Best striking defense in mma history?

[I Lie To Girls]

Not saying that Rampage was superior in the striking defense art, but that was beautiful. First thing that popped up when I read the title.

Came to say this. But his kick defense left a lot to be desired.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

 

[SteveColdStone]

Aldo is always tremendously underrated when this question pops up. I think it’s either Aldo or Anderson.

Jones’ defense improved in recent years but he’s still mostly just insulated by his reach.

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

Cruz, by a mile.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

The guy who put people in the matrix and turned their lives upside down until he was almost 40.

In his prime, no one was better at slipping and countering.

Too bad he didn't bob when he should've weaved against Weidman.

 

[spinup]

The best defense is a good offense.
#demianmaia

Underrated take imo.

If you look at strikes absorbed per fight, Ngannou has the best defense in UFC HW history.
In 13 UFC fights, he has absorbed 149 sig strikes, that is 11.46 per fight.
He has never been finished, knocked down, injured or cut.

In comparison, Khabib, who also has 3 UFC fights, has absorbed 301 sig strikes. And even that is impressive, but it is twice as much as Ngannou.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

The guy who put people in the matrix and turned their lives upside down until he was almost 40.

I was going to say this, Jones would have to be up there too

 

[no fat chicks]

by the numbers, during his prime Fedor was one of the best

 

[Dude Incredible]

Mark Schultz. Only got hit a couple times in his whole mma career.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Mark Schultz. Only got hit a couple times in his whole mma career.

Zing!

 

[ifindgifsforjackslack]

He's been knocked out so I know you guys wont agree, but Wonderboy thompson looks damn untouchable in there most times. I also think prime cruz looked great, those small guys usually can't dodge it all, but Cruz done very well

 

[Tapatio]

Ronda terrific at blocking strikes with her face

 

[Xoleth]

For fucks sake, so many dumb answers.

No, I don't consider Silva the GOAT, but he has the best striking defense ever in MMA.
By far... it is not even a contest.
Until his lost to Weidman, he had:
- 37 MMA fights (that's a lot);
- 4 losses; I may be wrong but all of them didn't evolve losing by striking;
- 16 UFC fights, all wins
- I don't remember having one single round in UFC where he lost due to striking
- I don't remember him having face damage in those fights

Now, the answers here:
- Khabib - lol, most of his fights went to the ground
- Jones - top striking defense, but only 28 fights, 3 of them were controversial wins, his face looked fucked up/destroyed/raped after Gus 1 (I don't remember seeing this in Silva);
- Adesanya - nope, too few fights and he got fucked up in the Gas fight. Also, he lost due to striking in the Jan fight.
- Gane - too few fights
- Poirier - nope, he got finished by striking in his prime
- other dumb answers

Aldo and Moose have top striking but not as good as Silva, though.

It's Silva, deal with it!

And is not a "who is the goat" type of question, it's pretty fucking clear.

It's like asking who is the best bjj guy in MMA at HW. It's not a contest, it's Werdum.

Or who is the sexiest fighter. Not a contest. KTNXBYE

Edit: no homo

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Jon Jones defense was his height, super long reach and eye pokng skillset.

Anderson Silva had really good reflexes, rolls, blocks/parries, mobility, lateral movement

Imo Israel's bread and butter is his counterstriking/bait setups.

Rampage, Jose Aldo, Cruz all come to mind. Necktats defense vs Cruz was on point too

 

[AtaTheCrow]

Not saying that Rampage was superior in the striking defense art, but that was beautiful. First thing that popped up when I read the title.

yeah, first think it came to my mind was Rampage's arm movements to defend strikes too. Beautiful to watch, however im too not saying that he is superior to the striking defence.

 

[AtaTheCrow]

For fucks sake, so many dumb answers.

No, I don't consider Silva the GOAT, but he has the best striking defense ever in MMA.
By far... it is not even a contest.
Until his lost to Weidman, he had:
- 37 MMA fights (that's a lot);
- 4 losses; I may be wrong but all of them didn't evolve losing by striking;
- 16 UFC fights, all wins
- I don't remember having one single round in UFC where he lost due to striking
- I don't remember him having face damage in those fights

Now, the answers here:
- Khabib - lol, most of his fights went to the ground
- Jones - top striking defense, but only 28 fights, 3 of them were controversial wins, his face looked fucked up/destroyed/raped after Gus 1 (I don't remember seeing this in Silva);
- Adesanya - nope, too few fights and he got fucked up in the Gas fight. Also, he lost due to striking in the Jan fight.
- Gane - too few fights
- Poirier - nope, he got finished by striking in his prime
- other dumb answers

Aldo and Moose have top striking but not as good as Silva, though.

It's Silva, deal with it!

And is not a "who is the goat" type of question, it's pretty fucking clear.

It's like asking who is the best bjj guy in MMA at HW. It's not a contest, it's Werdum.

Or who is the sexiest fighter. Not a contest. KTNXBYE

Edit: no homo

best answer /thread

 

[danny23]

In his prime, no one was better at slipping and countering.

Too bad he didn't bob when he should've weaved against Weidman.

God, striking was laughable, horrible during those times. Almost comedic.
It’s more telling about how bad striking was back then, than about striking defense, which was just as bad.
And people tell us there’s no evolution in the sport compared to 2005-2010 to today lol

 

[Sad Dad]

Romero has pretty good defense. Dustin when he’s in the zone. Prime Anderson and fedor almost never got hit clean, both exceptional at slipping parrying and rolling with punches. Khabib his really good defense, very good at seeing punches and blocking with the hard part of his head. Jan recently has looked like a world class striker. Yan has one of the fullest boxing covers I’ve seen in MMA. DJ during his run had great defense too.

 

[elwani]

Machida...until they started to pay him 100K for each finish

 

[TheMessiah]

Mousasi, Anderson and maybe Khabib come to mind. Phil Davis also has great defence