The 5 Heaviest Hitters in MMA Right Now

Odds are, if you find your eyes currently gliding across this screen from one line to the next, you're an MMA fan. 

No matter how educated a fan you claim to be, no matter how much you pride yourself in appreciating a less-than-entertaining, grueling clinch battle against the cage, you enjoy seeing a knockout. You'll never complain after seeing one fighter walk across the cage with the God-given force that compels his opponent to succumb to gravity.

Some fighters have it, some fighters don't. Scroll on as we list the top five heaviest hitters the sport harbors today. 

Roy Nelson

Gregory Payan/Associated Press

So long as he continues to step inside the cage and do what he's prone to do, he'll probably retain his spot on any future iterations of this list. 

He may not have a spectacular record inside the Octagon, but do note that every single one of his seven victories as a UFC fighter have come by way of knockout (and six of those came within the first four minutes of the bout). 

Unlike plenty of other fighters out there (and even some on this list), Roy Nelson has one plan after hearing Bruce Buffer scream his name in front of the thousands in attendance.

To leave his opponent senseless. 

Robbie Lawler

Alex Trautwig/Getty Images

He may not always be willing to unleash the violence from within, but few men are scarier than Robbie Lawler and the sort of power he possesses with just about every limb in his body. 

The welterweight has always packed a mean punch, but we all received a pretty stark reminder when the UFC pegged him to fight longtime 170-pound fan-favorite Josh Koscheck. With three losses in his last four fights, Lawler losing was almost a foregone conclusion.

Then the fight started, and holy smokes were we wrong. 

Sure, he's only bagged two TKO victories since then, but that doesn't mean you won't feel sorry for the next guy who's willing to put his livelihood on the line to take a crack at the one we call Ruthless.

Mark Hunt

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

It's a simple formula, really. You take a 265-pound former kickboxer, give him small gloves and yell "Let's get it on!"—or something similar. 

The results will speak for themselves.

He garners the sort of power that can take a five-win, seven-loss heavyweight fighter and turn him into a title-contending fighter in a matter of years.

It's hard to think that this guy ever lost six fights in a row, and that the UFC would have considered buying out his contract to rid themselves of his talent (or lack thereof). 

Thankfully, they didn't. 

Melvin Manhoef

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

There's much to be said about a man who spends his entire life perfecting his body to perform a specific act. A man who positions his hips and shoulders to be at the right place at the right time. A man who spends less time in the feeling-out process and marches toward the "knock your face off" process. 

That's Melvin Manhoef. 

As if his imposing physique isn't enough of a visual warning already, fighters should know to never feel safe inside of a cage with this guy. Bouncing back and forth between kickboxing and MMA, it's clear that Manhoef identifies as a fighter. Only two of the men he's claimed victory over have been completely conscious before the referee's interference. 

He's a machine built to hit people really, really hard.

Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Stephen Curry hits three-pointers, Cristiano Ronaldo hits the corner of the net, Mike Trout hits home runs and Anthony Johnson hits people.

And he does it unforgivingly hard. 

He recently took a fighter who's notoriously capable of absorbing a lot of punishment in Rogerio Nogueira and turned him into a pile of mush in just under 45 seconds. 

He took another fighter who absorbed just about every blow the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet could offer and dispatched him of his senses and any remaining hope at a rematch with Jon Jones in the near future in just over two minutes.

He's a bad man. Luckily for us, he's got another bad man waiting for him come May. 

Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec, and a programming intern at Fox Sports San Diego. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.