The Chin Problem: ‘The Gorilla Killa’ and the Myth of Durability
The MMA community is a community partially defined by its jokes, and former Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold is the butt of one. Rockhold’s chin, the term used to assess an MMA fighter’s ability to withstand blows, is viewed as less than standard. Even almost four years after his retirement from MMA and UFC competition in 2022, Rockhold’s chin is still looked on less than favorably. Fans make memes alluding to how Rockhold could be knocked over by a gust of wind, or how a punch from a flyweight might floor him. At first glance, this doesn’t seem to be too much of a departure from accuracy. Rockhold has lost five times in the UFC, and in all except his retirement fight, he was finished by KO. Every one of the finishes was brutal.
If you take a closer look, though, you may start to wonder if a gust of wind could actually knock Rockhold out. In the four instances he was knocked out, one almost wonders if there was a man alive who could’ve remained conscious. He was on the receiving end of a wheel kick from Vitor Belfort, meaning he was hit with arguably the hardest strike a man can throw from one of the most powerful strikers ever. Then he ate a flush, lunging hook on the chin from Michael Bisping, followed by a vicious overhand from Yoel Romero. In a move up to light heavyweight, he was again knocked out by a hook, this time from former Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz. Rockhold isn’t being hit by anything light or grazing. He absorbs powerful strikes, flush on his chin.
Plus, that is exactly where his propensity for being knocked out comes from. Like many fighters who are criticized for having a bad chin, the real issue lies in their striking defense. Rockhold has a tendency, and always has, to lean backwards with his hands down to defend strikes. Especially as he aged and began to slow down, this started leading him down the path of unconsciousness. In his fight against Paulo Costa, where he retired, his chin seemed to hold up remarkably well, even after all of the other knockouts he’d sustained. Costa, who looks to return to form as he squares up with Azamat Murzakanov on April 11th, is a known knockout puncher. Beneil Dariush, I believe, is the victim of a similar misunderstanding. Fans say that his chin is glass and has faded due to his recent string of knockout losses, forgetting that he was shooting into flying knees and being knocked out by debutants more than half a decade ago. The truth aligns with an old maxim in the combat sports world. ‘It’s the ones you don’t see coming that get you.’
