ATG Iron-Chinned Warriors

We've been over the current Glassiest Jaws in MMA recently and while I'm compiling my ATG Glass Jawed Joke list, I figured we would go in the opposite direction and pontificate on fighters with the most stout and manly Mandibular Fortitude of all-time. Here's my list;

1. Mark Hunt- While there are questions regarding the efficacy of his punch resistance after being starched by a MW, he has the excuse of years of using his cranium as a practice pad and an outstanding resume of absorbing monster shots, many of which actually would prove that boring cliche, "that shot woulda KOed anybody" to be correct. He's been high kicked multiple times, hit with bombs to the Noggin from some of MMA AND K-1's heaviest hitters and it was only in the twilight of his career that the lights were finally switched off.

2. BJ Penn- He's a natural LW and he's been hit with shots by everyone from one of LW's most fearsome punchers in Gomi to 205er Machida and he's never even been dropped or seriously hurt by a blow. Penn's punch resistance is nearly as otherworldly as Hunt's and might even be equal to it, we just haven't seen him hit as much because of his superlative defense.

3. Dan Henderson- Again, a weight-jumping warrior who has survived brutal wars with a litany of MMA's most violent warriors and has yet to be stopped by strikes. The idea of a natural 185er getting bombed on by Fedor, a HW with legendary punching power, and coming back to KO him within seconds of eating a barrage is awe-inspiring. Hendo's Chin is a testament to all that is good and right about proper punch resistance.

4. Shogun Rua- While it was a losing effort with little to commend him for, the Jones fight should tell you all you need to know about Rua's Chin. The guy got flying kneed within seconds, took everything from a spinning elbow to the temple to a head kick, to a brutal barrage of elbows on the ground over the course of three disgustingly one-sided rounds, and it took a liver shot to put him down for the stoppage. Earlier efforts against Overeem, Minotoro, and Cyborg Santos are also outstanding displays of Mandibular Fortitude and the closest thing you'll find to Rua being starched by shots to the dome is a video of a barely pubescent Rua getting head kicked in a fight in some dude's living room.

5. Minotauro Nogueira- The guy below spelled it out. The very definition of Iron-Chinned Warrior in his prime.

6. Chris Lytle- 54 fights against the likes of Hughes, Koscheck, Alves, Diaz, Lawler, Riggs, Davis, and Hardy among others and not one stoppage loss other than by cuts. 'Nuff said.

7. Ben Rothwell- He's been legitimately stopped by strikes twice, once by head kick (forgiveable), and once by one of the most ungodly barrages of strikes that I've ever seen delivered by Arlovski. The Velasquez stoppage was way early, particularly considering the amount of punishment he absorbed at the very, very heavy hands of Hunt, so much that at one point he was literally standing still, completely zombified and staring at the floor, eating strikes and still he refused to go. Outstanding Chin and Heart, not much else whatsoever to recommend him as a fighter.

8. Nick Diaz- He's been KOed once when he was 19 and hadn't hit his stride yet but since then he's faced and eaten shots from some of the biggest punchers in the game, including some absolutely horrendous shots from Gomi that mangled his face and Daley's infamous game-changing left hook and he's never failed to answer the final bell aside from cuts against Noons. His defense is atrocious and he is dropped from time-to-time but it's always by absolutely vicious shots and he's clear-headed within seconds. A Chin for the ages.

9. Chuck Liddell- Yes, he also possessed one of the most abysmal Glass Jaws in the sport's history in the latter half of his career but the early part was a constant display of superlative Mandibular Fortitude given the fact that Chuck's only defense in a ten-year career was his Chin. In the prime of his career he ate monster shots from Pele, Mezger, Overeem, Belfort, and Rampage and despite the inordinate amount of damage he took in getting the majority of his KO wins, he didn't have his eggs scrambled until the Rampage rematch when he was 37.

10. Rampage- Another guy whose Chin and powers of recovery appear to be fading but also a guy whose prime punch resistance can never be questioned due to the fights against the Chute Boxe duo of killers in PRIDE. Those bouts weren't impressive for Rampage in the least, EXCEPT for the fact that he was hit with literally dozens of knees from two of the most vicious clinch fighters in history and he was only starched cold in one of the three bouts and after having had his nose mashed by a brutal hook and a follow-up of about ten knees directly to the jaw.

Honorable Mentions- Clay Guida, Chris Leben, Takanori Gomi, Roy Nelson, Kazayuki Fujita, Don Frye, Cabbage Correira, Heath Herring, Leonard Garcia, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Patrick Cote, Jon Fitch, Diego Sanchez, Scott Smith, Jeremy Horn

 

You're absolutely right, terrible oversight on my part. I've gotten so used to seeing him hurt in every bout and starched that his prior displays of superlative punch resistance were buried.

 

Rothwell has only ever been put out twice and he's little more than a tubby punching bag in all of his fights. It took a head kick to do it the first time and an unreal barrage of strikes for Arlovski to seal the deal. As for Liddell, he spent an entire career blocking shots with his face and was only ever put away when he was 37. You explain how I'm wrong rather than **** like the snide and unclever remark above and I'll consider your opinion, but until you can debate like an adult and post your own Top 10, kindly **** off.:roflatsch

I never thought Fedor's Chin was out of this world good and even if it was, there wasn't a whole lot of evidence in his early career to show as much. The hardest shots he took early on in his career were the straight left that Mirko broke his nose with and the wild hook by Fujita, no striker by any stretch of the imagination, that put him on rubber legs. Other than that you have nothing to go on aside from the fact that he took a beating from Bigfoot without going out (something that even Glass Jaw Champion Emeritus Arlovski managed to do) and he got sparked out by a natural 185er. Probably not a Glass Jaw early in his career but certainly never proven to be iron.

I considered Leben but being put out relatively quickly and without absorbing unreal amounts of punishment in the process against Silva and Stann were what kept him out of the Top 10, for me at least. He is a certified Iron Chinned Warrior, however.

 

He's on the Honorable Mentions list merely because I couldn't see placing him above guys who have taken much more brutal shots and remained unscathed. I mean, yes, he did have a fairly infallible Chin in his prime but he also never got hit with anything approaching the amount of heat that the guys above him did.