5 most durable fighters in the UFC

#4. Brian Ortega – UFC featherweight

Brian Ortega is among the best fighters in the UFC at 145 lbs. The former two-time title challenger has never been properly finished in his professional career. Sure, he has a TKO loss to Max Holloway on paper, but that instance was a doctor stoppage in-between rounds rather than a fight-ending sequence.

The Californian, during his ascent up the UFC featherweight division rankings, developed a reputation for taking a lot of damage early on in his fights. In his wins over Thiago Tavares, Diego Brandao, Clay Guida and Renato Moicano, Ortega consistently lost the first two rounds before finding a finish in the third.

It was his two championship fights, however, that added to the legend of Ortega’s toughness and durability. In his first attempt at gold, ‘T-City’ took on then-champion Max Holloway for the title. Holloway overwhelmed Ortega with his volume-striking throughout the bout, but the latter stayed on his feet and fired back as often as he could.

Holloway landed 290 strikes during the bout. After the fourth round, the doctor called off the fight after noticing that Ortega’s eye was almost sealed shut from all the swelling on his face.

Earlier this year, Brian Ortega took on reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in the main event of UFC 266 in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for ‘T-City’, he suffered a similar fate this time around as well, taking a ton of damage throughout the bout. He lost via unanimous decision but showed tremendous heart on the night.

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#3. Marvin Vettori – UFC middleweight

Marvin Vettori has emerged as one of the best middleweights in the UFC over the last year or so. ‘The Italian Dream’ is as durable as they come and his performances in the octagon are testament to this notion. He has never been finished in his professional career and all of the losses on his record so far have come by way of decision.

Vettori has fought reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya twice, coming out on the wrong side of a decision on both occasions.

Adesanya is one of the most technical and masterful strikers in the sport. His KO/TKO victories over the likes of Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa are perfect examples of ‘The Last Stylebender’s finishing ability. The fact that he struggled to put away Marvin Vettori says a lot about the latter’s toughness.

Vettori took on Paulo Costa at UFC Vegas 41 earlier this year. He bagged a unanimous decision victory but absorbed a ton of heavy blows from Costa in the fight, including a perfectly placed head kick and a series of thunderous body shots.

Check out some of the heavy blows Vettori absorbed against Costa in the video below:

Michael Bisping recently heaped praise on Vettori, saying the Italian would’ve been the champion at 185 lbs if it wasn’t for Israel Adesanya. The former UFC middleweight champion lauded the 28-year-old for taking heavy strikes from the powerful Costa and continuing to move forward. ‘The Count’, in a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, said:

“That fight he [Vettori] had against Paulo Costa was sensational. I called that fight, I was right there, he won that fight fair and square but Paulo Costa had a lot of success and some of the shots that Marvin ate, some of those kicks and punches and the power that Costa has, Marvin took every single f***ing one of them. Never took a backwards step and fired right back every single time. It was a really inspiring performance. I was already a fan but after that I was like wow, this guy is incredible, man.”