Issue 097
January 2013
With Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate both penning deals with the world’s leading promotion, Fighters Only considers who else the UFC could attract to build a legitimate women’s division, with a definitive top 20 of the planet’s leading female fighters
1 Ronda Rousey
Age: 25 Record: 6-0
Current Division: Bantamweight
Probably the most famous female fighter in the world at the moment, the Team USA judo bronze medalist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics has become a huge star outside of the ring also. Her win against Miesha Tate for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title in March will likely go down as the most important women’s fight in history. It was her performance, and fan attention surrounding the event, after all, which led the UFC to consider calling. The sky truly is the limit for the new first lady of MMA.
2 Miesha Tate
Age: 26 Record: 13-3
Current Division: Bantamweight
One of the most talented female mixed martial artists to ever grace the cage, Tate has a very important mix of strong wrestling, solid striking and slick submission skills. However, her mental toughness is what earned her the Strikeforce bantamweight championship against Marloes Coenen, and in her most recent bout, she came from behind against Julie Kedzie to finish the fight with a magnificent armbar in the third round.
3 SARAH KAUFMAN
Age: 27 Record: 15-2
Current division: Bantamweight
Well known for her stellar boxing skills, the former ballet dancer has cemented herself as one of the top fighters in her weight division by consistently having exciting fights. Her KO slam of Roxanne Modaferri and her fantastic back-and-forth battle with fellow Canadian Alexis Davis are a must-see for all MMA fans.
4 Marloes Coenen
Age: 31 Record: 20-5
Current Division: Featherweight
One of the few people to really pose a problem for former Strikeforce featherweight champion Cristiane Santos, Coenen has a unique and dangerous mix of strong Dutch Muay Thai and magnificent submission skills. Another former Strikeforce 135lb title holder, Coenen is currently ranked number one at 145lb.
5 Megumi Fujii
Age: 38 Record: 25-2
Current Division: Strawweight
Once considered the best female mixed martial artist in the world, Fujii has submitted a number of noteworthy opponents including Lisa Ellis, Carla Esparaza and Emi Fujino in her illustrious career. And despite talk of retirement, with the UFC on a path to start staging women’s contests inside the Octagon, Fujii may be tempted to postpone her plans for a chance to compete in the world’s biggest promotion.
6 Cristiane Santos
Age: 27 Record: 10-1(1 NC)
Current Division: Featherweight
Before she was suspended from competition for a year due to the CSAC finding stanozolol in her system, ‘Cyborg’ was destroying every opponent in front of her. With magnificent wins over Gina Carano and Marloes Coenen, will she be as dangerous when she comes back from her suspension? Also, arguably the biggest fight out there for number-one star Rousey, yet she insists cutting 10lb to make bantamweight is out of her reach.
7 Zoila Gurgel
Age: 28 Record: 12-1
Current Division: Flyweight
Seen as the best woman in the world at 115lb following victories over Jessica Penne, Jessica Aguilar and the legendary Megumi Fujii in the Bellator 115lb women’s tournament, Gurgel is intending to become a dual tournament winner when she moves up to the 125lb division for Bellator’s next tournament after returning from major knee surgery this year. Her sole defeat was to Miesha Tate back in March 2010.
8 Jessica Aguilar
Age: 30 Record: 14-4
Current Division: Strawweight
When it comes to skillful grapplers not many come quite as skilled as this five-foot-four American Top Team starlet. With half of her career wins coming via a plethora of different submissions, Aguilar is one of the most dangerous women on the planet on the ground. But does she have the frame to step up to a potentially heavier UFC weight division?
9 SARA MCMANN
Age: 32 Record: 6-0
Current Division: Bantamweight
A silver medalist in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Sara McMann has begun to forge a very successful career as a mixed martial artist. With her incredibly strong background in wrestling, and her skill-set improving rapidly, many are tipping McMann to become a genuine future challenger to Ronda Rousey’s top spot.
10 TARA LAROSA
Age: 34 Record: 21-3
Current Division: Flyweight
Considered as a true pioneer of the sport, LaRosa has traveled across the US training at a number of different gyms to help round out and improve her skills. The former BodogFight women’s bantamweight champion has defeated a number of fighters such as Julie Kedzie, Roxanne Modaferri and Hitomi Akano to make sure she stays relevant within the women’s rankings.
11 LIZ CARMOUCHE
Age: 28 Record: 7-2
Current Division: Bantamweight
With less than 10 fights under her belt, Carmouche is still relatively green when it comes to the nuances of mixed martial arts. Yet the former US Marine, when only 5-0, managed to give then Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen a run for her money in her first title chance back in March 2011. With a little more experience, ‘Girl-Rilla’ could quickly get back into the title picture.
12 Alexis Davis
Age: 28 Record: 12-5
Current Division: Bantamweight
Much like her Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu teammates Nick and Nate Diaz, Canadian Davis loves to scrap and entertain the fans by staying in the pocket with her opponents and trading strikes. Her title fight eliminator with Sarah Kaufman stole the show when Rousey and Tate headlined in March, proving how close she came to a title shot of her own.
13 JESSICA PENNE
Age: 29 Record: 10-1
Current Division: Atomweight
Under the tutelage of coaches like Mark Munoz and Jason Manly at Reign MMA, Penne has quickly become the best atomweight (105lb) fighter in WMMA. Her solid grappling skills have earned her a number of victories, but her fantastic win against previously top ranked Naho Sugiyama at Invicta 3 confirmed how good she actually is. She’d almost certainly have to hit the gym to bulk up for the UFC Octagon however.
14 SHAYNA BASZLER
Age: 32 Record: 15 -7
Current Division: Bantamweight
Known as the ‘Submission Magician,’ Baszler has utilized her BJJ and catch wrestling skills – taught to her by former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett – to submit 14 of her 15 opponents. So good are her submissions, she’s even created her own hold called the ‘Shwing’ that she has utilized to finish a number of opponents. All her most recent defeats have only come against girls ranked higher in this list.
15 AMANDA NUNES
Age: 24 Record: 7-2
Current Division: Bantamweight
Training under the tutelage of Mike Constantino at the AMA Fight Club in New Jersey, Nunes has become known for her killer instinct, finishing all of her wins within two rounds, and is currently seen as one of the most underrated bantamweights in the world. At 24, the exciting Brazilian still has much to learn but plenty of time to do it.
16 Julie Kedzie
Age: 31 Record: 16-11
Current Division: Bantamweight
Readers of FO’s sparring partner publication Train Hard Fight Easy will recognize Kedzie from the Fight Manual section, where each issue she helps multi-time ‘Coach of the Year’ Greg Jackson break down fight moves. However, Kedzie is no training dummy and has competed in a number of organizations, even facing Gina Carano at EliteXC: Destiny in the first women’s MMA bout on US cable TV, back in 2007.
17 Cat Zingano
Age: 30 Record: 7-0
Current Division: Bantamweight
At 7-0, with three wins via KO/TKO, and another three by submission, Zingano is quickly becoming one of the hottest prospects outside of the big organizations. And with the UFC now considering creating their own women’s division, finisher Zingano could be one name high up on the promotions wish list.
18 Michelle Waterson
Age: 26 Record: 10-3
Current division: Atomweight
With model looks and sick MMA skills, Waterson has everything the UFC would want in a female fighter. However, don’t be fooled by her nickname, ‘The Karate Hottie,’ as she’s more than just a striker – proven by her 15-second flying armbar submission win against Rosary Califano. Standing just five-foot-three but with Greg Jackson in her corner, expect to see her making serious waves.
19 Felice Herrig
Age: 28 Record: 7-4
Current Division: Strawweight
Herrig may have rose to fame on hit reality TV show Fight Girls where she competed in Muay Thai, but she’s been making her bones on the MMA scene since 2009. With a high-level striking game, she’s currently rounding out her skills with second-degree black belt Jeff Curran, at his Team Curran facility.
20 Barb Honchak
Age: 33 Record: 7-2
Current Division: Flyweight
Fighting out of Steve Berger’s MMA, ‘Little Warrior’ enjoyed an extensive amateur run before turning pro in 2009. Currently on a six-fight win-streak, she’s got a good submission game and hits hard and fast.
