The Best Female UFC Fighters of All Time

Amanda Nunes is widely regarded as the greatest female MMA fighter of all time. “The Lioness” is the first female fighter to claim UFC double champ status by winning the bantamweight and featherweight titles. She achieved those feats just two years apart.

In 2021, the Brazilian lost her bantamweight title in shocking fashion when she was submitted by Julianna Pena. But, Nunes reclaimed her title months later. Almost a year later, she defended her bantamweight title against Irene Aldana. After the fight, she announced her retirement from the sport and as a result, vacated both the bantamweight and featherweight belts.

Cris Cyborg of Brazil punches Felicia Spencer//Getty Images

Cris Cyborg's career speaks for itself. In 31 fights, she has lost only twice: the first loss was in her professional debut, while the other one came against Amanda Nunes.

Cyborg is a former UFC featherweight champion, and she has won multiple titles in other organisations. In her seven UFC bouts, she won six of them, four of them came by brutal knockouts. She now fights in Bellator where she is the featherweight champion.

Valentina Shevchenko is regarded as the most complete female fighter of all time. Her excellent muay thai fighting style and her judo skills helped her dominate the UFC's flyweight division from 2018 up to 2022 where she racked up seven successful title defences.

At UFC 285, the Kyrgyzstan fighter came up against the fearless Mexican fighter Alexa Grasso. The underdog Grasso did not crumble under the pressure of Shevchenko and instead flipped the script and claimed a submission victory.

Months later, Shevchenko attempted to get her title back, however, the rematch ended in a split decision draw which meant Grasso retained the title. However, at UFC 306, Shevchenko put on a clinic to reclaim her flyweight throne.

Zhang Weili won the strawweight title for the first time in 2019, and after her performance in her first defence, destroying Jedrzejczyk's face, many thought we were going to see an era of dominance. However, two consecutive losses in 2021 to Rose Namajunas followed. 

Since landing an explosive spinning backfist KO against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275, Weili has looked on another level to her strawweight counterparts. She reclaimed the title with a submission win over Carla Esparza in 2022, subsequently cruising to back-to-back unanimous decision wins in her two title defences. Now, we could be in the midst of a dominant era from the Chinese champion.

Many of the female fighters today are thankful to Ronda Rousey for bringing women's MMA to the mainstream media. Without her devastating era between 2011-2015, the UFC's female divisions would be far less popular.

Throughout her time in Strikeforce and the UFC, every single fight she won came inside the distance, either via a nasty submission or via a vicious KO. Her dominance saw her claim the bantamweight title in Strikeforce and the UFC.

In 2016, Rousey called an end to her MMA career after she lost back-to-back fights against Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. 

The reason why Joanna Jędrzejczyk is regarded as the strawweight GOAT is because she won the UFC strawweight title and then proceeded to defend it five times. Some of her notable defences came against Jessica Andrade and Claudia Gadelha. “Boogeywoman” lost her title to Rose Namajunas in 2017, she would attempt to avenge her defeat several months later but fell short against Namajunas once more. 

Jedrzejczyk had another thrilling fight series against Zhang Weili, but she was on the receiving end of back-to-back losses to the Chinese fighter, which ended up signalling the end of her career.

Rose Namajunas has already had a very good career in the UFC, being a two-time strawweight champion, and at 32, she still has a lot more to give. Namajunas has delivered some exceptional striking performances over the last few years, and now she plies her talent in the UFC flyweight division.

Some of her most notable wins have come against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Zhang Weili and Jessica Andrade.

When Holly Holm arrived in the UFC back in 2015, she brought with her a sense of excitement because of her fighting background: she was a well-decorated world champion boxer, and at the time was the best female striker the UFC had seen.

Holm undoubtedly lived up to her hype when she head kicked Ronda Rousey in her third UFC fight to claim the bantamweight title. But since then, it's been all downhill for the veteran.

Alexa Grasso has been at the top of the women's flyweight division for a while now, and she earned a rightful shot at the title against Valentina Shevchenko in 2023.

Despite being a well-rounded and skilled boxer in the pocket, Grasso was a huge underdog, mainly due to Shevchenko being so dominant. Nevertheless, Grasso was able to pull off the upset by defeating the champion via a rear naked choke in round four.

Since then, she lost her title against Shevchenko at UFC 306 after being outclassed the entire fight.