Sherdog’s Top 10: Most Durable Fighters

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8. Roy Nelson

Nelson’s legendary chin crosses the line from impressive to downright superhuman. The portly heavyweight has absorbed shots from some of the most vicious power strikers in a division stacked with ridiculous punchers; only Andrei Arlovski and the legendary uppercut of Mark Hunt have been equal to the task of separating him from consciousness.

Nelson’s matchup with Junior dos Santos is proof of his ability to take damage. The American ate an incredible 130 significant strikes in 15 minutes, including 96 to his bearded chin, and somehow managed to stay upright. Fabricio Werdum dropped 91 strikes on Nelson, many of them sharp knees flush to the face in the clinch, and it was not enough to make more than a temporary dent. Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier both peppered Nelson with a plethora of shots, and neither came close to putting him out of business.

No matter how big the puncher, flush shots to the face simply do not seem to register. Perhaps it is his extra girth or maybe the thick facial hair, but little seems to truly affect the rawhide-tough American. Although Hunt put down Nelson for the count in his last outing, he still shook off a substantial number of heavy punches before the final shot. It took a flush, perfectly timed blow as Nelson ducked into its path to do the job. That, by itself, shows the genuine durability of “Big Country.”

Number 7 » Unlike many of the contestants on this list who have reached the late stages of their careers and suffered the kind of decline in durability to be expected from fighters who have been through unbelievable wars, he has yet to really be cracked. Even when his go-to game of wrestling and suffocating top-control grappling fails, he is happy to engage on the feet with a combination kickboxing repertoire that is predicated on his insane ability to absorb damage.