Marvin Vettori and the dilemma of a granite chin

Marvin Vettori recently faced Jared Cannonier at UFC on ESPN 47. The former UFC middleweight title challenger was hoping to extend his recent victory over Roman Dolidze into a two-fight win streak by defeating 'The Killa Gorilla'. Doing so would have cleared a path for him to climb his way back into title contention.

Unfortunately, the opposite happened. Instead of a performance that renewed fan interest in seeing him lock horns with Israel Adesanya for a third time, all 'The Italian Dream' managed was to spark conversations about his toughness. His loss to Jared Cannonier was a legendary display of an unbreakable chin.

The former heavyweight cracked Vettori with a divisional record-breaking number of power punches, yet the hulking Italian absorbed them all. Though he was hurt on occasion, he was never fully out of the fight. This, however, could lead to a troubling trend.

Professional fighters are expected to be tough, but being frequently lauded for how tough one is, is simply an indication of how much damage one absorbs per fight. Vettori is walking a dangerous path. Like many fighters before him, 'The Italian Dream' is too tough for his own good and it could come back to haunt him.

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Marvin Vettori's unbreakable chin is causing his skill-set to stagnate

There's nothing extraordinary about 'The Italian Dream' besides his near-supernatural ability to take punishment without losing consciousness. Marvin Vettori is a well-muscled middleweight with great physical strength and an impregable chin.

He is neither fast nor explosive. He isn't exceptionally powerful and struggles to finish anyone via strikes. In 27 fights, the former title challenger has only ever won twice by KO/TKO, with neither instance taking place under the UFC banner. From a skill-based standpoint, Marvin Vettori isn't spectacular either.

Marvin Vettori has a good grasp on his striking fundamentals. He operates from a southpaw stance and often secures an outside angle with his lead foot against orthodox fighters. This aligns his rear-hand with his opponent's chin. He throws a competent jab, doubling and tripling it to gauge distance and build combinations.

Once his range is set, his left jab sets up a right cross. This one-two is Vettori's go-to combination. Defensively, however, he is lacking. 'The Italian Dream' doesn't move his head off the center-line much when throwing punches. He neither slips nor parries them. Instead, he elects to raise his guard to block them.

But his primary form of defense is his toughness. Marvin Vettori has won several fights simply by being tough and tireless enough to walk through his opponent's offense and outlast them. The confidence he gains from being extraordinarily difficult to knock out has caused him to neglect refining his defensive striking.

In his mind, why should he worry about tightening up his defense to make himself more difficult to knock out when his chin already does so for him? He has never been knocked out. He has never even been knocked down. This, however, has caused his skills to stagnate.

His defensive striking hasn't improved. Vettori rarely moves his head, doesn't slip punches, doesn't use evasive footwork and doesn't counterpunch. Against Robert Whittaker, it led to him being dominated in crushing fashion. Against Jared Cannonier, it led to him absorbing a record number of significant strikes.

Once a fighter achieves a high-enough ranking in a division, having a granite chin and bottomless gas tank alone is no longer enough to reliably win fights. This is why he's 3-3 (3-4 counting his first loss to Israel Adesanya) against top 10 middleweights.

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The damage he's absorbing will eventually catch up to him

At some point, whether sooner or later, Marvin Vettori's granite chin will crumble. While fighters should indeed be lauded for their toughness, it shouldn't be the norm for the Italian to be praised mainly for his gutsy and stubborn refusal to be knocked out, because it means he's not doing anything else that's noteworthy.

Three legendary chins come to mind: Tony Ferguson, Frankie Edgar and Chuck Liddell. All three men held UFC titles at one point, with 'El Cucuy' being distinct for only ever having held interim gold. All three men were renowned for the absurd amount of damage they took in their fights.

The sight of Frankie Edgar and Tony Ferguson recovering from wild knockdowns is embedded in the memory of most fans who followed their careers. Meanwhile, Chuck Liddell was incredibly difficult to KO at the height of his career. Eventually, however, all three men's toughness crumbled.

The damage absorbed throughout the years catches up to everyone. Tony Ferguson went from helming a 12-fight win streak to tumbling down into unranked obscurity after losing five consecutive fights. The culprit? A life-altering beating from Justin Gaethje at UFC 249.

Without a knockout to stop him from absorbing more damage, 'El Cucuy' took far too much punishment in one sitting, and has never been the same since. Similarly, Frankie Edgar's chin shattered and ended his career going 1-4 in his last five fights, with all four losses being either KOs or TKOs.

Meanwhile, Chuck Liddell retired from MMA on a stretch of four consecutive knockout losses. If Marvin Vettori continues to take damage without improving his defensive striking to lessen the number of unnecessary blows he absorbs, he'll have a short-lived career.

Marvin Vettori will either become shockingly prone to being knocked out or will develop CTE and never be the same fighter or person again.