# UFC Fighters winrate - Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) Author: stiven rodriguez Course: Introduction to Data Science Assignment: EDA & Dataset Analysis Dataset Source: Kaggle – UFC Fighters' Statistics Dataset Dataset Size: ~4,112 rows × 18 column --- ## Project Goal The Project Goal was answer the question : What are the defining attributes—both physiological (physical) and strategic (fighting style)—that characterize the ultimate mixed martial arts fighter? --- ## Dataset Overview The dataset contains information about UFC Fighters winrate with the following key columns: - **name** - **height_cm** - **weight_in_kg** - **stance** - **Age** - **reach_in_cm** - Arm span length (cm) - **stance** - **Strikes/Min** - significant_strikes_landed_per_minute - **Strike Accuracy** - significant_striking_accuracy - **Absorb/Min** - significant_strikes_absorbed_per_minute - **Strike Defense** - significant_strike_defence - **Takedowns/Fight** - average_takedowns_landed_per_15_minutes - **TD Defense** - takedown_defense - **Submissions/Fight** - average_submissions_attempted_per_15_minutes - **TD Accuracy** - takedown_accuracy - **total_fights** - **win_rate** The final dataset is the result of systematic cleaning, validation, and filtering procedures --- ## Data Cleaning Summary - Selected 13 relevant columns from the original 18 columns for analysis, and subsequently engineered 3 new features. - Handling Non-Informative & Duplicates - Missing Value Handling, Removing Fighters with 3 or More Missing Columns - Filtering 3 Fighters Due to Missing Height Data - Filtering Fighters with Missing Date of Birth - Filling Missing 'Reach' Values with the Mean - Filling Missing 'Stance' Values with 'Unknown - Column Renaming for Readability --- ## Research Questions & Insights ### *Q1: "Does age influence the win rate (WINRATE) of UFC fighters, and what is the distribution of ages among the fighters in the dataset? **Visualization : barplot** #The graph does not include fighters over the age of 38, ![UFC fighter age distribution](https://i.postimg.cc/VLLKfB6h/Screenshot-2025-11-19-203829.png) *Click on the image above to view it in full size* **Insight:** - My conclusions are that age is highly significant for successfully entering the UFC (meaning fighters need many wins on the way, which often happens around age 30+). However, within the UFC, there is no correlation between a fighter's age and their win rate (WINRATE) --- ### *Q2: Is there a correlation between a physical variable or fighting style with the Win rate? **Visualization: Correlation Heatmap of Variables** ![Correlation Heatmap](https://i.postimg.cc/rFFfVCmQ/Screenshot-2025-11-19-203753.png) *Click on the image above to view it in full size* **Insight:** - The analysis suggests that there is no strong predictive variable for success, given the consistently weak correlations found across all features. - Despite this, the maximum correlation observed was specifically associated with measures of a fighter's 'aggressive behavior during the bout.' --- ### *Q3: Given that a fighter possesses all the 'aggressive' attributes with a positive correlation to victory, are these traits sufficient, on their own, to reliably predict or guarantee a high Win Rate? **Visualization: Correlation Heatmap of Variables** ![Multivariate Correlation map](https://i.postimg.cc/L66x9BXw/Screenshot-2025-11-19-203857.png) *Click on the image above to view it in full size* **Insight:** - The conclusion is negative. While 'aggressive' attributes demonstrated the highest (positive) correlation with victory, these traits are not sufficient on their own - to reliably predict or guarantee a high Win Rate. This determination is based on the finding that the overall correlation remains extremely low, - even when considering the three most highly correlated variables—a fact visually evident in the data you referenced --- ## Final Conclusions *Main Research Question:* What are the defining attributes—both physiological (physical) and strategic - (fighting style)—that characterize the ultimate mixed martial arts fighter? *Answer:* My analysis indicates that no single variable with a strong positive correlation can be identified or - relied upon to define the ultimate mixed martial arts fighter. Nevertheless, the data does suggest that a - fighter's aggressive behavior during a bout is a key strategic factor that statistically elevates the probability of achieving a victory ### Key Findings: - Physiological Attributes: Body measurements and physical characteristics (such as Height, Reach, or Leg length) show no significant correlation with a fighter's - probability of victory (WINRATE). This suggests that success in the UFC is not determined by inherent physical size. - Strategic Aggression: Successful Takedowns (control metrics) and Strikes Accuracy (offensive volume metrics) were found to be the variables with the highest positive - correlation with victory among all examined features. - Predictive Limitation: Despite being the top-correlated factors, the relationship between these aggressive metrics and the final outcome is still relatively weak. - Therefore, while Takedowns and Strike Accuracy are important strategic advantages, they are not sufficient on their own to reliably predict or guarantee a high Win Rate. ### Overall Insights: - There is no single parameter that can be truly relied upon to predict victory. --- ## Video (https://www.veed.io/view/7decd8ee-9454-4b39-bbf0-48876d30fc42?source=editor&panel=share)