MMA Fighters With the Best Chins
Being able to survive a head-on crash with a truck is not a skill you can learn. It’s the ability you are born with. But on the other side, having a strong chin and being a durable fighter is also a big advantage in fighting. There is nothing worse than a durable fighter who will drag you into the deep waters, and force you to brawl with them the entire fight.
In this article, we are going to take a look at the fighters with the strongest chins in MMA history and recall some of the brutal wars they have had over the years. Let’s dive right into it!
Mark Hunt
Mark Hunt has to be the first name that comes to our minds whenever we are talking about strong chins in MMA. The man has a chin made out of iron which, apart from his elite striking skills, is what most MMA fans remember him for.
Standing 5’10”, Hunt was always a smaller man in a fight. But he made up for the lack in size with an iron chin, top kickboxing skills, and insane power in both of his hands. He is known as one of the hardest hitters in history and if you combine this with his strong chin, you get one of the scariest fighters ever.
Although he has never won world titles in MMA, he is a fan favorite fighter who had been into many wars throughout his career. The most memorable one has to be the one with Antonio Silva at UFC UFC Fight Night 33.
Carlos Condit
Condit has always been a man of a few words who preferred to avoid being in the media at all costs. He never received much attention from both the media and the fans. This is the main reason why people tend to forget his name, notably when it comes to fighters who can take a clean head kick to the face.
Carlos Condit has fought nearly 50 times in MMA, and he got finished only once in his career. Yet, bear in mind that this TKO finish wasn’t a clean KO, neither did the referee stop it because Condit was taking big damage. No, it was when Condit landed a leg kick and broke his foot against Tyron Woodley at UFC 171.
So it’s fair to say that the “Natural Born Killer” has never been finished inside the cage. This is crazy considering how many brutal wars he has been in, with the one he had with Robbie Lawler being the most memorable one.
Nick and Nate Diaz
We don’t have to spend much time explaining why brothers Nick and Nate Diaz are on this list. Whether it’s genetics or something else, the Diaz brothers are known as the toughest fighters on the UFC roster, and it’s really hard to argue against that. Fans love them because of their “kill or be killed” fighting style that brought them a lot of success over the years, and also a couple of losses.
Both Nick and Nate are very durable and fight very much in the same way. The emphasis of their style is on forward pressure, high output of punches, taking a lot of damage, and dragging the opponents into the deep waters. They used this exact approach to beat many great UFC fighters and it’s really hard to stop them. No matter what you do, they will keep coming at you. There is a famous quote that says:
“ Diaz brothers don’t lose fights, they run out of rounds”
Roy Nelson
Roy Nelson might not look like an athlete and a pro fighter who had fought for various top promotions. Still, he was a top UFC contender at one point in his career, and his ability to take punishment was truly amazing. The former IFL champ is one of those fighters who would take 5 clean power punches just to move in and land that single one. You may hit him with a hammer, baseball bat, or head kick to the face, he would smile back and shut your lights out with the famous overhand right.
Despite the elite background in BJJ, Nelson never bothered to spend too much time on the ground. Why would he when he has that God given power in his hands, and a strong chin?
Brian Ortega
Some of you may not agree that Brian Ortega deserves a spot on this list, but bear with us. T-City has proved many times that he has a strong chin. In fact, he received so much damage in his UFC career that is really amazing that he has never been finished.
Yes, he got finished against Max Holloway at UFC 231, but let’s not forget that it was a doctor stoppage, a right call by the way. Yet, Ortega was still in there and would have continued if the doctor would have given him a green light.
Apart from his iron chin, Ortega also has that warrior mindset and would never give up in a fight. We have seen him exhausted, hurt, badly beaten, and barely standing on his feet, but never out of the fight.
No matter what happens, Ortega will continue to move forward and do his best to win a fight. Sometimes this works like against Cub Swanson, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Yoel Romero
Romero is one of the scariest fighters in history, a freak of nature who looks and hits like a truck. And like that’s not scary enough, he also has the ability to receive a clean shin to the side of the head, shake it off and smile back at you. This is exactly what he did when Paulo Costa blasted him with a wild head kick at UFC 241. And this is just one of many examples when Romero proved that he is made out of bricks.
Just recall his title fights against Robert Whittaker for instance. The Cuban was eating head kicks and clean power punches like cupcakes for 50 minutes in total.
It’s truly amazing to see a man in his 40s moving so fast and being so violent. He has never been finished inside the UFC cage, and the only man who came close to putting him out was Tim Kennedy at UFC 178.
Diego Sanchez
It’s almost impossible to put together a list of savage UFC fighters without Diego Sanchez. A UFC legend who never was never about decisions wins, titles, or being strategic. No, he was all about violence, being in wild brawls, taking shots right on the chin, and firing back. Although this approach cost him a better career, it’s why we all love him.
And don’t let a couple of KO losses on his record fool you. He would have even more if it wasn’t for his iron chin.
Dan Henderson
Henderson is an MMA legend whom most people remember for having bombs in his hands. But on the other side, let’s not forget that Hendo is among the most durable fighters. Although he has a couple of losses on his record, he suffered the first KO after 17 years of competing at the highest levels and across different promotions and weight classes. In this time span, he won:
- Pride FC Middleweight title
- Pride FC Welterweight title
- UFC 17 tournament
- Strikeforce middleweight title
In his career, he went through many wars with some of the hardest hitters in the history of the sport. The one against Shogun Rua is still among the most brutal slugfests in history. And we will never know how Hendo was able to survive the barrage of hard shots from the Brazilian.
