63%) and Sean Strickland (61%) .

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

Striking Defense in all divisions →
  1. 1
    Ismail Naurdiev
    4-3-0 7 fights #40
    65%
  2. 2
    Ozzy Diaz
    1-2-0 3 fights #54
    63%
  3. 3
    Sean Strickland C
    18-7-0 25 fights #3
    61%
  4. 4
    Bo Nickal
    6-1-0 7 fights #15
    60%
  5. 5
    Caio Borralho
    8-1-0 9 fights #6
    60%
  6. 6
    Robert Whittaker
    17-7-0 24 fights #7
    60%
  7. 7
    Baisangur Susurkaev
    3-0-0 3 fights #17
    59%
  8. 8
    Nassourdine Imavov
    9-2-0 11 fights #5
    59%
  9. 9
    Michal Oleksiejczuk
    10-7-0 17 fights #32
    58%
  10. 10
    Andrey Pulyaev
    1-2-0 3 fights #50
    57%
  11. 11
    Kelvin Gastelum
    14-11-0 25 fights #22
    57%
  12. 12
    Jared Cannonier
    11-9-0 20 fights #25
    56%
  13. 13
    Marco Tulio
    2-2-0 4 fights #46
    56%
  14. 14
    Marvin Vettori
    9-8-1 18 fights #36
    56%
  15. 15
    Abus Magomedov
    4-3-0 7 fights #35
    56%
  16. 16
    Israel Adesanya
    13-6-0 19 fights #11
    56%
  17. 17
    Jacob Malkoun
    6-2-0 8 fights #27
    55%
  18. 18
    Robert Bryczek
    1-2-0 3 fights #55
    55%
  19. 19
    Abdul Razak Alhassan
    6-7-0 13 fights #43
    55%
  20. 20
    Brad Tavares
    16-12-0 28 fights #38
    55%
  21. 21
    Cam Rowston
    3-0-0 3 fights #16
    54%
  22. 22
    Ateba Gautier
    5-0-0 5 fights #12
    54%
  23. 23
    Gerald Meerschaert
    12-14-0 26 fights #48
    54%
  24. 24
    Roman Kopylov
    7-5-0 12 fights #31
    53%
  25. 25
    Armen Petrosyan
    3-4-0 7 fights #49
    53%
Other middleweight 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

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 Jun 20, 2026.