Aljamain Sterling
"Funk Master"
25-5-0
VS
2026-11-21
UFC Fight Night: Prochazka vs. Stirling
Featherweight
Kevin Vallejos
"El Chino"
16-1-0
MAIN + MARKET PREDICTION
Aljamain Sterling 'Funk Master'
51.1% CONFIDENCE
Fight Insights
63%
Kevin Vallejos
Fighters who are 5+ years younger than their opponent have won 63% of their UFC fights (1773-1054)
Kevin Vallejos is 25, Aljamain Sterling is 37
58%
Aljamain Sterling
Fighters who absorb under 2.2 significant strikes per minute have won 58% of their UFC fights (1262-912)
Aljamain Sterling: absorbs 2.1/min
62%
Kevin Vallejos
Fighters who have won 85%+ of 12+ pro fights facing an opponent who has been finished 2+ times in the UFC have won 62% of their UFC fights (471-286)
Kevin Vallejos: 16-1-0 record | Aljamain Sterling: finished 2 times
57%
Aljamain Sterling
Fighters who average 3.8+ minutes of control time per fight have won 57% of their UFC fights (1170-886)
Aljamain Sterling: 4.8 min control/fight
62%
Kevin Vallejos
Fighters who are on a 3+ fight win streak facing an opponent who has 15+ UFC fights have won 62% of their UFC fights (259-156)
Kevin Vallejos: 4-fight win streak | Aljamain Sterling: 23 UFC fights
53%
Matchup
Fights where a fighter who scores 0.89+ knockdowns per 15 minutes faces an opponent who has been finished 2+ times in the UFC end in a KO/TKO 53% of the time (vs 33% of all UFC fights, n=514)
Real UFC history since 2006, using each fighter's record, form and stats as they stood before every past fight. Only patterns that hold up statistically (corrected for testing many ideas at once) and point the same way in both halves of history are shown — these describe the past, they are not predictions.
How It Ends
59%
Decision
31%
KO / TKO
10%
Submission
Decision59.1%
KO / TKO30.7%
Submission10.2%
How long it lasts 3-round fight
63%
Goes the distance
fair -167
37%
Ends in a finish
fair +167
Rounds lineOverUnder
0.5 93% -1414 7% +1414
1.5 79% -379 21% +379
2.5 69% -227 31% +227
When it ends
Round 113%
Round 216%
Round 38%
Goes the distance63%
"Over 1.5" means the fight lasts past the middle of round 2, the way sportsbooks settle it. Fair odds are the break-even price with no vig, so compare them with a book's line. On unseen fights this model beat the plain base rate by about 4% (log loss; 51% of 3-round fights go the distance), so treat it as a tilt away from the base rate, not a certainty.
Why XGBoost leans this way
Aljamain Sterling
Kevin Vallejos
Age edge (significant gap)
Matchup +12.36
14%
Avg takedowns attempted
Aljamain Sterling 6.70
10%
Age
Aljamain Sterling 37.3 yrs
7%
Elo rating edge
Matchup 58
7%
Strike rate delta r1 to r3
Kevin Vallejos -1.03
5%
Experience edge (total fights)
Matchup +13
5%
Age
Kevin Vallejos 25.0 yrs
4%
Defensive skill edge
Matchup -0.09
4%
Avg control time
Aljamain Sterling 113.47
4%
Strikes absorbed/min
Aljamain Sterling 2.16
4%
Strike rate delta r1 to r3
Aljamain Sterling -0.73
3%
Total control time conceded
Kevin Vallejos 72.11
3%
Net striking dominance
Matchup +0.07
3%
Last 2 avg fight time
Kevin Vallejos 301
3%
← pushes toward Aljamain Sterling pushes toward Kevin Vallejos →
Bars show each factor's SHAP contribution to this specific prediction — how much it pushed the win probability toward one fighter, given everything else the model knows. Percentages are each factor's share of the total push across the top 30 factors.

Aljamain Sterling

Win Streak
2
Finish Rate
N/A%
Avg Duration
17.2m
Last 5 fights (most recent first)
W DEC
W DEC
L DEC
W DEC
L KO
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 145 lbs
Reach: 180 cm
Stance: Orthodox

Kevin Vallejos

Win Streak
4
Finish Rate
75%
Avg Duration
7.0m
Last 5 fights (most recent first)
W KO
W KO
W DEC
W KO
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 145 lbs
Reach: 173 cm
Stance: Switch
Head-to-Head Stats
Aljamain Sterling
ADVANTAGE
Kevin Vallejos
Striking Accuracy
52.5%
+6.0%
46.4%
Strikes Landed/Min
3.39
+0.72
4.11
Strikes Absorbed/Min
2.16
+0.81
2.97
Striking Defense
56.0%
+1.0%
56.9%
Takedown Accuracy
41.6%
+5.3%
36.3%
Takedown Defense
56.1%
+16.2%
72.3%
Knockdowns/Fight
0.09
+0.52
0.62
Avg Control Time (sec)
113.47
+52.09
61.38
Strikes Per Round
16.91
+2.15
19.06
Head Strike %
56.3%
+9.1%
65.4%
Body Strike %
25.1%
+4.0%
21.1%
Leg Strike %
18.6%
+5.2%
13.5%
Last 5 Win Rate
60.0%
+40.0%
100.0%
Last 5 Finish Rate
0.0%
+75.0%
75.0%