Issue 055

October 2009

Pointing out that MMA fighters are tough human beings is a little pointless – after all, it goes with the territory. But some fighters take this a little further than others. This month, Andrew Garvey salutes the courage, the sometimes foolhardy stubbornness and sheer comic-book heroism of some of the sport’s hardest of nuts.

1 Don Frye

To paraphrase Voltaire, if Don Frye didn’t exist, someone would have to invent him. Well, he does and his uncompromising toughness has been the defining characteristic of his long, legendary fighting career. Need evidence? How about manfully absorbing one of the most uncomfortable, prolonged beatings in the sport’s history in his first fight with Mark Coleman? Or beating Ken Shamrock after shrugging off some ruinous leg locks that later left him on crutches? Or overcoming neck fusion surgery and a serious painkiller addiction to continue fighting, even today, at 43 years old? Whoever you are, Don Frye is tougher than you.  

2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Few fighters have taken as much punishment by the age of 33 as former Pride and UFC (interim) heavyweight champion ‘Minotauro’. Run over by a truck as a child, Nogueira spent almost a year in hospital. His fighting career has been easier than that, thanks to his incredible talent and superb chin, but he’s taken plenty of abuse along the way. Dropped on his head by Bob Sapp, spending almost 44 painful minutes in the ring with Fedor Emelianenko in their three fights, and recording epic come-from-behind wins over Mirko Cro Cop and Tim Sylvia, Nogueira has more than paid his dues. Sadly, all that punishment and the resulting accumulation of injuries seem to have left him, at times, shuffling around like Hans Moleman from The Simpsons. Extreme toughness has its long-term costs.

3 Enson Inoue

He may have ended his fighting career in 2004 with an ordinary looking record of 11-8 but Inoue will be remembered for many years. This is thanks mostly, but not entirely, to his ever-so-slightly disturbing fight with Ukrainian hard man Igor Vovchanchyn in August 2000. To say Inoue took a beating would be a woeful understatement. Igor obliterated him with some truly ferocious punches, both on the feet and on the mat. This being Japan’s Pride FC, the referee did nothing to help so Inoue simply took it, lasting until the end of the first round. Literally dragged back to his corner, his team thankfully threw in the towel. Inoue’s reward for this display of courage / foolishness? A broken jaw, swelling of the brain and a very lengthy hospital stay.  

4 Nick Diaz

Still in his mid-20s, California’s finest dope-smoking tri-athlete, from Stockton, has all the key ingredients of a genuinely tough fighter. Diaz has a great chin, tremendous cardio, a healthy, trash-talking contempt for his opponent (whoever they might be), excellent submission skills and a uniquely successful striking style. But Diaz’s attitude is what truly marks him out as a remarkable fighter. Dropping a decision to Joe Riggs at UFC 57 was no problem. Diaz, by most accounts, won their rematch later that night in the hospital. Yes, really. Nick was also happy to face down thousands of angry Hawaiians, in an unforgettable June 2008 post-fight brouhaha, backed up only by his little brother Nate. Fantastically entertaining, hard as nails and mad as a box of snakes, Diaz is one of a kind.

5 Kazuyuki Fujita

Japan’s favorite Cro-Magnon pro wrestler / fighter, ‘Ironhead’ apparently has a skull thicker than the rest of us. Seriously. And it shows. A very talented amateur wrestler with rudimentary striking and submission skills, Fujita forged a lucrative MMA career out of his amazing ability to take abuse that would have finished almost anyone else on the planet. In his first fight with Mirko Cro Cop, Fujita took a horrific knee to the head that sliced him wide open, but he carried on with his takedown nonetheless, only losing because he was covered with so much blood he looked like Carrie on prom night. Unfortunately for Fujita, his unbreakable chin appears to have finally cracked beyond repair as in his last fight, over a year ago, he was shockingly KO’d in less than 90 seconds by the rather ordinary Travis Wiuff.