SUP FIGHT FANS! Seeing Dom Cruz comments and def should have thought to include him in the honorable mentions on reputation alone, but it was his 2.61 absorbed rate (which is higher than anybody we included by a lot) that got me to decide to leave him off the list. 1000% an elite unhittable fighter, just didn't fit for me qualitatively. Certainly subjective. But as I mentioned at the end, luckily the winner was pretty clear cut so I'm good with some debate on who should have made the 10.
Great content as always. I do feel Cruz belongs on there more than someone like Khabib who was only hard to hit, not because he was an elite striker with great defense, but because he’s generally on top of you or has his head in your groinal region. Also his level of competition is significantly lower because he retired after 3 title defenses. Just my own two cents, but certainly subjective as you said. I definitely agree on #1.
For anybody further interested I'll leave this reply comment to discuss it a bit more because it's kinda funny, Jon Jones was either going to be #6 or not at all on the list, which I know is weird way to look at it, but I made the concession for him outside the data because I felt he made sense on the list with the most strikes thrown at him, but because he was at a 2.22 SApM I wasn't going to include him initially at all since that was so much higher than the rest of the field. The same goes for Mousasi related to his volume. But his other stats were so good it made sense to me and so those were the two I was willing to make concessions for to include in the 10. I could have done the same with Cruz but then it felt like too much of the list was going to be decisions I made about the data vs what the data was telling me and so it was a judgement call to have Jones in there instead of Cruz, who was similarly situated.
I love that Gegard Mousasi is on this list. One of the most underrated fighters ever. Won belts in every promotion except for the UFC, because he didn’t get the chance. Absolute legend of the sport. The reason why they didn’t throw that many shots at him is because he finished opponents, 50% of his fights he finished in the first round. He also was at his best when USADA was gone and always campaigned against steroids.
@@thediaz07 100% that’s why bisping and the UFC didn’t want to make that fight. Sad thing is, many people would put bisping higher on a goat list than Mousasi.
I love that. It perfectly puts in perspective how insane some fighters were, especially for newer fans. When I gain interest in a new sport I like to watch overly dramatic yt videos to contextualize how great some players/fighters were lol.
I’m Dutch and biased but I’m so happy to see Mousasi on this list. Legend of the sport, who should be in some hall of fame, but because he wasn’t popular enough, he’ll never get the recognition he deserves.
@@rianislam5578correct! born in Iran to Armenian refugees. But he grew up in the Netherlands from the age of 3-4 I believe. He came through one of our best martial arts academies under Chris Dolman (first non-Russian to win gold in a sambo world championship).
I wonder how Anderson Silica’s stats would have looked if you separated his career in two halves; before and after his lost the strap. I feel like that’d be two very different sets of data.
Exactly what I was thinking, i get they don’t want to be biased and so they take it all as it is but if you cut that streak off the numbers would definitely look completely different
If i remember correctly, his UFC significang strike defense percentage until the Weidman fights was around 65 or 68%. Numbers don't tell everything though. I think it's harder to not get hit if you'll put yourself in dangerous spots (like Silva) versus playing it strategically from the beginning (like GSP).
@@madgavin7568 he dropped a couple big ones in the first Machida and the second Jacaré fight. And there is admittedly some post-prime/pre-prime consideration with his best wins. But I think it’s the skills that stand out. His wins are often so convincing. He’s a very potent finisher that makes very little mistakes. That makes him a great fighter to me. Certainly not overrated. Though I also believe underrated is a bit of a stretch. I think that is revisionist history, since most people believed he was done dirty by the UFC and deserved a title shot/#1 contender fight against Romero or Whittaker. I remember his prime well and most commentators and other fighters were well aware of his quality at the time.
@@owenlichtenberg7932 This might come across like I'm a hater but Moose has a deceptively good record as I can't think of a fighter who has as many asterisks wins as Mousasi does honestly. The closest might be Henry Cejudo but even then, Cejudo was actually an elite talent. Moose did have some good things going for him as a fighter. He had a solid jab, leg kick and 1-2, his striking defense wasn't overly bad and he has a good single-leg for takedowns. He also has (and still has) a great chin. He's pretty one-note however, and he never seemingly had a plan B in any of his fights which is why he had the occasional bottle-job fight.
Not that I should ever be surprised by GSP’s greatness… but wow, I did not expect him to have such outstanding numbers defensively. Never fails to impress me
Unless you're a diaz fan who believes gsp was also on steroids, I still don't get anyone who complains about that robbery. Dude was the second most obvious manic steroid abuser behind Vitor..
@georgeeast9271 those aren't diaz fanboys those are Coke Jones fans they are pissed off that their boy was on steroids so they keep saying everybody on steroids they even say Khabib was on it a guy who never drinks or smokes gonna do steroids!!!! 😂 these guys are crazy
GSP and Mighty Mouse of course blow my mind for the fact that they've avoided ~2400 strikes combined, but man, Ryan Bader's defense is incredible. 700 avoided out of 985 thrown is actually hard to comprehend. Was he even in the same cage as his opponent? Is he two-dimensional? Does his body materialize around punches like the T-1000???
If you're really good (which Ryan is/was) AND you also don't have to fight mostly champ opponents, that's Bader's fortune. GSP and Mighty Mouse, unfortunately, had to fight mostly top contenders or other champs or former champs... the true elites of the elites.... so that's why their numbers are even more impressive. I'm still not sure how Islam was cut off, from the judging criteria as this video presented.... because it is very difficult for anyone to hit him. Yes, he doesn't help his own stats by denying most fighters their strikes against him from happening at all (prolific strikers like Green, Drew, Hooker, Charles et al) by shutting them down via wrestling.
Excellent and fun list! I didn’t expect some of these. The only disappointment is not using the “I tried to hit him and he looked at me like I was stupid” quote from Forrest Griffin. Feel like it would have fit the theme lol
Awesome work as always, Tommy. My biggest takeaway from this list though, was the clear correlation between fighters who are defensively sound and fighters the UFC beef with.
Ryan Bader is dope, but DC’s call-out was insane. When I heard it the first time I physically gasped 😂 most trash talk is super cringy or over the line nowadays, but DC was out for blood
I'm only 3 fighters in and I know this video is awesome!!!!! KenFlo was a guy I wanted to get a belt, it's a great look back at some of the guys who get lost in the mix.
@@lebogangncongwane4298 we can't tell that either Lebo, remember the whole thing between him and Hendricks, fighting over which testing org to use, GSP is a cerebral guy, it's not always as clean cut as some orgs test for some things others don't, which is why Islam failed an Olympic doping test but passed the UFC/USADA test.
I like how when Izzy was talking about fighting Anderson How Anderson's range and timing was so perfect, that you could hit him, but it would just barely brush his skin a little and he could then counter
@@southerndiscomfort171 you having difficulty understanding the people who invented the English language, I'm Italian and I understand them perfectly fine
I think this is mainly a list of good wrestlers that could hold people down, which is a legitimate way to avoid strikes but i think the reason people have said strickland or silva is because when people read the title they were thinking of people avoiding strikes while standing
Khabib had such an unorthodox head/ body movement that threw off the opponents he fought and the threat of takedown also made them hesitant & cautious. Makhachev on the other hand has truly elite defensive stand up and hard to crack.
@moonvenerable7897 yh it's because he is great in that just appreciate him and move on but u all really make an excuse for everything like for him even not getting bled in the octagon not to mention some conkr fans making excuse for Khabib winning fights in ground like come on it's MMA after all 💀
Number 1 sorta surprised me… but thinking of it no it doesn’t. He’s GSP, he really is the GOAT of MMA. The best overall in everything. You can argue about The Spider Silva, Mighty Mouse, Jon Coke Jones, or even the Eagle Khabib himself being undefeated. But there’s something really special about Rush.
Average rank of opponent would’ve been a useful additional metric. You guys took it into account, but the quantity would’ve been helpful. Great video regardless! Keep these coming!
I know the mentioned him in the honorable mentions, but did hear some where that Sean Strickland has the current best strike defense, or did I fever dream that?
i wonder how dom cruz stats line up to these other guys, as a guy who’s game plan mostly revolves around making his opponents miss, it would be interesting to see his stats
I thought for sure cruz would be high up on the list, but come to think of it due to injuries he didn’t have that many fights in the ufc so some of the late career losses probably dropped his stats quite a bit. Same with Anderson’s post title slump
I love these data video's, can you do one where you look at fighters who hut eachother the most? so 2 fighters who fought eachkther once or multiple times and got the mist significant strikes that way
I'm not even an Anderson wanker, but I would like to see his stats before the downfall. And I'm sure many other fighters woul have better stats if remived their late career downfall. Hell I'm sure GSPs stats would be much better if we remove his fight with Bisping
Sequel to this video essay/ data deep dive - "the most efficient fight wins in UFC history" This would take into account the qualitative data (finishing rate, significant strikes thrown v. landed, takedowns attempted and succeeded of the winning fighter as opposed to the losing one) at a certain data benchmark of "per 3 minute" standard. It would also take into account qualitative ones such as visible tiredness, lack of taunting/ bravado/ flair during the fight, etc.
id be very interested to see what andersons numbers were if his final losing streak was taken out of the data. was prime silva comparable statistically to the rest of the list and just stayed in too long?
Somebody should put together a list for strikes absorbed per minute of ring time while standing. Khabibs is only so low because isn’t really getting hit when on top which I feel like is not really what people expect list like this to mean
Bisping literally ran from Gegard, Yoel and Jacare when they were the contenders, opting to fight Number 12 ranked Dan Henderson instead in his title defense and then a bloated GSP coming off the couch, Bisping wanted nothing to do with Gegard which eventually forced him out of the promotion on a 5 fight win streak beating Belfort, Leites, Weidman, Hall and Thiago Santos.
The UFC does not exclude grounded significant strikes from their strike data. Eg sig strikes by position for Magomed vs Walker, ankalaev had 38 at distance, 0 clinch, 1 ground. In his total sig strikes metric, he has 39 proving it indeed counts grounded strikes. Meaning this list will favor guys who are excellent grapplers but have a tendency to trade with their take down threat greatly affecting the fight. Ironically I think most know Khabib for instance was INCREDIBLY hittable. But you know you were eating one to get slammed. GSP might be the best example of this too. But this is very hard for mma so I feel for you - this is the best way to do it. KFlo for pure defensive prowess id imagine in a pure qualitative sense I have in the top 3. Guys who trade and defensive fighting is their MO. It’s really easy to identify boxers who are defensive wizards bc all they can do is use their hands. Part of Jon’s defense is his offensive threat. A fantastic list that did exactly what I come here: to think about something I hadn’t considered cheers boys
I'm not surprised that Mousasi is on this list, he's the most criminally underrated fighter in all of mma (imho). So, it's not surprising to me that he avoided punches pretty well.
Just from my first thoughts I was expecting to see Wonderboy and Dominick Cruz on this list too. Do y’all have the stats for them bc I was shocked that either of them didn’t even have an honorable mention
Tommy has a reply with Cruz's aspm rate at 2.61. I assume the later half of his career contributed quite a bit to that. I was surprised wonderboy didn't make the cut but I guess he got hit more than we remember
Silva never got touched up like GSP did in the Hendrix, and first BJ Penn fight. Even when Silva lost to Israel at 40 years old, he didn’t get pieced up like that. He got knocked out when he was 38, and, even in that fight, that was the only punch that landed. Not saying GSP doesn’t deserve to be number one, he was damn good. But off the eye test, Silvas the most unhittable fighter I’ve ever seen.
A big difference is who wrestles more and brings their fights to the ground more. Like Khabib is prob on the ground way more than A. Silva. Cuz Anderson likes to box and kick more than wrestle.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:03 📊 *The challenge of determining the most unhittable fighters in UFC history.* - Explains the methodology of determining unhittable fighters. - Key defensive stats considered: strikes absorbed per minute, strike defense percentage, strikes absorbed, and total attempted strikes. - Emphasis on the significance of combining these stats for a comprehensive analysis. 02:36 🥋 *Kenny Florian: Surprising inclusion in the list due to high strike defense rate.* - Kenny Florian's impressive 63% strike defense rate. - Avoided 589 out of 935 strikes in 17 UFC bouts. - Only absorbed 346 significant strikes over his career, showcasing his elusive defensive skills. 03:31 🥋 *Leoto Macha: Expected due to his karate background but lower strike defense rate.* - Leoto Macha's 61% strike defense rate. - Faced diverse opponents in 24 fights, including five title bouts. - Avoided 576 strikes out of 1185, maintaining his elusive style. 04:27 🥋 *Benson Henderson: High volume faced, impressive strike defense, and competition level.* - Benson Henderson's 63% strike defense rate despite facing high volume. - Absorbed 485 out of 1311 attempted strikes in 14 UFC bouts. - Noteworthy competition level with five title fights and 10 headline events. 05:37 🥋 *Khabib Nurmagomedov: Elite strike defense but lower volume.* - Khabib's exceptional 65% strike defense rate. - Faced only 860 attempted strikes due to his limited UFC fights. - Maintained a low 1.79 strikes absorbed per minute, showcasing elite defensive skills. 06:46 🥋 *Jon Jones: Controversial inclusion due to high volume faced and absorbed.* - Jon Jones faced the highest volume with 2,114 attempted strikes. - Despite high absorption (761 strikes), his 64% strike defense rate justifies his inclusion. - Emphasis on Jones' extensive high-level competition in 16 title bouts. 08:09 🥋 *Gegard Mousasi: Exceptional strike defense and lowest absorbed per minute.* - Mousasi's remarkable 68% strike defense rate. - Boasts the lowest strikes absorbed per minute (1.21) among the listed fighters. - Despite lower volume, Mousasi's defense against elite opponents stands out. 08:52 🥋 *Ryan Bader: Phenomenal strike defense rate and low absorption.* - Ryan Bader's outstanding 71% strike defense rate. - Absorbed only 285 significant strikes in 20 fights, showcasing his elusiveness. - Emphasis on Bader's remarkable defensive skills and freshness for Bellator dominance. 09:58 🥋 *Phil Davis: Unexpected inclusion with top-tier strike defense.* - Phil Davis' exceptional 72% strike defense rate. - Despite fewer fights (13), Davis' stats and defensive prowess are noteworthy. - Acknowledgment of Davis' impressive performance considering his limited UFC appearances. 10:11 🥋 *Demetrious Johnson: High volume faced and consistent defense.* - Demetrious Johnson's significant volume with 1764 attempted strikes. - Balanced stats with a 67% strike defense rate and 1.66 strikes absorbed per minute. - Highlighting Johnson's prolonged high-level performance in 18 fights, mostly for titles. 11:49 🥋 *George St Pierre (GSP): Unquestionable top spot with exceptional stats.* - GSP's unparalleled 1.4 strikes absorbed per minute and 72% strike defense rate. - Facing a significant volume (1771 attempted strikes) but consistently avoiding them. - GSP's overall dominance in key defensive metrics solidifies his position as the most unhittable UFC fighter. Made with HARPA AI
I always love it when someone says you can’t argue with this and then bam here’s all the facts. This is a channel that always has fun content and feels pretty non-biased. Great video!
Sean Strickland often uses a high guard and a Phillie Shell. Most of the 'Significant Strikes" he absorbs are on his arms or shoulders. His defense is obscenely good.
I feel like the strikes thrown against isn’t really a knock against how high the fighter should be on the list. If they are in control most of the time, let’s say in top control on the ground then that means they are unhitble because they are in a dominant position.
