An MMA fight can range anywhere between a screaming dervish of destruction and a meticulous symphony of dismantlement.
Because of this unbettable nature of the fight game, there have spawned an equally diverse scale of fans - the Depeche mode dilettantes, the insufferably overanalytical geeks, and the doers.
This isn't a comprehensive classification, but if there's one facet of fighting that leaves them howling, it's the never-goes-out-of-fashion knockout.
You can't help but be sceptical of the sanity of mixed martial artists. To willingly go into an appointment with punishment evinces a disposition that might be found in a textbook about abnormal psychology.
People who go spelunking or wingsuit flying have some amount of badassery in their DNA, but to fight for a living requires you to be a mutated chaos seeker.
Now, fighters take a lot of shots to the head over their years-long careers. So, according to Wolff's Law, their skulls should get tougher over time and be able to withstand more pressure, right? Well, if that's nature, consider guys like Rumble Johnson, Dan Henderson and Junior Dos Santos supernatural.
Every fighter has a puncher's chance, but when you're up against certain men whose chins are like cockroaches to a nuclear explosion, that possibility is eroded dramatically.
It would take a Dali-esque imagination to understand the cosmic alignment of power and precision behind the knuckles, that sends such men into the abyss before they bungee recoil into consciousness.
The names on this select list are men who are famed for their ability to take cannon shots to the moneymaker and still keep swinging. But, at the end of it all, they're just that - men.
So let's take a look at those times when shocked fans stood gaping at the mortality when the hardest chins in MMA were broken:
#5 Big Nog gets Cained
UFC broke out the big guns for their maiden venture Down Under. Since his emergence in the UFC, Cain Velasquez sent alarm bells ringing as the evolved predator in the ecosystem, devouring his way to the top of the UFC's Heavyweight division.
With a seemingly infinite gas tank, the then-undefeated Velaquez seemed like a Juggernaut with no apparent chinks in his armour.
Also read: Fedor Emelianenko: A victim of his own glittering legacy
The test came in the form of one of the doyens of modern MMA and former Heavyweight Champion, Antonio Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira.
Big Nog had been knocked out just thrice in almost ten times the number of fights and was looking to get some wind in his sails after a tempestuous phase - he had won the Interim Heavyweight belt, lost it, and then defeated the legendary Randy Couture in 2009's Fight of the Year.
The gritty veteran lasted just half a round against the chainsaw offence of Velasquez, who earned a shot at UFC gold with this win. We all know what happened in the next fight.
#4 Tyrone Woodley blasts Robbie Lawler off the throne
Robbie Lawler is one of those rare fighters who won the hearts of fans as well as the ultimate prize. The former Welterweight Champion’s decision to drop to 170 lbs after a 50-50 run in Strikeforce’s Middleweight waters served him amazingly well.
The UFC’s comeback king’s stratospheric rise witnessed him collect a mound of awards apart from the belt itself, including 2014’s Fighter of the Year and 2015’s Fight of the Year.
Ostensibly, many questioned Tyron Woodley’s shot at the gold, considering that he had lost to a challenger in Rory MacDonald and his win against Carlos Condit, for many, was a mere twist of fate.
But it takes a certain timbre for a man to roll the dice when the stakes are heavenly high, and Woodley proved unerasably that he had what it took. A short appraisal and Lawler delivered an atomic right hand that sent the leathery Lawler down for the count.
#3 Conor McGregor sends Jose Aldo’s head rolling and becomes an instant legend
Like Woodley, many thought Conor McGregor was riding the wave of hype and talking his way to a shot at Jose Aldo’s legitimate Featherweight belt.
The Irishman hadn’t struck out names like Frankie Edgar or Charles Oliveira and was kept on his heels by the wrestling and ground game of an unprepared Chad Mendes, but still ended up becoming the Interim 145 lbs champion.
There aren’t many moments in history that can speak to generations of humanity – McGregor created one of them. Imbued with self-belief and constant evolution, the Notorious One broke a decade-strong empire with his laser left hand.
It took just two punches and thirteen seconds for McGregor to have the hordes chanting “The King is dead. Long live the King”.
#2 The Super Samoan gets hunted down by Fabricio Werdum
Mark Hunt is one of those few big name UFC fighters whose record belies their popularity. The Kiwi has been knocked out only a handful of times in more than sixty of his MMA and kickboxing fights.
He honed the inherent aggression and power that ran him afoul of the law in his teens into the terrorising left hand that magnetises fans to his fights.
The Heavyweight title tilt at UFC 180 was changed to an Interim belt fight after Velaquez withdrew due to injury. Despite being given just a few days notice and going up against the altitude of Mexico, not to mention a primed Fabricio Werdum, Hunt didn’t take his foot off the pedal.
There were moments when it looked as though Hunt would pull off the unimaginable and inscribe a fabled win, but Werdum was too well prepared. Vai Cavalho wasn’t horsing around and kept conditioning Hunt to crouch when it looked as though he was about to shoot for a takedown.
In a breathtaking microcosm of brutality, Werdum used his height to launch a knee into the shorter Hunt, almost decapitating him in the process and becoming the Interim Heavyweight Champion.
#1 Mark Hunt rattles the Richter with his KO of Roy Nelson
I think it is safe to say that the UFC switches gears when it comes to their events in Japan.
The Land Of The Rising Sun loves fighting and the UFC sweetened the cards with warriors who made their bones in the business in Japan – Wanderlei Silva, Rampage Jackson, Takanori Gomi, Hatsu Hioki and of course, Mark Hunt.
It doesn’t take an intellectual giant to predict the outcome of a fight between two men who are renowned for two things – their immovable chins and their kill-you-dead power. Hunt was definitely in the lead after the first round ended, being the more active fighter.
Halfway into the second round, the former K-1 Champion had decoded the distance equation and swooped forward, throwing a decoy left hand before letting his right uppercut erupt into Nelson’s face. Conor McGregor couldn’t have put it better – “Roy Nelson headbutted the floor!”.
Hunt collected a cheque for Performance of the Night and vaulted forward in the queue for the Heavyweight title, in the quest of which he found himself a place on this list.
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