Some of the best female UFC fighters right now offer a stunning level of excitement with their performances in the octagon, including Alexa Grasso and the veteran Zhang Weili who are both current champions.

It’s strange to consider that just over a decade ago the women weren’t even allowed to compete in the UFC, and that debut fight between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche made history while opening the door for female MMA fighters to make a name for themselves.

The last decade has produced some top female UFC fighters, so let's honor them with a top ten list that encompasses all of their career accomplishments.

Who is the greatest female UFC fighter of all time?

The title of the greatest female UFC fighter of all time has to go to Amanda Nunes. The Brazilian martial artist beat everybody at the top of the women's bantamweight division during one of the most impressive stretches from any fighter in history.

With victories against Valentina Shevchenko, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Cris Cyborg, and Holly Holm, she has not only competed against but also emerged victorious against some of the greatest female fighters in UFC history. This impressive track record truly exemplifies her remarkable resume.

Famous Female UFC Fighters

Ronda Rousey has to be one of the most famous female fighters in the UFC, having become one of the lead females in the development of women’s MMA. She was a trailblazer for the ladies and earned a wealth of respect in the process.

Rousey has since performed in the WWE in wrestling entertainment, where she continues to be an elite level entertainer.

Holly Holm will also qualify for this category having built an MMA career that spans over two decades, drawing quite the home crowd of support everytime she squares up with another opponent. She recently made her comeback to the octagon at the age of 41 after battling a kidney injury that forced her to pull away from training for quite some time.

Honorable Mentions

While it was challenging to select the final ten, it's important to acknowledge a few great female MMA fighters who didn't make the cut but still deserve recognition.

Take, for instance, Cat Zingano, who achieved victories over Raquel Pennington and Meisha Tate. Notably, she also handed Amanda Nunes one of her rare losses in a remarkable series of three consecutive fights that were halted before the final bell. Zingano's remarkable accomplishments certainly warrant a mention.

Zingano finished Tate with some vicious knees after beating her up on the ground, and the following week took on Amanda Nunes and came out on top with some effective ground and pound, something that almost nobody has been able to do against the women’s champ.

Regrettably, her legacy was marred by a series of defeats initiated by Ronda Rousey. However, it is important to recognize that during her prime, she achieved some truly remarkable victories that left a lasting impact.

Ranking the Top 10 Best Female UFC Fighters of all time

  1. Jessica Andrade

Career Record: 24-11-0
Weight Class: Strawweight, Flyweight, Bantamweight
Awards: 4x Fight of the Night, 5x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Strawweight
UFC title defenses: N/A

Jessica Andrade’s title fight against the current champion in Rose Namajunas was electric. She stole the belt away from Rose to claim her first and only title in the UFC, having been a mainstay in the women’s game for several years already.

Andrade is one of the UFC female fighters who has been around from the very beginning. When Ronda Rousey signed as the first woman in UFC history in 2012, Andrade wasn’t far behind, making her UFC debut in 2013.

The Brazilian is 15-9 in her UFC career, and while it might have been a little up and down for her, she is always willing to put her face in the fire and go to war with the very best.

  1. Holly Holm

Career Record: 15-6
Weight Class: Bantamweight
Awards: 2x Fight of the Night, 2x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Bantamweight
UFC title defenses: N/A

Holly Holm had transitioned from boxing to MMA and had been undefeated upon her arrival to the UFC. She was 7-0 coming into her first fight against Raquel Pennington, who she beat by split decision before taking a unanimous win over Marion Reneau.

That run gave her a title shot against Ronda Rousey, who was seemingly untouchable at the time with a 12-0 record and a belt over her shoulder. Holm was more than +800 to win that fight. She was a serious underdog, but took it to Rousey with elite level boxing and a very well calculated fight. She wore Rousey down, punishing her more than anybody had before, and when she wobbled her with a strong left Holm finished the fight with a vicious head kick that knocked Rousey out cold.

That particular fight catapulted Holly Holm into the spotlight. Against all odds, she emerged victorious, stunning the audience by defeating the prominent female star of UFC and claiming the championship belt on a grand stage.

Unfortunately, she was unable to maintain that level of form, losing the title to Miesha Tate in her first defense. While she might have given up the belt, Holm's commitment to her fighting career has never wavered, and she’s still going in her 40s. Her destruction of Ronda Rousey, one of the UFC legends, could be enough to land her on the top 10 all by itself.

  1. Miesha Tate

Career Record: 19-9-0
Weight Class: Flyweight, Bantamweight
Awards: 2x Fight of the Night, 2x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Bantamweight
UFC title defenses: N/A

Miesha Tate is extremely calculated in her approach to MMA. She is one of the women you really don't want to make a mistake against, because she’s waiting for it, and she will punish you for it.

Fighting out of Olympia, Washington, Tate was a great fighter at Strikeforce before coming across as one of the early female competitors in the UFC. She lost her first two fights against Cat Zingano and Ronda Rousey, who she fought at strikeforce once already, but after those initial fights she found her rhythm and formed a great career in the UFC.

She won five straight with the fifth being a title fight against the current bantamweight champion at the time Holly Holm. Tate proceeded to choke her out in the fifth round to claim the belt, marking her one career title.

Miesha has struggled a little as a veteran, but in her prime she was one of the best female fighters in MMA.

  1. Rose Namajunas

Career Record: 11-5-0
Weight Class: Strawweight
Awards: 3x Fight of the Night, 3x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Strawweight
UFC title defenses: Two

Rose Namajunas has been a part of some of women’s MMA’s greatest battles, including her series against both Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade.

Namajunas, nicknamed simply ‘Thug’, made a name for herself in the UFC with three rear naked choke finishes in four wins out of five fights between 2015 and 2017. It was that form that earned her a title shot against Joanna at UFC 217, the card that featured Georges St. Pierre vs Michael Bisping as the main event.

Everybody was expecting Rose to attempt to win the title with her ground game, but it ended up being her striking that got the job done, and she proceeded to defend that belt in a much anticipated rematch against Joanna six months later.

She suffered a loss to Jessica Andrade but bounced back in a major way with a win in the rematch and then a second win in her second title challenge against Weili Zhang. She regained the belt, and then once again defended it in the rematch.

  1. Weili Zhang

Career Record: 23-3-0
Weight Class: Strawweight
Awards: 1x Fight of the Night, 3x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Strawweight
UFC title defenses: One 

Weili Zhang, the current Women’s strawweight champion as of the summer of 2023, came into the UFC with a stunning 16-1 record, having lost her fight bout and then gone on a 16-fight winning streak that included several KO’s in the KLF.

When she arrived in the UFC in 2018, she took on Danielle Taylor in her first fight, winning by unanimous decision. She then proceeded to tear through the strawweight division with three straight wins that earned her a title shot against Jessica Andrade.

Her performance in that fight was brutal. She destroyed Andrade, the current champion, inside a minute with a flurry of knees and punches landing before Jessica could react. Zhang then defended her title against Joanna Jedrzejcyzk in what could be a contender for the greatest women’s fight in UFC history.

Two of the best female UFC fighters of all time went to war for five rounds, giving everything they had and coming away from the fight battered and bruised. Zhang won the fight by split decision, but when the two rematched two years later, the Chinese born fighter landed a clean spinning back kick in the middle of a great fight that laid Joanna on the mat.

Zhang has some of the most extravagant wins in the game, and has twice claimed the women’s UFC championship in the strawweight division.

  1. Joanna Jedrzejcyzk

Career Record: 16-5-0
Weight Class: Strawweight
Awards: 3x Fight of the Night, 1x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Strawweight
UFC title defenses: Five

Joanna Jedrzejcyzk came into the UFC 6-0 and looking to battle her way into the conversation among the best UFC women at the time. She very quickly got to work on that goal with a unanimous decision win over Julianna Lima in her debut.

Two fights later she was challenging Carla Esparza for the Women’s strawweight title, and she beat her up against the cage to steal the title at UFC 185. Joanna then refused to surrender that title for multiple years, and remains the record holder for the longest time as the Women’s strawweight champion.

Joanna defended that title five times, with four unanimous decision victories over the likes of Claudia Gadelha and Jessica Andrade during an era of dominance unlike many others in women’s MMA. Her run during that time makes her one of the all-time best female MMA fighters, and earns her a top five spot on today's list.

  1. Valentina Shevchenko

Career Record: 23-4-0
Weight Class: Bantamweight, Flyweight
Awards: 3x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Flyweight
UFC title defenses: Seven

Valentina Shevchenko was thrown in the deep end with her entry into the UFC considering her second fight came against Amanda Nunes. She then defeated both Holly Holm and Julianna Pena before having a second crack at Nunes as the Bantamweight challenger, which ended in a very closely contested split decision win for Nunes.

Following that bitterly disappointing loss, Shevchenko dropped down to the flyweight division, and it was there that she made her mark on the UFC power rankings. She started dominating female UFC fighters in her new weight class, using her mixed martial arts and Muay Thai background to overwhelm her opponents.

Her second flyweight fight was a battle with Joanna Jedrzejcyzk for the vacant belt, which she claimed after a brawl that ended in a unanimous decision win. Shevchenko then went on a rampage of title defense wins, including a devastating head kick against Jessica Eye, who stepped up as her first challenger.

Valentina Shevchenko held the belt for 1,547 days, just shy of five years, defending it no less than seven times during one of the most outstanding title runs in the UFC. She made a stern claim as one of the best female MMA fighters of all time, and belongs amongst the very best of the UFC’s women fighters on today's list.

  1. Cris Cyborg

Career Record: 26-2-0
Weight Class: Featherweight
Awards: 1x Fight of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Featherweight
UFC title defenses: Two

Cris Cyborg, who’s real name is Cristiane Justino Venancino came over to the UFC having built a 15-1 MMA record. The Brazilian was dealing devastating punches fight after fight and closing out opponents with relative ease, and the UFC was a natural next step for her.

She arrived at the top of her game with a win in her UFC debut against Leslie Smith. Again, she displayed her dominance in striking dealing blows that called the fight off in the very first round. After beating Lina Lansberg in her second fight, she went on to battle Tonya Evinger for the vacant women’s featherweight belt, who she TKO’d in the third round.

Cyborg would then defend that title against both Holly Holm and Yana Santos before surrendering it to Amanda Nunes. She fought once more in the UFC before heading on to Bellator.

Even now, Cyborg continues to be recognized as one of the most dangerous female fighters to have graced the UFC octagon. Her dominant pursuit of the featherweight title showcased her ferocity, inflicting significant damage on anyone who dared to oppose her. With an impressive record of 26 wins and only 2 losses, Cyborg's undeniable talent instilled fear in the hearts of many fellow fighters.

  1. Ronda Rousey

Career Record: 12-2-0
Weight Class: Bantamweight
Awards: 2x Fight of the Night, 5x Performance of the Night
UFC Belts: Women’s Bantamweight
UFC title defenses: Six 

Ronda Rousey was the one who put the women’s UFC on the map. Up until 2012, women hadn’t been allowed to compete in the UFC, and Rousey was the signing that was going to flip the script on that and create a path for top female UFC fighters in the future.

As it turned out, she was the perfect fit. Rousey made her debut against Liz Carmouche in 2013 at 6-0 in the first women’s UFC fight in history. It was a big moment for the women, and Rousey escaped early trouble to dominate Carmouche on the ground and claim the win with an arm bar.

She did the exact same thing to Miesha Tate in her next fight, who she’d already fought and beaten with the arm bar during a Strikeforce fight earlier in her career.

Rousey defended her Bantamweight title in the UFC six times, including four straight first round finishes against Sara McMann, Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano and Bethe Correia. She was untouchable and the UFC were thrilled that she had become the face of women’s MMA.

Some would consider her the best female fighter of the UFC and its history, and had her reign been a little longer that would be a fair assumption. She lands at number two on the list for her stunning efforts in laying the foundations for women who followed, as well as terrorizing her challengers for over three years at the very top.

Rousey will forever be among the most famous female MMA fighters and one of the all time UFC women champions.

  1. Amanda Nunes

Career Record: 23-5
Weight Class: Featherweight, Bantamweight
Awards: 5x Performance of the Night, Longest reigning female UFC champion, Most knockouts by a female UFC fighter
UFC Belts: Women’s Featherweight, 2x Women’s Bantamweight
UFC title defenses: Eight

Amanda Nunes takes the top spot on this list every single time. Her record reads 23-5, but she was almost unstoppable and the most soul destroying female fighter in history. Nunes dominated the UFC women’s rankings across two divisions for the majority of her career in the sport.

Nunes took an early loss in her UFC career to Cat Zingano, but after that she started tearing through everybody who was put in front of her. She won four of her next five fights in the first round, including an impressive win over Ronda Rousey that felt like the passing of the torch for the women's top spot.

The Brazilian fought almost everybody on this list, beating Rousey, Cyborg and Shevchenko during her reign as the very greatest on the women’s side of MMA. Nunes was able to dominate two UFC women’s weight classes at the same time, making it her mission to claim both titles.

She held the Bantamweight title from 2016 to 2021 while defending it five times, and then reclaimed it in a rematch with Julianna Pena in 2022. When she won the featherweight title in 2018 she became just the third fighter in UFC history to hold simultaneous belts, and is the only woman to have ever done so. UFC fans knew they were watching a very special caliber of fighter, and when she retired the game lost one of its brightest stars.

To claim not one, but two Women’s UFC championship belts proves the sheer dominance of Amanda Nunes. She holds multiple UFC records including the most knockouts by a woman and the longest title reign by a woman, and when you consider all of her accomplishments there is no doubt that she is the best female UFC fighter of all time, and her career will be extremely difficult to match.

Parameters for ranking

These impressive fighters have been ranked based on their accomplishments in MMA and the UFC specifically. Factors such as the most wins in UFC history, the best record in the UFC, the most title defenses and other accolades have all been factored in to generate a top ten list of some of the all time greats.

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