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Welterweight · 2026

Best Welterweight Striking Defense

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

Gabriel Bonfim leads the welterweight Str Def board at 64% opp. strikes blocked , followed by Muslim Salikhov (62%) and Islam Makhachev (62%) .

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

Striking Defense in all divisions →
  1. 1
    Gabriel Bonfim
    7-1-0 8 fights #10
    64%
  2. 2
    Muslim Salikhov
    9-5-0 14 fights #28
    62%
  3. 3
    Islam Makhachev C
    17-1-0 18 fights #1
    62%
  4. 4
    Michael Page
    4-1-0 5 fights #19
    62%
  5. 5
    Santiago Ponzinibbio
    12-8-0 20 fights #39
    62%
  6. 6
    Court McGee
    11-13-0 24 fights #64
    61%
  7. 7
    Oban Elliott
    3-2-0 5 fights #56
    61%
  8. 8
    Jack Della Maddalena
    8-2-0 10 fights #8
    61%
  9. 9
    Jake Matthews
    16-8-0 24 fights #20
    61%
  10. 10
    Tim Means
    15-14-0 29 fights #58
    60%
  11. 11
    Rafael Dos Anjos
    21-15-0 36 fights #26
    60%
  12. 12
    Sean Brady
    9-2-0 11 fights #6
    60%
  13. 13
    Billy Ray Goff
    1-2-0 3 fights #68
    59%
  14. 14
    Joaquin Buckley
    11-6-0 17 fights #21
    59%
  15. 15
    Trevin Giles
    7-7-0 14 fights #59
    58%
  16. 16
    Max Griffin
    8-11-0 19 fights #60
    58%
  17. 17
    Michael Chiesa
    15-7-0 22 fights #13
    58%
  18. 18
    Michael Morales
    7-0-0 7 fights #4
    57%
  19. 19
    Daniel Rodriguez
    10-4-0 14 fights #18
    57%
  20. 20
    Chidi Njokuani
    5-5-0 10 fights #63
    57%
  21. 21
    Mike Malott
    7-1-0 8 fights #14
    57%
  22. 22
    Jonathan Micallef
    3-0-0 3 fights #24
    57%
  23. 23
    Jack Hermansson
    11-8-0 19 fights #43
    57%
  24. 24
    Geoff Neal
    8-6-0 14 fights #31
    57%
  25. 25
    Li Jingliang
    11-7-0 18 fights #42
    57%
Other welterweight 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.