Two decades ago, when mixed martial arts went mainstream, the sport’s mostly male fan base often viewed women’s MMA as an inappropriate spectacle, something reserved for Worldstar videos, a 3 a.m. brawl at Waffle House, or both.
Two fighters changed that perception: Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey. A powerful striker with a muay thai background, Carano emerged in the late-aughts as the sport’s first breakout female star. But she never made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which remained uninterested in women’s MMA for another half decade or so. That’s when Rousey, a world-class judoka, hip-tossed her way into the limelight, flattening nearly every woman she faced in the early to mid 2010s.
Carano and Rousey never fought in their primes. But on May 16, the sport’s first two female stars will finally square off in Netflix's first-ever live MMA event, part of a card put together by Most Valuable Promotions.
In the lead up to the bout, we ranked the top 10 female UFC fighters of all-time. Rousey obviously made the list. Carano, who never fought in the Octagon, didn’t. But these GOATS wouldn’t be where they are if she hadn’t smashed stereotypes—and her opponents—a generation prior.
There are the 10 Best Female UFC Figthers of All Time.
Carla Esparza
As far as nicknames go, you can’t get much better than “Cookie Monster.” The same goes for fighting. In late 2014, 16 women competed on the UFC’s reality show The Ultimate Fighter. At the end of it, only Esparza remained. An excellent wrestler, she defeated Rose Namajunas in the finale, submitting her with a rear-naked choke to become the UFC’s first strawweight champ. She then got KOed by Joanna Jędrzejczyk in her first title defense, but “Cookie Monster” stayed hungry. She spent the next seven years trying to reclaim her belt, beating top fighters like Alexa Grasso, Yan Xiaonan, and Marina Rodriguez. She got her shot in 2022, and defeated Namajunas by decision. While she quickly lost her title again, this time to Weili Zhang, her legacy was already baked in.
Holly Holm
Holly Holm has many accolades: UFC champion, boxing standout, RING magazine female fighter of the year. What she's best known for, however, is one of the greatest upsets in UFC history: a spectacular 2015 knockout of Ronda Rousey. For those who had followed her career, however, it wasn’t much of a surprise. “The Preacher’s Daughter” is one of the best strikers women’s MMA has ever seen. Though she lost her title in a shocking fifth-round collapse against Miesha Tate in 2016, she went on to defeat some of the best competitors at 135 pounds, including Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana, and kept fighting at the highest levels well into her 40s.
Kayla Harrison
Amanda Nunes may be the GOAT, but Kayla Harrison is making an argument that she’s the best women’s pound-for-pound fighter today. The first woman to win an Olympic gold medal (judo) and a UFC championship, Harrison arrived in the Octagon in 2024 and quickly won the 135-pound strap, beating the likes of former champs Julianna Peña and Holly Holm along the way. Though she’s primarily relied on her powerful grappling, Harrison’s striking continues to improve, which is a scary prospect for the division. A fight against Nunes would show how good she truly is, which is why fight fans are salivating over the prospect it could finally happen.
Rose Namajunas
Beware any 115-pound woman who calls herself “Thug Rose.” She probably does so for a reason. Few MMA fighters have smoother striking—or more upsets than Namajunas, whose 2017 upset win over Joanna Jędrzejczyk ended the latter’s long reign over the strawweight division. (Namajunas then beat her in a rematch, too.) Four years later, she shocked the world again by head-kicking Weili into the shadow realm (then beat her a second time). Her only problem? Consistency. Though Namajunas won the title twice, she also quickly lost it twice, the first time to Jessica Andrade, the second to Carla Esparza. Like many of her defeats, the latter was a close decision. So while her 14-8 record may not reflect it, Namajunas remains a legend in the sport.
Joanna Jędrzejczyk
Before the Weili era began, Joanna Jędrzejczyk was the greatest—and most complete—fighter the women’s strawweight division had ever seen. Her muay thai, however, is what really stood out; few people on this planet can be so tiny and inspire so much fear. Jędrzejczyk’s devastating striking helped her defend her title a record five times, part of a 14-fight win streak between 2012 and 2017. What made her reign more impressive was her toughness. In her split decision defeat against Weili, Jędrzejczyk fought through round after round of brutal strikes. A hematoma swelled her forehead into something extraterrestrial, but she refused to give up. There’s a reason she’s in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Zhang Weili
42 seconds—that’s how long it took for Weili to defeat Jessica Andrade in 2019. In doing so, she became the UFC’s first champion from China. A physically powerful strawweight, with a background in Kung Fu and San Shou, “Magnum” began her career as a brawler, displaying a remarkable knack for grit and violence. (Her 2020 win over former champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk remains one of the greatest MMA fights of all-time.) Though she lost her title to Rose Namajunas in 2021, Zhang regained the belt more than a year later, submitting Carla Esparza. She held onto the belt for more than two years and turned into a well-rounded, technical fighter. Her only recent loss has been to Shevchenko, when she vacated the title and tried to fight up a weight class. Weili was outsized and outmatched, but she’s still one of the greatest to ever do it—and only getting better.
Cristiane Justino (p/k/a Cris Cyborg)
Starting in the mid-aughts, when Carano was generating headlines, “Cris Cyborg” was robotically wrecking her opponents. Though she lost her first MMA fight in 2005, Justino didn’t lose a fight for the next 13 years, winning championships across multiple organizations, including the UFC, Strikeforce, and Bellator. Her victims included former champs like Holly Holm, top UFC contenders like Cat Zingano, and pioneers such as Carano, whom she TKOed at the end of the first round of their highly anticipated 2009 bout. By the time she ran into Amanda Nunes in 2018, “Cyborg” had firmly established herself as one of the most dominant fighters in the history of the sport. A loss to the GOAT didn’t change that; it just showed how good Nunes really was.
Ronda Rousey
In 2011, UFC President Dana White said fans would “never” see women fight in the UFC. Rousey changed his mind. Between 2011 and 2015, there didn’t seem to be a fighter in the game more dominant than the former Olympic bronze medalist in judo. There wasn’t an arm she couldn’t snatch, bend, and nearly snap. “Rowdy” was so exciting, she inspired a generation of fans—and future champions—to step in the cage. Yes, Rousey got schooled on her feet by the likes of Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. But in the early days of women’s MMA, she was the baddest woman on the planet—and did something few men have ever done: forced White to issue a mea culpa.
Valentina Shevchenko
Perhaps the only thing better than Valentina Shevchenko’s movement during the fight, is her movement after it: She often performs the Lezginka, a traditional dance from the Caucasus that entails a series of quick steps and twirls. Shevchenko has danced it frequently, beating six UFC champions—Holly Holm, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Jessica Andrade, Julianna Peña, Alexa Grasso, and Zhang Weili. A crisp striker and excellent grappler, Shevchenko’s only UFC losses have been two close decisions to Nunes—and one to Grasso, who pulled off a spectacular submission against her in 2023. “Bullet” avenged that defeat more than a year later and is destined to retire as one of the sport’s all-time greatest fighters—and perhaps dancers as well.
Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes is part of an elite cadre of mixed martial artists to hold titles in multiple weight classes at the same time. She was also the first in UFC history to defend them. In almost every fight, the Brazilian smashed opponents, knocking out champions such as Holly Holm, Ronda Rousey, and Cristiane Justino. She even beat fellow all-time great Valentina Shevchenko—twice. Before a shocking defeat to Julianna Peña in 2021, “The Lioness” hadn’t lost a bout in seven years. She eventually avenged that defeat, and after a brief retirement to spend more time with her wife and kids, Nunes is hoping to make another run at the title against current UFC 135-pound champ Kayla Harrison.
