How Is UFC Takedown Accuracy Calculated? TD Acc Explained

Quick answer

UFC takedown accuracy is the share of recorded takedown attempts that become completed takedowns. Divide takedowns landed by attempts, then multiply by 100. UFC Stats labels the result TD Acc. A completion needs more than brief contact with the mat. FightMetric's published definition requires deliberate grappling, an advantageous position, and control for an appreciable time. The percentage measures completion efficiency. It doesn't measure shooting volume, control after the finish, damage, submission danger, or round-winning value.

Data snapshot: UFC's Record Book covers UFC 28 through its August 19, 2026 update. Its accuracy leaders need at least 5 UFC fights and 20 attempts. Career profiles were checked August 24, 2026.

How is UFC takedown accuracy calculated?

The UFC takedown accuracy formula is simple:

TD Acc. = recorded takedowns landed ÷ recorded takedown attempts × 100

The numerator counts completed takedowns. The denominator counts attempts, including the completions. A miss lowers the rate. A completion raises it.

UFC Stats career pages display TD Acc. as a whole percentage. The UFC Record Book shows one decimal place. Small differences between those pages can come from display precision, filters, or update timing.

That arithmetic is the easy part. The hard part is deciding when an entry starts and when it becomes a completion.

What counts as a successful UFC takedown?

FightMetric's public glossary gives the clearest published standard. A fighter must deliberately grapple an opponent to the ground. The attacker must then establish an advantageous position for an appreciable amount of time.

Three parts matter:

• Intent: the fall comes from a grappling action, not a clean strike or accidental slip.
• Position: touching a knee or hand down isn't enough by itself. The attacker must gain an advantage.
• Time: the position must last long enough for the scorer to treat it as established.

The glossary doesn't set a fixed number of seconds. It also doesn't publish a frame-by-frame coding manual for every scramble. That leaves judgment at the margins.

A clean double-leg into settled top position fits the definition. So can a trip or throw. The technique's name isn't the test. The ground result and established advantage are.

A defender may touch the mat and rise before the attacker settles. That can fail to earn a landed takedown. Fans often count the visible fall. The official definition asks what happened immediately after it.

What counts as a takedown attempt?

This side of the fraction is less transparent. The public FightMetric glossary defines a completed takedown, but it doesn't give the same detailed rule for an attempt.

That matters during chain wrestling. A fighter can change from a single-leg to a body lock, lose it, and attack again. A stats scorer must decide whether that sequence contains one continuing effort or several recorded attempts.

The same issue appears with mat returns. An opponent may stand while still held, then get returned to the floor. Whether the sequence creates another attempt and completion depends on how the actions are separated and coded.

Don't pretend the denominator is mechanical. UFC Stats publishes round totals, but it doesn't show a timestamped decision log for each shot. Two careful viewers can disagree on an edge case while agreeing on the formula.

That isn't a reason to discard the stat. It is a reason to avoid fake precision.

Why accuracy and takedown volume tell different stories

Takedown accuracy answers an efficiency question. Takedown average answers an output question. UFC Stats defines TD Avg. as takedowns landed per 15 minutes.

Read them together. These current profile figures show why.

Merab is the clearest warning against ranking wrestlers by percentage alone. His 35% accuracy trails every fighter in this table. Yet the UFC Record Book lists him first all-time with 119 takedowns landed.

Khabib's 48% also sits below Ilia's 57%. Their rates don't say Ilia created more wrestling offense. Khabib's 5.32 takedowns per 15 minutes gives the missing scale.

Islam's fight with Dustin Poirier shows the same problem inside one bout. He completed 5 of 16 attempts, a 31% rate, and logged 10:23 of control. He still submitted Poirier in round 5. Calling that poor grappling because 31% looks low would miss almost everything that mattered.

The reverse trap is common. A fighter who shoots only when an opponent is already off balance can post a high rate. That number may describe shot selection more than a full wrestling game.

What is a good UFC takedown accuracy?

There is no universal good cutoff. The official leaderboard offers a useful guardrail instead.

UFC requires at least 5 fights and 20 attempts for its career accuracy table. Nordine Taleb leads that qualifying list at 76.2%. Taila Santos follows at 75.0%, while Robbie Lawler has 73.9%.

Those names make another point. The leaderboard ranks conversion, not wrestling output or control. It doesn't claim its leader is the UFC's best wrestler.

A useful comparison should match role and sample. Compare frequent wrestlers with frequent wrestlers. Check whether the rate holds against strong takedown defense. Then inspect attempts and completions, not just the percentage.

Twenty attempts is enough for the UFC's public table. It still isn't a large sample for prediction. One opponent who forces many failed shots can move a career rate.

Takedown accuracy vs takedown defense

The two percentages use opposite viewpoints.

• Takedown accuracy asks what share of a fighter's own attempts landed.
• Takedown defense asks what share of opponents' attempts the fighter stopped.

They aren't mirror images for a matchup. Islam's career accuracy doesn't face an average denominator in his next fight. It meets one opponent's stance, reactions, strength, cage work, and defensive choices.

This is why subtracting one percentage from the other is a poor prediction model. Both career rates blend different opponents and stages of each fighter's career. They also hide the number of expected attempts.

Start with the rates. Then add opponent quality, recent form, position, pace, and likely game plan.

Does a takedown score points in UFC judging?

There is no fixed point for a takedown. UFC statistics and official judging are separate systems.

The current Unified Rules tell judges to assess effective striking and grappling first. Effective grappling includes impactful results from takedowns, submission attempts, advantageous positions, and reversals. Aggressiveness and fighting-area control come later when the first criterion is even.

So two landed takedowns can carry different weight. A takedown that creates damage, a locked submission, or repeated attacking positions has clear effect. A brief completion followed by an instant escape offers less.

Accuracy can be identical in both cases. The scoring value isn't.

That distinction also protects you from a common live-viewing error. A late takedown doesn't automatically steal a close round. You still have to judge its effect beside everything that happened before it.

How should you use TD Acc. in a fighter comparison?

Use a short checklist:

1. Check the denominator. Twenty attempts tell you more than a tiny handful.
2. Pair accuracy with TD Avg. and raw attempts. Efficiency without volume can mislead.
3. Check the opponent's takedown defense and past defensive competition.
4. Watch what follows the completion: control, passes, strikes, submissions, or a quick escape.
5. Split recent fights from old fights when a fighter has changed division or approach.

For Ilia, Islam, Khabib, and Merab, the paired numbers tell distinct stories. They become useful when you connect them to film and opponent context. The percentage alone can't do that work.

The same rule applies to an AI fight model. TD Acc. can be one input. A sound model also needs attempt rate, opponent-adjusted defense, time, age, weight class, and uncertainty around sparse records.

How solid is this data?

The formula and qualifying thresholds come from UFC's published statistics. The completion definition comes from FightMetric's public glossary. The judging distinction comes from the current Unified Rules published by the California State Athletic Commission.

The main limit is coding transparency. Public sources don't define every attempt edge case or publish scorer decisions by timestamp. “Appreciable time” has no public fixed duration.

Career percentages also mix unlike matchups. Opponent skill, cage position, fight state, division changes, and tactical choice all affect attempts. Selection matters too. A fighter who rarely shoots may choose only easy openings.

The leaderboard begins at UFC 28 and applies minimum samples. The profile table uses current career displays checked on one date. Future fights will change active fighters' rates.

Treat UFC takedown accuracy as a useful summary, not a complete grade for wrestling.

FAQ

What does TD Acc. mean in UFC Stats?

TD Acc. means takedown accuracy. It is the percentage of a fighter's recorded takedown attempts that became completed takedowns.

How do you calculate UFC takedown accuracy?

Divide recorded takedowns landed by recorded attempts, then multiply by 100. UFC career profiles usually display the result as a whole percentage.

What counts as a successful UFC takedown?

FightMetric's published definition requires deliberate grappling to the ground, an advantageous position, and control for an appreciable amount of time.

Does a mat return count as another UFC takedown?

It can, but public UFC Stats materials don't give a fixed rule for every mat-return sequence. Separation, renewed action, and established advantage require scorer judgment.

Do takedowns automatically win a UFC round?

No. Judges assess the effect of grappling, including damage, submission danger, and advantageous positions. UFC takedowns don't carry a fixed point value.