Ranking The Best Women’s MMA Fighters Of All Time
MMA or Mixed Martial Arts is one of the biggest worldwide sports for athletes who want to show they are lean, mean fighting machines. And, despite it not being as big as some other sports, MMA is big on the betting action too.
UFC lines and odds make it big every year with bettors itching for action when two expert fighters enter the thing.
However, whereas once MMA was restricted to big bulky dudes who were pros in the ring and weren’t afraid to break a rib or five, MMA is open to women.
Granted, women have been in the sport for a while now, and it is nice to see. Because, if you ever saw two girls brawl, you know that female fighters certainly have some fire in their veins.
But, who is the best of the women’s MMA action? Is there a best? It is pretty hard to choose! So, we will go by their stats.
Women Making It Into MMA
MMA is a raw and hybrid total-combat cage sport that uses techniques from multiple sport combats from boxing, to wrestling, to BJJ and karate.
Back in 1997 we saw the first ever official women’s MMA fight take place in the US, and since then the numbers of female fighters have absolutely skyrocketed. From this, many women have established a powerful legacy in the cage and achieve incredible feats and insane milestones.
Yet, there was one fight to rule them all. The 2009 Strikeforce fight between Cris Cyborg and Gina Carano, completely changed women’s MMA forever. But it wasn’t until Rousey dominated the UFC that women’s MMA became more mainstream.
So, who is the best? We know who!
The Best Female MMA Fighters Of All Time!
Here are the women who are considered the best MMA fighters we have ever seen in the sport this far!
#1. Cris Cyborg
We have already mentioned her name, and we will again because she is the best. Nicknamed ‘Cyborg’, she is in the featherweight division and has been active since 2005 and is still fighting.
She has an incredible record of 24 wins to 2 losses and only a single no-contest.
She is an American-Brazilian pro MMA fighter and since she lost in her pro debut she became something of a force to be reckoned with. She went undefeated for 20 entire fights before she lost in 2018 to Amanda Nunes.
Last year she was ranking at number 1 in the pound for pound ranking.
She also is the first MMA fighter ever to be a grand slam champ, holding her title worldwide across multiple franchises. Some people query her doping incident but she is still the best fighter we have seen of her ilk.
#2. Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes fought against Cris Cyborg as we know. But she is in 2nd place on our list. She is nicknamed ‘Lioness’, and fights at featherweight or bantamweight. She boasts 21 wins and only 4 losses in her career since 2008.
She is a Brazilian pro MMA fighter, and she is probably the most dominant force in MMA right now. She holds the women’s Bantamweight and featherweight titles and she is the first in history to gain this milestone.
She also has the most UFC fight wins at 14 wins, and has the most title wins too at 9.
She also maintains the longest UFC champ title having held her title since 2016. When her career finally ends, she may still be marked as the best ever female MMA fighter of all time!
#3. Ronda Rousey
We previously mentioned this name too, nicknamed as Rowdy she fights featherweight and Bantamweight. She has 12 wins and 2 losses to her name in her 6-year career from 2010 to 2016.
Her legacy was something of a surprise, being the first woman to hold the WWE and UFC world champion titles. She was also the first woman to be a UFC champ, UFC fighter, and UFC Hall of Fame Inductee.
Before she lost to Holly Holm in ‘15, she was on a streak of 10 fight wins, and what is even crazier is how she often won most of her fights in under a minute!
Her 6 consecutive title fights have maintained the longest ranking in the history of the UFC.
#4. Joana Jedrzejczyk
Joana Jedrzejczyk, also nicknamed JJ fights at strawweight and flyweight and in her 10-year career thus far (2012-present), she has 20 wins and only 4 losses.
She is a pro Polish MMA fighter and a former Muay Thai athlete. Before she made her debut with the UFC, she was a 5-time world champion at Muay Thai. Then, when she joined the UFC, she claimed the Strawweight title at UFC 185 as she defeated Carla Esparza.
She continued to defend her title 5 times before she lost in 2017. She also has the most victories in her weight class at 10 wins, she is 2nd in strawweight and 5th in pound for pound ranking. While she is not as popular as some other female fighters, she is still a legend.
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