10 Toughest Bastards In UFC History

2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Anderson Silva Mma
Eric Jamison/AP/Press Association Images

There's very few men who can claim to be as tough as Big Nog.

Up until his UFC 92 knockout at the hands of Frank Mir, many had wondered whether Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was even human. In the none years of his professional career prior to that 2008 fight against Mir, Nogueira had taken some huge beatings - particularly in his Pride battles against Fedor Emelianenko - but had never been knocked out.

To throw further legitimacy at the toughness of the now-retired Brazilian, Nogueira was actually ran over by a truck when he was just 10 years old. We'd love to think he just shrugged this off as nothing more than a flesh wound, but the reality is young Big Nog spent four days in a coma, lost a rib, had part of his liver removed, and spent 11 months in hospital.

Still, this yet again reiterates the never quit spirit of one of the sport's toughest ever competitors.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.