10 Best Female MMA Fighters in UFC History

Female MMA has come a long way since Dana White famously said that women will never fight in the UFC.

A women’s UFC division was first created in order to promote the then dominant female MMA fighter Ronda Rousey, who was the first female fighter which the UFC ever signed.

She was made the bantamweight champion and made her 1st title defense against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157.

A lot has changed since Ronda propelled female MMA into global recognition, and unlike many other sports, the female fighters in the UFC have just as much popularity as their male colleagues. Of course, individual popularity depends on Octagon success, charisma and promotion, but this is just as true for the men in the UFC too.

A few female MMA fighters have risen to the very top of MMA stardom, and in this article we will take a look at the top 10 female MMA fighters that have ever been signed to the UFC.

Amanda Nunes

Amanda ‘Lioness’ Nunes (18-4) is arguably the all time GOAT of female MMA. She holds Octagon wins over; Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko, Holly Holm, Cris Cyborg and many others. She also holds knockout wins over 4 of the other fighters on this list!

She is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who is also in a relationship with fellow UFC fighter Nina Ansaroff. After suffering from a KO loss to Cat Zingano, she went on one of the most famous tears in UFC history which saw her finish 4 of the biggest female MMA names in the sports history (Cyborg, Rousey, Tate, Holm).

Originally the UFC’s bantamweight champion, she was slated to move up to Featherweight and challenge the divison’s fearsome, and seemingly unstoppable, champion – Cris Cyborg. The fight ended in complete shock, with Nunes completely dismantling Cyborg within one round and getting a famous knockout.

Cyborg left the UFC in the following weeks and moved to the promotion’s biggest competitor, Bellator.

Valentino Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko (18-3) is a female MMA fighter from Kyrgyzstan, who achieved the honour of calling herself the UFC’s Flyweight Champion. 2 of her 3 losses come from the incredibly talented, and dominant, Amanda Nunes (mentioned above).

Valentina joined the UFC in 2015 and quickly became a fan favourite, partly due to her famous dancing which she does after each victory she achieves in the Octagon, she also puts on fun dance routines in her open workout sessions which happen just before a scheduled fight.

Valentina earned her UFC Flyweight belt when she defeated another all-time female great, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, by unanimous decision at UFC 231. Since that fight, she has also earned a vicious head-kick KO over Jessica Eye at UFC 238.

The ‘Bullet’ is without a doubt one of the most vicious, yet charming, fighters to ever step foot inside the Octagon and a potential trilogy fight with Nunes could offer her the revenge fight which is one of the only big fights left for her to emerge victorious over, unless she tries her hand at another weight class.

Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino Venâncio

Cris Cyborg was long considered the deadliest female MMA fighter to ever step foot on planet Earth. She had racked up multiple, vicious knockouts over her competition. At one point in her career she had won 8 MMA fights in a row by knockout (this run would’ve been 12 but there was a no contest bout in the middle of all this).

It took her a while to get on the UFC roster, and fans had long since called out for her to be signed to the promotion, due to her fast and entertaining fighting style.

Finally, in 2016, Dana White confirmed her contract with the UFC and her first fight was the classic bout that everyone expected, with Cyborg winning by KO in round 1.

No-one thought Cyborg could be beaten until Amanda Nunes stepped up a weight class from Bantamweight, and challenged her for the title. Nunes’ stunned the world by Ko’ing Cyborg in the 1st round, becoming only the 3rd fighter in UFC history to hold 2 Championship belts at the same time.

Cyborg quickly bounced back with a win in her next victory, and she is still one of the most feared opponents in MMA today.

Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey, the undisputed pioneer of female MMA.

As we mentioned, Ronda Rousey was the FIRST women’s fighter that the UFC ever signed, it was a historical signing that would prove to be HUGE in the development of the UFC, and MMA as a sport.

Ronda became a global superstar, transcending the MMA fanbase. She drew massive PPV numbers and most female MMA fighters are very vocal in their thanks to Ronda for advancing the female fanbase.

Ronda would go on a 6 fight win streak, all finishes. In fact, Ronda has never had a fight go to decision in her entire MMA career, win or lose.

Ronda’s Octagon success saw her gain spots on global TV shows like Ellen DeGeneres, as well as roles in blockbuster films such as Fast & Furious 7 & The Expendables 3.

A comfortable judo specialist, she preferred taking her MMA fights to the ground as soon as possible, and she had great success doing so. Until she came up against Holly Holm and decided to box.

Some have argued that her coach drove false confidence into her about her boxing ability, and that is what cost her dearly when she tried to stand with former kickboxing world champion, Holly Holm.

Ronda was completely outclassed by the kickboxing legend and ended up at the wrong end of a head kick KO in round 2. She would only fight once more, when she was again KO’d within a minute by Amanda Nunes, where Rousey showed almost amateur like head movement.

Even with the sour end to her MMA fighting career, Ronda remains an MMA figurehead, and will go down as one of the sport’s biggest figures.

Miesha Tate

Miesha ‘Cupcake’ Tate is famous in the MMA community for a few different reasons; she held a long feud with fellow UFC Bantamweight, Ronda Rousey, she was consistently hailed as one of the hottest MMA athletes on the planet, and she was an incredible talent inside the Octagon with tremendous heart.

Tate has been crowned Bantamweight champion in 3 separate organisations; Freestyle Cage Fighting (2009), Strikeforce (2011) & the UFC (2016).

After 6 years on the professional circuit, Tate joined the UFC in 2013 and lost her debut to Cat Zingano, followed by a 2nd loss to Ronda Rousey, where the feud came to a head.

However, she was not to be fazed by initial failure, and she rose up to become one of the sport’s biggest names, male or female.

After stringing together a good set of wins, she earned a title shot against Holly Holm (who was coming off a KO victory over Ronda Rousey). It was a tough night for Tate, but her famous heart came through and she held on to sink in a choke on Holm, rendering her completely unconscious and winning Tate her Championship belt.

Tate is just as famous for her out of Octagon appearances as she is her cage fights. She was a model on multiple photoshoots, she starred in a feature film ‘Fight Valley’, and she is now the Vice President of One FC (a competitor to the UFC in Asia).

Her overall contributions to female MMA put her comfortably on this list

Gina Carano

Although Gina Carano never stepped into the UFC’s famed Octagon, she was under contract with the promotion from her Strikeforce days. Therefore, she was technically a UFC employee and so we can arguably include her on this list, just about…

Gina was another pioneer of women’s MMA, perhaps known better for her personality and sex appeal than her in-cage style. However, she was nonetheless a huge driver of female MMA adoption in the mainstream and therefore has been included on this list, although people could argue this point. She was even included on Yahoo’s list of top 10 influential women of 2008.

Gina has only lost once in an MMA cage, and that was to all-time great Cris Cyborg in her Strikeforce days.

Her quick rise to fame probably lead to a typically premature exit to her MMA career. She sort out modelling and movie opportunities and has since landed roles in films such as Fast & Furious 6 and Deadpool. She was also voted America’s hottest woman by Biz Biz Magazine in 2008.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Joanna Jedrzejczyk is a Polish fighter who tasted UFC gold at UFC 185 when she overpowered and knocked out Carla Esparza, to become the UFC’s Strawweight champion.

It only took her 6 pro MMA fights before she earned a UFC contract in 2014, and when she did, she took full advantage of the opportunity. She tore through the UFC strawweight’s before being crowned the promotion’s 1st ever Polish champion (and first female European champion), in 2015.

Still undefeated at the time, Joanna looked unstoppable and she kept her multiple challengers at bay, holding on to the Championship gold for 3 years (and 5 fights).

In her locker, she holds wins over; Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Claudia Gadelha & Jessica Andrade.

She has also won MMA Junkie’s award for female fighter of the year, in 2015.

Holly Holm

Holly ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ Holm is a former boxing World Champion, turned mixed martial artist.

Her high media presence throughout her UFC career meant that Holm regularly fought the toughest opponents or the ‘biggest names’. This is likely why her MMA record doesn’t look as good as one might expect from a female fighter appearing on this list (12-5).

Holm’s biggest career moment (to the general public) was becoming the 1st person to best the legend that is Ronda Rousey. Before the bout, everyone was expecting nothing other than a typical Rousey win. However, the night went completely differently, when Holm outclassed Rousey in the stand-up game, making Rousey chase after her in amateur fashion.

In the 2nd round, Holm closed out the show with her iconic head-kick KO of Ronda. Her upset victory went on to win multiple awards from; Sherdog, ESPN, MMAFighting.com and others.

Holm would go on to lose her belt against Miesha Tate in her next bout (a fight she was dominating until Tate sunk in a rear-naked choke which made Holm pass out).

Holly definitely deserves her place on this list and will go down as one of the GOATs of female MMA.

Rose Namajunas

Rose Namajunas, or ‘Thug Rose’ as Daniel Cormier coined at UFC 217, is a former UFC Strawweight Champion from the USA.

Rose has been very public about her issues with mental health and depression over her fighting career, and she uses her public platform to spread awareness about mental health.

Rose was signed to the UFC, along with 10 other Strawweights, when the UFC decided to create a Strawweight division, for Season 20 of the Ultimate Fighter, where they would crown the division’s first ever champion.

Despite losing in the finale of the show, Rose went on to beat; Tecia Torres, Paige Vanzant & Angela Hill. She was eventually granted a shot at the Strawweight title against the then dominant champ, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Rose shocked a captive audience when she knocked out Joanna in the 1st round of UFC 217, handing Joanna her 1st ever career loss. In order to prove the victory was not a fluke, Rose then beat her again in their immediately scheduled rematch.

Only in her mid-20s, Rose has already solidified herself as a great mixed martial artist. She won MMA fighter of the year in 2017, and her victory over Joanna earned her Sherdog’s upset of the year award.

Jessica Andrade

Jessica Andrade is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who first joined the UFC in 2013, where she unfortunately lost her promotional debut.

However, her UFC career went from strength to strength and she managed to score impressive wins over big names in the female MMA circuit such as; Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Claudia Gadelha, Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas.

Her vicious knockout power made her a stand out candidate in the women’s Strawweight division and her style got her a title shot against Rose Namajunas at UFC 237.

Jessica took her chance at UFC Gold with both hands and got a shocking ‘slam KO’ victory over champion at the time, Rose Namajunas, making Jessica the new queen of the UFC Strawweight division.