Nate Diaz and 5 of the toughest UFC fighters

#2. Tony Ferguson

For the longest time, former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson was thought to have been impossible to knock out cold. At the height of his record-setting 12-fight win streak, 'El Cucuy' was a menacing presence in the 155 lbs weight class.

His cardio was unending, enabling him to fight at an absurdly high pace against former champion Rafael dos Anjos for 5 rounds at high altitude in Mexico City.

Cardio, however, is not Ferguson's only remarkable physical trait. The UFC lightweight legend is as tough as a fighter can be. Due to his all-offense pressure game, he has no choice but to be.

Ferguson makes use of unorthodox techniques and does not tuck his chin whenever he marches forward. He is committed to overwhelming his foes with volume and staying on the front foot. Thus, Ferguson has been rocked and dropped multiple times throughout his career.

Even when he's badly hurt, Ferguson never turtles or cowers. He remains offensively-minded. Against Anthony Pettis, he threw a spinning elbow seconds after being knocked down.

Similarly, Lando Vannata dropped 'El Cucuy' in their bout. However, Ferguson claimed victory against both men. Despite how often he's rocked in his fights, he always seems to recover before emerging victorious.

In fact, his penchant for survival has become a meme as MMA meme pages have humorously suggested that Ferguson knows he's winning a fight once he's been rocked. Perhaps his greatest display of otherworldly toughness was in his loss to Justin Gaethje.

In the fight, Ferguson was dealt the most lopsided beating of his career, absorbing 72% of Gaethje's significant strikes.

In the latter stages of the fight, Ferguson looked as if he'd been in a car crash. However, he refused to be knocked out, surviving for as long as referee Herb Dean allowed him to before the bout was mercifully called off in the 5th round.

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#1. Nate Diaz

Like his UFC 279 opponent Tony Ferguson, Nate Diaz is known for his cardio and supernatural toughness. Diaz's reputation for withstanding punishment is such that there is an erroneous belief among fight fans that he has never been knocked out or finished, neither of which is true.

The Stockton legend was famously TKO'd by Josh Thomson at UFC on Fox 7 after two other prior head kicks before the third and last one led to the finish.

As a fighter, Diaz is a boxer with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu base. While he's developed into a competent clinch fighter who uses it to smother his foes and break their posture by shoving the top of his head against their jaw, rendering it easier for him to land knees and uppercuts, Diaz remains committed to boxing with his foes.

While he doesn't have the best head movement, he does lean away and roll with his opponent's punches.

Unfortunately, Nate Diaz's poor defense against low kicks has allowed many of his opponents to kick him out of his stance, leaving him temporarily vulnerable to punches over the top in the few seconds he takes to reset his stance.

He's endured beatings against countless opponents like Rory MacDonald, Rafael dos Anjos, Leon Edwards, Jorge Masvidal, and Conor McGregor.

His 1st round against McGregor in their initial fight was incredibly one-sided, but Diaz never wavered. Instead, he finished the Irishman in the 2nd round with a rear-naked choke.

Against Masvidal, Diaz suffered a beating so lopsided that even his older brother Nick Diaz felt compelled to return to avenge his sibling. No matter how badly Diaz loses a bout, he never quits.

A final example of the Stockton legend's toughness is the amount of scar tissue on his face. It's evidence of how many wars he's survived as it takes very little to cut his face open.