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In the UFC, toughness is a desired quality among the promotion's fighters. While possessing competent skills in wrestling, striking, and grappling are fundamental to preparing fighters for the countless variables in mixed martial arts bouts, there is another more intangible trait that is just as important. Fighters need the mental and physical fortitude to endure the struggles of a fight.
The greatest comebacks in UFC history are due to a fighter's refusal to yield despite the brutal and lopsided beatings that they endured. They survive long enough to find a single Hail Mary shot that knocked their foes unconscious like current UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards' thunderous head-kick win over Kamaru Usman.
Some fighters, however, don't mount successful comebacks. Instead, they earn moral victories by not being finished in their bouts. With UFC 279 being headlined by Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson, two of the toughest fighters on the roster, this list looks at 5 of the toughest UFC fighters currently signed to the promotion.
#5. Brian Ortega
Two-time UFC featherweight title challenger Brian Ortega is arguably the toughest featherweight in the UFC. Like many fighters on this list, Ortega's toughness is partly due to necessity.
As a striker, he is a decent puncher with serviceable power in his shots. Unfortunately, his defensive striking is lacking as 'T-City' is an offensively minded fighter. He fights from mid-range and always looks to answer his opponent's punches with his own strikes.
He keeps his hands low and doesn't move his head off the center-line. Furthermore, he doesn't retreat from exchanges nor does he circle into open space. Instead, Ortega stands in front of his foes so that he's always in a position to return fire.
Unfortunately, this also leaves him in position to be struck. Thus, in order to implement such a risky fighting style, 'T-City' required a granite chin and an iron will.
No matter how brutal the beating, Ortega stands either at mid-range or inside the pocket, always ready to trade punches with his foes. Against Max Holloway, Ortega was bloodied and battered but never ceased marching forward despite his left eye swelling shut.
He absorbed 307 strikes, 290 of which were significant strikes. Yet Ortega never yielded. Only a doctor stoppage could bring an end to the bout.
Similarly, 'T-City' waged a brutal war against reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Ortega was bloodied and badly beaten during the matchup. Furthermore, he blew out his arms during a desperate attempt at a guillotine choke, but he never surrendered.
Even after absorbing 229 strikes, 214 of which were significant, he fought till the very end to survive a 5-round assault.
#4. Charles Oliveira
At UFC 280, Charles Oliveira will face Islam Makhachev for the vacant UFC lightweight championship that 'Do Bronx' lost due to a mishap at the weigh-ins of his UFC 274 matchup against Justin Gaethje.
Regardless of the circumstances, many fans still view Oliveira as the reigning king of the 155lbs weight class. The Brazilian is at the helm of an impressive 11-fight win streak and it has been a long journey that has seen him evolve into one of the toughest fighters on the roster.
Oliveira fights tall, using a myriad of techniques to overwhelm his opponents with sheer volume. Some of the most recognizable strikes he throws are front kicks that target the midsection.
Since his front kicks cause opponents to stand tall upon landing, they cause his foes to be much easier to secure double collar-ties against. Once he grasps the back of their necks, Oliveira yanks their heads down into vicious knees.
If he cannot easily do so, he instead drives his knees into his opponent's midsection. Alas, since 'Do Bronx' fights so tall, he's overexposed to strikes.
Additionally, his poor eyesight means that the Brazilian does not move his head off the center-line when throwing punches. As a result, Oliveira is extremely hittable. In fact, he even keeps his chin exposed as he does not tuck it either.
Due to his poor defensive striking, Oliveira has been rocked and knocked down multiple times in his last three fights against Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler.
Even when wobbled and badly hurt, Oliveira remained tenacious, searching for a double collar-tie to continue his relentless assault on the body. Even after nearly being finished by Chandler in the first round, Oliveira didn't shy away from striking with the former Bellator champion in the second round.
He bit down on his mouthpiece, marched forward and waded into an exchange that saw him land the perfect counter-left hook to capture UFC gold.
#3. Dan Hooker
While he is no longer in the UFC's top 10 lightweight rankings, Dan Hooker has been a staple of the division for years. The New Zealander is a rangy and tenacious kickboxer who makes excellent use of his height and reach to establish a range that's longer than what his foes are used to operating from. Furthermore, he is not defensively irresponsible as he moves his head when punching.
Unfortunately, Hooker is a natural pressure fighter, which by its very nature exposes him to strikes more than a mere defensively-oriented counterpunching style would.
While his defense against blows to the head is serviceable, 'The Hangman' is not as skilled at protecting his midsection and legs. This was evident in his brutal loss to Edson Barboza.
Known as one of the most powerful kickers in UFC history, Barboza repeatedly slammed vicious kicks into Hooker's body. Those were the same kicks that the extremely tough Paul Felder claimed, left him urinating blood for weeks after his own fight with Barboza.
Hooker was hurt to the body several times, hunching over in pain as Barboza dealt him a savage beating over the course of 3 rounds.
The fight was so one-sided that former UFC double champion and current color commentator Daniel Cormier openly expressed his frustrations over why Dan Hooker's corner had not thrown in the towel. It was one of the most ferocious beatings ever witnessed inside the octagon and Hooker refused to yield until his body finally shut down.
Two years later, 'The Hangman' faced Dustin Poirier in a 5-round war that saw him absorb 208 strikes and 153 significant strikes. Despite being hurt at several points during the bout, Hooker never quit, staying in the fight en route to a decision loss that earned him and Poirier Fight of the Night honors.
#2. Tony Ferguson
For the longest time, former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson was thought to have been impossible to knock out cold. At the height of his record-setting 12-fight win streak, 'El Cucuy' was a menacing presence in the 155 lbs weight class.
His cardio was unending, enabling him to fight at an absurdly high pace against former champion Rafael dos Anjos for 5 rounds at high altitude in Mexico City.
Cardio, however, is not Ferguson's only remarkable physical trait. The UFC lightweight legend is as tough as a fighter can be. Due to his all-offense pressure game, he has no choice but to be.
Ferguson makes use of unorthodox techniques and does not tuck his chin whenever he marches forward. He is committed to overwhelming his foes with volume and staying on the front foot. Thus, Ferguson has been rocked and dropped multiple times throughout his career.
Even when he's badly hurt, Ferguson never turtles or cowers. He remains offensively-minded. Against Anthony Pettis, he threw a spinning elbow seconds after being knocked down.
Similarly, Lando Vannata dropped 'El Cucuy' in their bout. However, Ferguson claimed victory against both men. Despite how often he's rocked in his fights, he always seems to recover before emerging victorious.
In fact, his penchant for survival has become a meme as MMA meme pages have humorously suggested that Ferguson knows he's winning a fight once he's been rocked. Perhaps his greatest display of otherworldly toughness was in his loss to Justin Gaethje.
In the fight, Ferguson was dealt the most lopsided beating of his career, absorbing 72% of Gaethje's significant strikes.
In the latter stages of the fight, Ferguson looked as if he'd been in a car crash. However, he refused to be knocked out, surviving for as long as referee Herb Dean allowed him to before the bout was mercifully called off in the 5th round.
#1. Nate Diaz
Like his UFC 279 opponent Tony Ferguson, Nate Diaz is known for his cardio and supernatural toughness. Diaz's reputation for withstanding punishment is such that there is an erroneous belief among fight fans that he has never been knocked out or finished, neither of which is true.
The Stockton legend was famously TKO'd by Josh Thomson at UFC on Fox 7 after two other prior head kicks before the third and last one led to the finish.
As a fighter, Diaz is a boxer with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu base. While he's developed into a competent clinch fighter who uses it to smother his foes and break their posture by shoving the top of his head against their jaw, rendering it easier for him to land knees and uppercuts, Diaz remains committed to boxing with his foes.
While he doesn't have the best head movement, he does lean away and roll with his opponent's punches.
Unfortunately, Nate Diaz's poor defense against low kicks has allowed many of his opponents to kick him out of his stance, leaving him temporarily vulnerable to punches over the top in the few seconds he takes to reset his stance.
He's endured beatings against countless opponents like Rory MacDonald, Rafael dos Anjos, Leon Edwards, Jorge Masvidal, and Conor McGregor.
His 1st round against McGregor in their initial fight was incredibly one-sided, but Diaz never wavered. Instead, he finished the Irishman in the 2nd round with a rear-naked choke.
Against Masvidal, Diaz suffered a beating so lopsided that even his older brother Nick Diaz felt compelled to return to avenge his sibling. No matter how badly Diaz loses a bout, he never quits.
A final example of the Stockton legend's toughness is the amount of scar tissue on his face. It's evidence of how many wars he's survived as it takes very little to cut his face open.
