UFC 127 Fight Card: Chris Lytle and the 20 Toughest Fighters to Submit in MMA

Some fighters knock people out, like Shane Carwin. Some fighters submit people, like Demian Maia.

Some fighters are damn near impossible to knock out, like Chris Leben.

Some fighters are nearly impossible to submit, and the people on this list are some of the toughest.

Oh yeah—and every slideshow needs a little Brittney.

Note: Minimum 15 fights.

Second Note: The list originally had over 50 fighters, so there were lots and lots of people left off.

Honorable Mentions

Fedor Emelianenko, 31-3 (1 NC), 1 submission loss

Mirko Cro Cop, 27-8-2 (1 NC), 1 submission loss

Renato Sobral, 36-9, 1 submission loss

Rampage Jackson, 31-8, 1 submission loss

Chuck Liddell, 21-8, 1 submission loss

Mayhem Miller, 24-7 (1 NC), 1 submission loss

Georges St-Pierre, 21-2, 1 submission loss

Jon Fitch, 23-3 (1 NC), 1 submission loss

Jose Aldo, 18-1, 1 submission loss

Dominick Cruz, 17-1, 1 submission loss

20. Josh Barnett

Josh Barnett is a heavyweight currently signed to Strikeforce. He holds a professional MMA record of 26-5, and will be fighting Brett Rogers on April 8th.

Barnett does have two submissions on his record, but one is due to injury, and the other is due to strikes.

31 fights and no legitimate submission losses? Not bad.

19. Norifumi Yamamoto

Kid Yamamoto is a bantamweight currently signed to the UFC. He holds a record of 18-4 (1 NC) and was last seen dropping a unanimous decision to Demetrious Johnson.

Yamamoto has gone up against many men with submission chops, but none of them could get him.

18. Martin Kampmann

Martin Kampmann is a welterweight currently signed to the UFC. He has a professional MMA record of 17-4. 

In his last fight, he was pitted against the always dangerous Jake Shields. Throughout the 15 minutes, Shields could not submit Kampmann—and that alone is impressive.

17. Ronaldo Souza

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza is the current Strikeforce Middleweight Champion. He has a professional MMA record of 14-2 (1 NC) and was last seen defending his belt against Robbie Lawler.

Jacare is one of a few people on this list who is difficult to submit due to his own mastery of BJJ.

16. Demian Maia

Much in the same way as Jacare, Maia is on here due to the fact that he is just so good at BJJ.

Maia is a middleweight in the UFC who has a record of 14-2 and was last seen winning a unanimous decision over Kendall Grove.

15. Yushin Okami

Yushin Okami is a middleweight in the UFC who holds a record of 26-5. He is currently the No. 1 contender to the UFC Middleweight Championship.

Okami has been with the UFC for five years and has gone up against many submission threats.

Nobody got him.

14. Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin is a light heavyweight who has a record of 18-6 and was last seen winning a unanimous decision over Rich Franklin at UFC 126.

Griffin has been with the UFC for six years and 13 fights—with no submission losses. Impressive.

13. Jim Miller

Jim Miller is a lightweight in the UFC. He has a record of 19-2, with his only two losses being unanimous decisions to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

He will be fighting Kamal Shalorus at UFC 128; we'll see what happens there.

12. Gilbert Melendez

Gilbert Melendez is the current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion. He has a record of 18-2 and most recently defeated Shinya Aoki via unanimous decision.

Not getting submitted by Aoki is an accomplishment in itself, but he has also tangled with Clay Guida, Josh Thomson and Rodrigo Damm. Nobody could get him.

11. Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber was the poster boy of the WEC for a long time. He has a MMA record of 24-4 and is the former WEC Featherweight Champion.

After he failed to win his title back against Jose Aldo, he dropped to the bantamweight division, where he hopes to make a title run.

In 28 fights, he has never been submitted.

10. Frankie Edgar

Frankie Edgar is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. He has a professional record of 13-1-1, so he barely made it onto the list.

He was last seen fighting to a split draw against Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

Before that, he fought BJ Penn for nearly an hour, and Penn couldn't submit him—neither could any of his 12 opponents before that.

9. Nick Diaz

Nick Diaz is the current Strikeforce Welterweight Champion. He has a professional MMA record of 24-7 (1 NC) and has never been submitted.

He was last seen submitting Evangelista Santos at Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg.

A 10-year career and no submission losses is impressive.

8. Shinya Aoki

Shinya Aoki, The Master of Flying Submissions, has never been submitted. His MMA record is 26-5 (1 NC).

He has fought in Japan for nearly his whole career, so many casual fans may not know about him, but 30+ fights and no submission losses is always impressive.

7. Fabricio Werdum

Fabricio Werdum is a heavyweight currently signed to Strikeforce. He has a professional record of 14-4-1, and most will remember him for defeating Fedor Emelianenko.

He has tangled with many men with the ability to submit him, including Antonio Silva, Gabriel Gonzaga (twice) and Big Nog.

None of them were able to do so.

6. Rich Franklin

Rich Franklin is a veteran of the sport. He has a professional record of 28-6 (1 NC). He is in the UFC and currently fights in the LHW division.

Franklin is a former middleweight champ and has been around for awhile.

He is a fan favorite and another fighter who has not been submitted in 30+ fights.

5. BJ Penn

BJ Penn is not only a veteran, but a legend. He is 16-7-1 and has never been submitted.

While he does not have the 30+ fights as some other men on this list, he has been fighting top-tier competition since his second professional fight.

Matt Hughes couldn't submit him; GSP couldn't submit him; Diego Sanchez couldn't; Kenny Florian couldn't; Sherk couldn't; Stevenson couldn't; the list just goes on and on.

4. Jake Shields

Jake Shields is a welterweight currently signed to the UFC. He holds a professional record of 26-4-1 and is the No. 1 contender to GSP's welterweight belt.

Shields is another 30+ fight veteran who has never been submitted.

In addition to his 30+ fights, Shields has frequently fought above his weight class. He was the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion—above his natural weight class—and he defended that belt against a natural LHW in Dan Henderson.

True—Mayhem Miller would have had him, but Shields was saved by the bell and didn't get submitted; so he gets his spot on the list.

In his last fight, Martin Kampmann slapped on several submission attempts, and Shields just walked through them all.

3. Sean Sherk

Sean Sherk is a lightweight in the UFC with a record of 36-4-1. Sherk has constantly fought the best of the best, and has never tapped out.

Evan Dunham, Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Hermes Franca, Kenny Florian, Nick Diaz, GSP, Matt Hughes, Manny Gamburyan and Karo Parisyan—all submission threats—were not able to submit Sherk.

2. Dennis Hallman

Dennis Hallman is 43-13-2 (1 NC) and has never been submitted. That's nearly 60 fights and zero submissions!

He is currently fighting in the UFC in the welterweight division. He has not fought as many big-name fighters as Sherk, but 59 fights without a submission loss is nothing to scoff at.

In addition to never having been submitted, he has submitted Matt Hughes twice in a combined time of 38 seconds.

1. Chris Lytle

Chris Lytle is undoubtedly the No. 1 most difficult fighter to submit. He has a record of 30-17-5, and not only has he never been submitted, he has never been finished (disregarding two TKOs due to cuts).

Lytle has 52 fights under his belt, and has never been submitted.

He is one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC and his next opponent is Brian Ebersole.

Ebersole has 20 submission wins to his name. Could he be the first to finish Lytle?

We're gonna find out Saturday night at UFC 127.

Thanks for reading.