The 12 Pound-for-Pound Hardest Athletes in the World

Image via Complex Original

You’d be hard-pressed to find a basketball player who plays with complete and utter fearlessness quite like Russell Westbrook. The 6-foot-3 Thunder point guard, despite being small compared with most other NBA players, shows no fear challenging opponents as he flies up and down the court, shaking off the hard knocks he takes on a nightly basis. It’s a testament to his durability and toughness that Westbrook suited up for every single regular season contest his first five years in the NBA, playing through numerous injuries throughout his career, yet never failing to put his stamp on the game. And if you don’t think he’s serious about everything, watch what happens if you accidentally deny him a handshake.

Despite fighting at several weight classes, 5-foot-8 Floyd Mayweather Jr. never weighed more than 154 pounds when he stepped into the ring. Small size and light weight would seemingly make any boxer vulnerable to the occasional punch to the face, but Floyd is a different brand of hard. Just check these facts: 49 times Mayweather dared to go toe-to-toe with some of the world’s toughest men. 49 times, he emerged victorious. While there’s plenty you could say about his personal life, there’s no denying that Mayweather is one of the baddest fighters ever to walk the earth. 

Don’t let the baggy jersey fool you; Kobe Bryant isn’t actually that big a guy. But despite his lean frame and willingness to careen to the hoop with utter abandon, Kobe has always been able to grind through the pain that comes with his playing style. All his flair and style has actually masked a level of toughness most fans take for granted. Basically, for his whole career Kobe has been like a normal basketball player, except with a suit of armor strapped to him that makes even the biggest, baddest defenders bounce right off him. Despite carrying the Lakers on his shoulders ever since Shaq left, the Mamba had never missed any significant time until he tore his Achilles in 2013–14.

Ironically, it’s Welker’s unbelievable toughness that is probably the No. 1 reason why he remains on the sidelines nearly halfway through the NFL season. Emerging as a star wide receiver for the Patriots in 2007, Welker hauled in an astonishing 672 passes from 2007–2012, the best mark in the NFL by 80 receptions. As a slot receiver doing the majority of his work in the middle of the field and standing at 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds, it’s amazing that Welker was able to take such a pounding yet never missed more than two games in a season during his Patriots career. It probably has something to do with the fact that Welker is so hard that he doesn’t even understand things like pain or fear when he steps onto the football field. So it's no surprise that despite taking an almost year-long break, Welker is back in action with the St. Louis Rams. 

Coming in at just 145 pounds, Conor McGregor is a relative lightweight in the MMA world. But that doesn’t mean the brash, confident, and most of all outspoken fighter isn’t one of the hardest men to set foot in the octagon. McGregor doesn’t just defeat his opponents; he beats them in every sense of the word. Since suffering two losses in his first six matches of his MMA career, he has rattled off 14 consecutive wins, with all but two coming by knockout. So if for some insane reason you want to cross this beast of a brawler, you might want to wear a helmet.

According to the PBR’s website, the average bucking bull they use on tour weighs somewhere in the vicinity of 1,600–1,700 pounds. Coming in at approximately 1,460–1,560 pounds lighter is J.B. Mauney, a man who does not let a little thing, like the fact he weighs over 10 times less than the bull he’s riding, get in the way of his success. Mauney is currently the top-ranked bull rider on tour, managing to avoid getting thrown at a higher rate than anybody else in the world. It takes a special kind of hardness to be a pro bull rider, and right now there’s nobody better than Mauney.

Ronda Rousey is, basically, the walking definition of hard. Everywhere you look, she’s making history; whether it’s annihilating opponents in under a minute or becoming the first woman to grace the cover of Men’s Fitness Magazine or even killing it in the Entourage movie, there’s very little the MMA star can’t do. At 5-foot-7 and 135 pounds Rousey doesn’t really blow you away with her size, but make no mistake: There is nobody harder walking planet earth right now. Cross her at your own peril.

While Smith may be small in stature, the wide receiver has made a career out of proving the doubters wrong and absolutely punishing his opponents with his grit and toughness. He quickly rose to prominence during his 2001 rookie season as the Panthers’ kick returner, despite standing at just 5-foot-9 and weighing in at 195 pounds. He didn’t stay in that role long, though. Through sheer will and effort, Smith rose up the depth chart to become one of Carolina’s go-to wide receivers by the time they reached the Super Bowl in 2003. And he only continued his success after joining the Baltimore Ravens in 2014. Smith is a guy who won’t stand for any soft stuff; you either “ice up,” or you get run down.

Serena Williams is so hard, she has basically redefined the way we look at the modern female athlete. Her dominance this past year in her pursuit of the Grand Slam captivated a nation and led many to declare her as the greatest women’s tennis player of all-time, and deservedly so. But she didn’t just get there by talent. Williams has had to battle through injury and slumps on the court, all along the way being heavily scrutinized by media and fans because of her body type. Her success is certainly a testament to her exceptional gifts as a tennis player, but it also speaks to her unparalleled physical and mental toughness that she’s been able to continue this incredible run at age 34, long past most players’ expiration date. 

6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, Chris Weidman is not exactly undersized when he steps into the octagon. However, despite his intimidating size and pristine career record, he has had to fight for respect throughout his career. But Weidman has earned that respect in a big way. He’s fought a lot of huge names who people thought were “hard:” Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Vitor Belfort, to name a few. And while those guys may be tough, Weidman beat them all, leaving no doubt as to who the hardest man around UFC is.

One of the shiftiest players ever to take the field in the NFL, Darren Sproles has made a career out of running over, under, and through the NFL’s hardest hitters. There’s no way, most people would think, that a guy who stands just 5-foot-6 and is listed at 190 pounds could stay healthy and productive for this long. Sproles is special, however, with agility and burst rarely seen in any sport, let alone football. And it’s not like this running back/return man doesn’t get ever hit; Sproles gets popped, plenty. But he also just bounces right back up, seemingly immune to the absolute punishment he takes on a weekly basis, always coming back for more.

When most people think of Lionel Messi (and soccer players in general), hard is not the first word that comes to mind. But Messi, especially, is as tough as they come; standing at just 5-foot-7, he is not a big guy even in the vertically challenged world of footballers. But coming with the territory of being the most technically gifted player alive is another, less fun aspect to the job: being a target. All 11 players on the opposition team go after Messi whenever he gets the ball, resorting to hacking at his legs and shoving him to the ground in an attempt to win the ball off the four-time World Player of the Year. Yet, despite all this unwanted attention, Messi has (until very recently) never let any of these many, many knocks keep him off the field.