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In the UFC, fighters of every variety earn either fame or infamy. Some mixed martial artists thrill fight fans with thunderous knockouts as evidence of their seismic punching power.
Other fighters, however, leave the sport's grappling-oriented fanbase awestruck by slick submissions after either outgrappling their foes or pouncing on an opening.
As a sport of endless possibilities, MMA enables fighters to truly express themselves inside the octagon. A select few UFC fighters are grittier than others. They wade into the line of fire without fear, forgoing the nuances of defensive striking because their primary form of defense is their steely toughness.
The UFC has seen its fair share of fighters with legendary chins who seem impossible to knock unconscious.
Unfortunately, every chin—no matter how unbreakable—has its limits. At some point, the damage absorbed throughout the years accumulates and fighters once celebrated for their inhuman toughness suddenly struggle to absorb blows they could once walk through.
As this list explores the 5 unbreakable chins that have finally broken, it will not include the likes of the Diaz brothers, who despite their legendary toughness, have both been knocked out in their careers. Instead, this list details 5 fighters who had never suffered a knockout loss until they finally did.
#5. Joanna Jędrzejczyk
Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk is one of the greatest women's mixed martial artists of all time. With a breadth of championship kickboxing experience, Jędrzejczyk used her nearly unparalleled striking skills to embark on what was initially an unbeaten run in the sport of MMA.
Whenever she was unable to either freeze her foes with her bag of feints or manage distance with her jab while backing them up to the fence where she'd overwhelm them with volume, Jędrzejczyk would not shy away from fire fights due to the sheer depth of her toughness.
Even the monstrously powerful Claudia Gadelha and Jéssica Andrade could not separate 'The Boogeywoman' from consciousness.
However, once Jędrzejczyk faced former divisional rival Rose Namajunas at UFC 217, she not only suffered the first loss of her career, but was also knocked out for the first time.
While Jędrzejczyk explained the result as being due to a bad weight cut, she was never the same again, fighting six more times since the loss and losing four of those bouts, with her final loss being a knockout loss in a rematch against former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili.
#4. Dan Hooker
Dan Hooker has been a staple in the UFC lightweight division for years. Standing 6 feet tall, 'The Hangman' is one of the largest lightweights in the world. He is, perhaps, too large to be fighting in the 155lbs weight class given how his height would render him even among the tallest welterweights.
However, at his peak, there were no signs of diminishing returns for Hooker when it came to his weight cut to make the 155lbs weight limit.
For years, Dan Hooker was considered impossible to knock unconscious. Yair Rodriguez, an extremely powerful kicker, failed to do so when Hooker tried to ply his trade in the UFC featherweight division, where he was diminished by the weight cut.
Similarly, the power-punching Gilbert Burns was unable to knock Hooker out. Even Edson Barboza, arguably the most powerful kicker in the UFC, only managed to finish Hooker by savagely assaulting the New Zealander's body.
Even the life-altering beating that 'The Hangman' suffered at Babroza's hands was not enough to enable Dustin Poirier, a powerful combination-puncher, to knock him unconscious despite the 5-round war they had.
Alas, the damage accumulated throughout the years caught up to Hooker, and his next bout with Michael Chandler finally shattered his chin as Hooker lost via 1st round KO. Three fights later, he suffered the second knockout loss of his career against Arnold Allen.
#3. Vicente Luque
At UFC on ESPN 40, Vicente Luque suffered the first knockout loss of his career in a matchup with Geoff Neal. The Brazilian's fighting style relies heavily on his granite chin.
As a pressure fighter by nature, Luque often brings himself into the line of fire. More than that, however, his choice to use his left hook as his trademark weapon renders him even more hittable than other UFC fighters.
To be in a position to land a left hook, a fighter must also be in a position to be countered by their opponent's left hook due to the punch's short, tight arc. While 'The Silent Assassin' mitigates this by keeping his shoulders squared and his chest slightly open - cutting the distance his left hook needs to travel, allowing him to land the blow before his foe - it is not a foolproof solution.
Due to his overzealous nature, Luque allows himself to be countered anyway. But his chin always shielded him, allowing him to fight the likes of Mike Perry and Tyron Woodley, two very powerful fighters, without suffering a knockout loss.
Even Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, despite dropping Luque multiple times with perfectly timed counters, which are often the strikes that knock fighters unconscious, could not knock him out. Geoff Neal, however, finally did.
#2. Tony Ferguson
Tony Ferguson is many things. He is a former UFC interim lightweight champion, the owner of the longest lightweight win streak, the TUF 13 winner, and he once possessed one of the greatest chins in the UFC.
While Ferguson's chin was classically tough, it did not always prevent him from suffering knockdowns or being badly rocked. However, its defining feature was enabling him to recover from fight-ending sequences with alarming quickness.
Powerful fighters like Edson Barboza, Rafael dos Anjos, Kevin Lee, Anthony Pettis, and Michael Johnson were all unable to knock Ferguson unconscious. Even Justin Gaethje, arguably the most powerful puncher in the lightweight division, could not knock Ferguson out despite walking his foe into crushing counterpunches for five rounds before referee Herb Dean ended the bout.
Ferguson's chin seemed to have no limit, with Gaethje's TKO victory coming only after Herb Dean had seen enough and opted to spare Ferguson any more punishment.
Yet, 'El Cucuy' remained conscious. While Ferguson lost his next two fights, they were all decision losses in largely grappling affairs. When he crossed paths with Michael Chandler, however, Ferguson encountered an unstoppable force, suffering a brutal front-kick knockout loss early in the second round.
#1. Dan Henderson
Retired MMA legend Dan Henderson was both an unstoppable force and an immovable object. The vicious knockout power he possessed was enough to flatten any foe he faced, while his otherworldly toughness enabled him to walk through any strikes his opponents dared throw his way.
No one could survive Henderson's overhand right nor could anyone knock Henderson unconscious.
The incredibly powerful Wanderlei Silva twice fought Henderson, failing both times to crack the American's chin. The similarly powerful Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson was not able to do so either.
In Henderson's first matchup with Vitor Belfort, the powerful and explosive Brazilian found himself unable to knock his foe out like he'd done to so many others in the past. Even master counter-strikers with deceptive knockout power like Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida couldn't dent his chin.
They were not the only ones to try as even heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko and powerful punchers Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua and Rashad Evans failed.
However, after 39 fights, Henderson's chin finally collapsed. It did so against Vitor Belfort in a rematch between the pair. After the first knockout loss of his career, Henderson, who was once impossible to knock out, went on to be knocked out twice more in the last seven bouts of his career before finally retiring.
