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The UFC hosts mixed martial artists of every variety as fighters from all walks of life find success in the promotion.
Dominant wrestlers with decorated amateur backgrounds in freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman and other styles impose their will on their opponents to great effect, overwhelming them with pressure and takedowns.
Grapplers whose history is rich in Brazilian jiu-jitsu expertise stupefy their foes on the ground, outworking them with superior positional grappling en route to sealing victory with slick submission maneuvers. Meanwhile, highly skilled strikers dazzle spectators with thrilling knockouts that consistently make up the UFC's promotional material.
Other fighters are tradesmen in every facet of combat: wrestling, grappling and striking. However, a subset of unique fighters exist. These fighters possess incredible punching power that frequently earns them knockouts. Unfortunately, these UFC fighters are just as susceptible to being knocked out, either due to poor defense or an inability to take shots. Sometimes, it's a bit of both.
While past UFC fighters like Alistair Overeem and Thomas Almeida fit the bill, this list looks at 5 current UFC fighters who are glass cannons.
#5. Joaquin Buckley
While Joaquin Buckley will likely never capture a world championship in the UFC, he briefly became a viral internet sensation due to his highly entertaining knockout win over Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night 179.
A little over 2 minutes into the 2nd round, Buckley threw a kick that his foe caught. Instead of pulling his leg back to free his foot from Kasanganay's grip, Buckley lifted his other leg and spun his body into a jumping spinning back kick that knocked his opponent out cold.
No win characterizes Buckley as a fighter more than that, as the middleweight sensation willingly exposed his back while his foot was caught to score a knockout.
Joaquin Buckley very much lives by the sword or dies by it, usually winning by knockout, but when he loses, it's also often by knockout. Buckley boasts 15 wins, 11 of which came by knockout. Of his 4 losses, 3 have come via knockout, and even his wins are sometimes stained by him being rocked.
#4. Michael Chandler
Former three-time Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler does not necessarily have a bad chin. While his durability isn't the greatest, it is his fighting style that creates the conditions for 'Iron' to get wobbled and hurt as often as he does.
Whenever Chandler throws a punch, he steps in very deep and commits his entire bodyweight to the blow. While it consistently leads to knockouts, it also renders Chandler exceptionally vulnerable to being countered on his way inside.
Due to his stylistic choices, 'Iron' owns 11 wins by knockout, but has also been on the receiving end of KO/TKO losses 4 times in his career, nearly half as many times as he's knocked others unconscious. Even in fights where Chandler doesn't lose by knockout, he is often wobbled, dropped and hurt like in his recent loss to Justin Gaethje.
Perhaps the most classic example of Chandler being a glass cannon is him rocking and dropping Charles Oliveira throughout the 1st round of their UFC 262 bout. He went on to get dropped by a counter-left hook and finished by follow-up punches in the 2nd round.
#3. Johnny Walker
At one point in time, Johnny Walker was thought by many to be a future UFC light heavyweight champion. Members of the MMA media were hopeful that the power-punching Brazilian would one day prove to be a stiff test for the then-reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Unfortunately, Walker's poor striking fundamentals led to 4 of his 7 losses coming by way of knockout.
While Walker's vicious knockout power enabled him to defeat most of his foes in the 1st round, he has been rocked several times, even in his victories. The Brazilian was famously KO'd by Corey Anderson, a wrestler. Even his KO win over Ryan Spann was tainted by Walker being dropped twice.
His pre-UFC career was also riddled with instances of Walker being hurt several times in his fights on the Brazilian regional scene.
#2. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski
A veteran mixed martial artist whose career dates back to 1999, Andrei Arlovski's first step into the MMA world began with a knockout loss.
In his 20 career losses thus far, Arlovski has lost 11 by KO/TKO, while 17 of his 34 victories came by knockout. The former UFC heavyweight champion has always been fairly powerful, only going to decision once in the first 16 fights of his career. However, as powerful as Arlovski was, his chin was simply unable to absorb punishment in return.
For the longest time, the Belarusian seemed incapable of withstanding any blow to the head, almost always being rocked, wobbled or outright knocked unconscious in every loss he faced. After some time, Arlovski committed to sharpening his defensive striking and being less aggressive in order to avoid exposing himself to counters. It worked to great effect as the 43-year old is currently riding a 4-fight win streak.
Alas, even Arlovsi's wins feature moments where he's either knocked down or wobbled. Were it not for his newfound focus on defense, the former UFC champion would likely have suffered more than 11 knockout losses.
#1. Cody Garbrandt
Today, Cody Garbrandt seems a distant shadow of the undefeated fighter who finally dethroned Dominick Cruz to capture UFC gold.
After years of trying, Team Alpha Male produced a fighter many believed would herald a new era for the UFC bantamweight division. Garbrandt was 11-0 with 9 of his wins being KO victories. With lightning-fast hand speed and brutal punching power, Garbrandt looked unstoppable.
However, the former champion's subsequent loss to T.J. Dillashaw revealed an alarming habit: once Garbrandt is hurt by a strike, he commits to a wild brawl that his chin is ill-equipped to withstand. Out of his 5 losses, Garbrandt has been KO'd 4 times, meaning he has lost by knockout almost half as many times as he's knocked others out due to his 10 KO wins.
Not only does the former bantamweight champion get knocked out, but he also gets wobbled and dropped multiple times throughout his bouts, rendering him just as likely to get KO'd as he is to KO others. The brutality of his losses were such that at one point in time, members of the MMA media questioned Dana White on whether Garbrandt should possibly consider retirement.
