The pre-fight graphic is the most-watched piece of analysis in the sport and the most over-read. Most of the numbers on it are real; the mistake is assuming they mean what they appear to mean.
Reach
Reach is measured fingertip to fingertip and correlates loosely with how far a fighter can hit from. It is useful in the aggregate and unreliable in the specific, because reach only pays if the fighter uses it. A long fighter who fights on the inside has given the advantage away, and a short fighter who closes distance well has neutralised it. Reach tells you what is available, not what will happen.
Stance
Orthodox versus southpaw matters more than reach in most matchups, because it changes which strikes are open. In an open-stance matchup — one of each — the lead hand fights for outside foot position, the rear straight travels a shorter path, and the lead-leg kick becomes far more available to both. Fighters who rarely face southpaws often look a step behind against one, and the tape will not show you that.
The record
Win-loss is the least informative number on the graphic. It does not encode quality of opposition, how recent anything was, whether losses were competitive, or whether the fighter has changed camps, divisions or styles since. A 12-0 record built on regional opposition and a 12-4 record built in a top ten are not comparable, and the graphic presents them identically.
Read the last three fights instead: who, how, and how long ago.
Strikes landed per minute, and accuracy
Volume statistics describe pace, not effectiveness. A high output can mean genuine pressure or it can mean a fighter throwing at range without landing anything meaningful. Accuracy is more revealing, but it is inflated by fighters who throw only when open and deflated by fighters who use volume to set traps.
Absorbed strikes per minute is often the most useful of the striking numbers, because it hints at defensive habits that tend to persist.
Takedown numbers
Takedown accuracy and defence are worth more than raw attempts, but both are heavily context-dependent — a wrestler who has fought strikers will show excellent numbers that say nothing about how they handle a grappler. Takedown defence ages notably badly; it is one of the first attributes to decline, and the career average hides recent decline entirely.
The number that is not there
Nothing on the graphic captures durability, and it is often the thing that decides the fight. A fighter's recent history of being hurt, how quickly they recover, how many hard rounds they have absorbed, and how long the layoffs have been are all absent. Those are worth more than reach and record combined, and they take actual reading to find.