Toughest Guys to Hit - a Defensive Thread

Thinking about the difference between the Machida/Hendo, Rashad/Hendo and potentially Jones/Hendo and it got me thinking about fighting Hendo, you must be pretty hard to get hit. Ive thought about best defensive capabilities before, im sure we all have, but I just asked myself, bottom line, which guys seem to never get hit. Here are my initial picks off the top:

- Anderson: i think the rematch with Chael proved the first fight was anomaly, Andy did seem to take a hit from Hendo in R2 but seems he also chose to brawl it out and stay in the pocket in that sequence, but otherwise, he never seems to get hit unless he chooses to? Probably has the best head movement we've seen

- Machida: one of the best at foot work and staying out of range though Shogun and Jones got him

- Jones: no one can break his range and will otherwise end up on the end of his range or on their backs

- GSP: probably the best generalship (or ring craft as Jack Slack says) still in terms of footwork, and mixing up striking and tds and the timing of it, he gets off first, strike, strike and then everyone gets taken down.

- Aldo: good head movement, speed for offense and defense, seems to also get off first and thereby have his opponents reacting to him. No one has been able to counter strike him yet, will Pettis?

Others?

Cruz has the wackiest movement of anyone...and doesn't get hit that much

Mayweather Phone Post 3.0

^ Not sure if serious, re, Reem.

I guess JDS should be in there. The Cain 2 match aside, he has shown perhaps the best range control at HW. Fedor i think relied more on his speed and offense. Cain seems to have improved and also relies on his pace and offense, at the end of the day, if you're not getting hit, you're not getting hit but Cain was prone to getting hit before.

Rampage in his prime had amazing head movement

sacredhate - Cruz has the wackiest movement of anyone...and doesn't get hit that much

Ah, duh. He is without a doubt one of the best. He has some of the trickiest footwork out there. Both for offense and defense at the same time.

Not sure about Mighty Mouse. His footwork is insane, does the single Dodson fight take him off though? Did McCall get him standing at all?

Fisticus - Mayweather Phone Post 3.0

In a boxing discussion, i dont think there is any discussion otherwise. For kickboxing, we could add Petrosyan.

Jack Skellington - Rampage in his prime had amazing head movement

True but i dont think he was ever as hard to hit as the other guys though generally? The 2 Wand fights, Shogun, Forrest. He had good head movement but was always a bit of a plodder which started to be exposed when he was no longer physically in his prime i guess.

Jorge Masvidal

Pettis is up there.

Immaculata - Pettis is up there.

I dont think ive seen enough of his fights to say but his athleticism to be able to pull off those creative attacks generally leaves him out of range and/or the one to get off first? I guess Aldo will be a great test for both of them. Bendo's striking and overall generalship has come a long way since their fight?

Wasa-B - 
sacredhate - Cruz has the wackiest movement of anyone...and doesn't get hit that much

Ah, duh. He is without a doubt one of the best. He has some of the trickiest footwork out there. Both for offense and defense at the same time.

Not sure about Mighty Mouse. His footwork is insane, does the single Dodson fight take him off though? Did McCall get him standing at all?

are you mocking me for adding a legitimate name to your list?

nice.

Wasa-B -
Fisticus - Mayweather Phone Post 3.0

In a boxing discussion, i dont think there is any discussion otherwise. For kickboxing, we could add Petrosyan.
Fair enough. But whenever I think hard to hit in combat sports, mayweather is at the top of the list. Lyoto Machida would be up there for MMA though with the use of his range. Phone Post 3.0

Rampage and Tito were the only guys who held their hands up.

Wasa-B - 
Immaculata - Pettis is up there.

I dont think ive seen enough of his fights to say but his athleticism to be able to pull off those creative attacks generally leaves him out of range and/or the one to get off first? I guess Aldo will be a great test for both of them. Bendo's striking and overall generalship has come a long way since their fight?

He definitely uses his athleticism to his advantage but, what makes him so difficult to fight is that he effectively uses his TKD and Capoeira experience to his advantage. He's so fast by the time someone is ready to counter, he's gone...like Keyser Soze. It's definitely going to be interesting to see what Aldo has in store for him.

sacredhate - 
Wasa-B - 
sacredhate - Cruz has the wackiest movement of anyone...and doesn't get hit that much

Ah, duh. He is without a doubt one of the best. He has some of the trickiest footwork out there. Both for offense and defense at the same time.

Not sure about Mighty Mouse. His footwork is insane, does the single Dodson fight take him off though? Did McCall get him standing at all?

are you mocking me for adding a legitimate name to your list?

nice.

Clearly not. He's saying duh to himself. As in, "Duh. I should have thought of that."

Aldo is definitely not unhittable. Hominick, Florian, and Edgar were able to tag him.

sacredhate - 
Wasa-B - 
sacredhate - Cruz has the wackiest movement of anyone...and doesn't get hit that much

Ah, duh. He is without a doubt one of the best. He has some of the trickiest footwork out there. Both for offense and defense at the same time.

Not sure about Mighty Mouse. His footwork is insane, does the single Dodson fight take him off though? Did McCall get him standing at all?

are you mocking me for adding a legitimate name to your list?

nice.

mocking myself for missing him....guess he's been out of action that long

Mousasi never gets any strike damage standing. He smashed kyotaro in a KB match, no easy feat.

Immaculata - 
Wasa-B - 
Immaculata - Pettis is up there.

I dont think ive seen enough of his fights to say but his athleticism to be able to pull off those creative attacks generally leaves him out of range and/or the one to get off first? I guess Aldo will be a great test for both of them. Bendo's striking and overall generalship has come a long way since their fight?

He definitely uses his athleticism to his advantage but, what makes him so difficult to fight is that he effectively uses his TKD and Capoeira experience to his advantage. He's so fast by the time someone is ready to counter, he's gone...like Keyser Soze. It's definitely going to be interesting to see what Aldo has in store for him.

Exactly, that's what i meant by "able to pull off those creative attacks generally leaves him out of range and/or the one to get off." The bottom line is whether these guys are getting hit at all or not, doesnt really matter how they pull it off.