Striking leaderboard

Most Significant Strikes Absorbed

241
Carla Esparza
Carla Esparza
644 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 40.3/fight·54.4% def
242
Austin Hubbard
Austin Hubbard
641 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 53.4/fight·55.2% def
243
Gregory Rodrigues
Gregory Rodrigues
639 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 45.6/fight·49.9% def
244
Khaos Williams
Khaos Williams
638 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 53.2/fight·41.2% def
245
Tyron Woodley
Tyron Woodley
637 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 39.8/fight·57.1% def
246
Sean O'Malley
Sean O'Malley
633 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 39.6/fight·59.8% def
247
Joshua Burkman
Joshua Burkman
632 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 33.3/fight·51.9% def
248
Volkan Oezdemir
Volkan Oezdemir
631 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 39.4/fight·55.4% def
Advertisement
249
Warlley Alves
Warlley Alves
629 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 39.3/fight·50.7% def
250
Tim Boetsch
Tim Boetsch
629 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 26.2/fight·57.1% def
251
Fabricio Werdum
Fabricio Werdum
628 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 34.9/fight·54.9% def
252
Song Kenan
Song Kenan
628 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 57.1/fight·51.1% def
Advertisement
253
Devin Clark
Devin Clark
628 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 36.9/fight·44.0% def
254
Matt Wiman
Matt Wiman
627 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 34.8/fight·51.1% def
255
Leonard Garcia
Leonard Garcia
627 Sig. Strikes Absorbed 69.7/fight·53.9% def

UFC fighters ranked by total significant strikes absorbed across all tracked fights.

About Significant Strikes Absorbed

This leaderboard ranks UFC fighters by the significant strikes their opponents landed on them across all tracked bouts — the mirror of the strikes landed board. Each figure is taken from the opponent's own stat line in the same bout. Significant strikes are every strike landed at distance, jabs included, plus the power strikes landed in the clinch and on the ground.

Key Metrics Explained

  • Total Sig. Strikes Absorbed: The cumulative number of significant strikes opponents landed on the fighter across all fights with available statistics.
  • Per-Fight Average: Average significant strikes absorbed per bout.
  • Def %: Striking defense - the share of the opponents' significant-strike attempts that missed, (attempted − landed) ÷ attempted. Higher is harder to hit.
  • Absorbed of Faced: On the per-fight view, the strikes that landed out of all the significant strikes thrown at the fighter.

Methodology

Fighters must have at least 3 fights in which both corners have recorded statistics (8 on the per-fight view) and must have faced at least 100 opponent significant-strike attempts to appear on this leaderboard. All statistics are sourced from official UFC fight stats and updated after each event.

Limits worth knowing

A strike total is a count, not a damage score. Every significant strike absorbed adds one to the tally whether it was a glancing calf kick or the head kick that ended the night, so this board measures incoming traffic rather than harm. It also says nothing about what a fighter landed in return; for that, read it beside the strikes landed board.

Volume is also a function of time in the cage. A fighter who regularly goes 15 or 25 minutes has far more time to absorb strikes than one whose fights end early, which is why the Per Fight tab, or strikes absorbed per minute, is often the fairer read, and why striking defense is the better measure of how hard a fighter is to hit. Per-round statistics are recorded for roughly 8,750 of the 8,800-plus bouts in our database, so a small number of fights, mostly from the earliest era, contribute nothing to any figure here.

Because a division view counts only the bouts contested at that weight, the figures for anyone who changed division divide between their divisions rather than repeating in each. To rank fighters by quality of opposition, our ELO ratings are the better tool, and each career breaks down in full on the fighter profiles. The rest of our UFC statistics put this number in context.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does significant strikes absorbed measure?
It counts every significant strike an opponent landed on the fighter, read from the opponent's own stat line in the same bout and summed across a UFC career. Significant strikes are all strikes landed at distance, jabs included, plus power strikes in the clinch and on the ground, so the figure measures meaningful incoming traffic rather than every touch.
Does absorbing a lot of strikes mean a fighter has poor defense?
Not on its own. A career total rewards longevity and a style that lives in exchanges, so long-serving volume fighters who trade in the pocket absorb a lot simply because they spend so many minutes in range. The defense percentage on each row, the share of incoming strikes that missed, separates a fighter who is easy to hit from one who has just been in a lot of fights.
Why use a per-fight average alongside the career total?
A career total rewards longevity, so a 20-fight veteran can top this list without being unusually easy to hit. The per-fight average normalizes for career length, and the strikes absorbed per minute board goes one step further by dividing by actual octagon time.
How does fight time affect these totals?
Strikes absorbed are heavily shaped by how long fights last, so fighters who routinely go 15 or 25 minutes absorb more than fighters whose bouts end early, win or lose. When comparing two names here, factor in average fight duration, or use the per-minute board, which removes it.
Most Significant Strikes Absorbed - top 10 (MMA.SOCIAL): 1. Max Holloway (2,457), 2. Angela Hill (2,164), 3. Marlon Vera (1,973), 4. Edson Barboza (1,855), 5. Sean Strickland (1,842), 6. Donald Cerrone (1,825), 7. Rafael Dos Anjos (1,728), 8. Robbie Lawler (1,650), 9. Dustin Poirier (1,627), 10. Jose Aldo (1,600)
Most Significant Strikes Absorbed - top 10, updated Nov 1, 2026.
Share image

Most Significant Strikes Absorbed: top 10

The top 10 as one image. Free to share, updated after every UFC card.