Toughest Chin in MMA

[TombstoneCity1387]

Who do you guys think has the toughest chin in mixed martial arts today? For those who aren't familiar with the term, having a "good chin" means the ability to take ungodly amounts of punishment and not be knocked out.

Here's my top 5:

5. BJ Penn - Never been knocked out, and he's taken some serious punishment in his career from Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes.

4. Fedor Emelianenko - He's only been rocked once in his career, by Kaz Fujita back in his PRIDE days. He's been in wars with knockout artists the likes of Brett Rogers and Mirko Filipovic.

3. Ben Henderson - After his performances against Donald Cerrone, Jamie Varner and Anthony Pettis, "Smooth" has definitely shown that he's got the chin to stand up to some of the best lightweights on the planet.

2. Chris Leben - His ability to take punishment is legendary, only being knocked out by Anderson Silva.

1. Dan Henderson - Hendo has never been knocked out, despite being hit HARD from some of the toughest middleweights and light heavyweights in the world.

 

[Switchy]

Wow, you got Ben Henderson kinda high, don't think I would put him above Fedor personally but here is my list anyway:

5) Shogun Rua: I think Shogun has a very underrated chin and people don't really give him enough credit for it. For a guy that has stepped in the cage with Rampage, Machida, Lil Nog, Randleman, Overeem and Chuck (the 2 latter, despite being before nd after their peak respectively, still both had KO power when he fought them) and still doesn't have a KO loss to his record is phenomenal.

4) Diego Sanchez: Has been in wars with some of the toughest lightweights and welterweights in the UFC (the several FOTN awards he has won only soldifies my point) and has only been finished once, which was due to a cut. He showed his chin wasn't invincible in the Penn fight but despite this he still earns a spot on my list.

3) Chris Leben/Clay Guida: Could not decide between these two as they are practically cut from the same cloth and have 1 KO loss between them. Both are fighters who can take the hardest of punches and still remain on their feet despite neither of them having that good a stnd-up game in comparison to others in their division but you can guarantee almost everytime one of these two step in the cage it is almost certain the fight with be one to remember.

2) Fedor Emelianenko: He has been beaten up by some of the toughest heavyweights around and taken punches and kicks from some of the heaviest hitters MMA has seen so far but it just seems that no matter how much punishment is dished out to Fedor, he will come back with something from out of nowhere, whether it is his KO of Arlovski after Arlovski was punishing him until that point or submitting Randleman moments after that vicious German suplex.

1) Dan Henderson: Sorry to copy your #1 it is impossible not to give it to Hendo. The guy has stepped into the cage with guys who have crippling KO power such as Rampage and Wanderlei in their prime as well as Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort and despite not winning all of his fights against these big hitters, it is an accomplishment of its on to have fought the list of guys Hendo has fought and take their hits like they were nothing which is not bad for a guy who started out as a wrestler.

 

[ThomC]

There really isn't much to add to this, as the best choices have been posted already. I will comment on Clay Guida though. His fight with Diego is proof of how strong his chin is. Diego kicked him square in the face and buckled him, but then he just popped right up like nothing happened. One of my favorite fights and one of my favorite fighters (Guida, can't stand Diego).

 

[pumpt73]

There's a ton really. But off the top of my head: Chris Leben, Nick Diaz, BROCK LESNAR!!!!, Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar, Joe Warren, Forrest Griffin, and Stefan Bonnar

 

[phantomgerald]

I always got a perception that guys with big heads like Rampage and BJ Penn are hard to put to sleep. I think there's some truth to it.

 

[TombstoneCity1387]

I always got a perception that guys with big heads like Rampage and BJ Penn are hard to put to sleep. I think there's some truth to it.

Penn, I'll give you. Joe Rogan once that that Penn's face is like it's made out of memory foam.

"Rampage" has been knocked out on more than a couple occasions, though. Twice by Wanderlei Silva and once by "Shogun" Rua.

 

[Highwave]

Takanori Gomi 32–6-1.How many Veterans fought this much without being knocked out?

 

[TombstoneCity1387]

Ooooh, good call Highwave. I never thought about Gomi. He's fought some legit KO artists, too, like Duane Ludwig, Nick Diaz, Jens Pulver and BJ Penn.

 

[Colin Gimp]

1. Action jackson 2. Shogun 3. Fedor and his bro. 4. Patrick Cote 5. Minotauro Nogueria, if you care about his past his prime ko losses your a douchebag

 

[TombstoneCity1387]

Totally forgot about Big Nog. That guy can take a severe beating, I don't care how past his prime he is.