7 Most Important Women In MMA History

Women's MMA has consolidated its position as a lucrative sport after coming out of the dark ages in the late 2000s. The UFC, the biggest MMA promotion in the world, has four different female weight classes, and stars like Amanda Nunes, Valentina Shevchenko, and Rose Namajunas have become household names.

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The sport became popular in Japan first with the likes of Megumi Fuji, who would later compete in Bellator, becoming a prominent star while carving out a 22-fight win streak. The first-ever major female UFC tournament was held in Japan in 2000 as part of the ReMix banner, which grew into the Smackgirl promotion - the first-ever all-women mixed martial arts organization. However, tournaments were held by Japanese regional promotions even during the mid-1990s while the first-ever female MMA fight in the US happened in 1997 between Becky Levi and Betty Fagan. This list celebrates the long road taken by women MMA fighters and applauds the seven pioneers of the sport.

7 Shannon Knapp

In 2011, UFC's parent company Zuffa acquired Strikeforce, the only major promotion in the US with a dedicated female roster. Considering Dana White's assertion that women would never compete in the UFC, this left the future of female MMA stars in limbo. Enter Shannon Knapp, an executive who had previously worked with multiple MMA promotions including the UFC.

Knapp, alongside Janet Martin, founded Invicta Fighting Championships - an all-female MMA promotion in 2012. While Dana White has changed his stance on women's MMA since 2011, Invicta FC remains as strong as ever and recently held its 50th event.

Knapp deserves praise for giving female fighters a platform to show their skills and Invicta FC has also functioned as a feeder organization for the UFC, with the majority of the latter's female Strawweight division coming up from Knapp's promotion.

6 Satoko Shinashi

With the Atomweight division not being a part of major US promotions, it is unlikely that the casual MMA audience would have heard of Satoko Shinashi. The 100-pound Shinashi first competed in 2001 and is still active while amassing a phenomenal 38-4-2 record.

Japan provided the most opportunities for female MMA fighters in the 2000s and the likes of Megumi Fuji and Yuka Tsuji became pioneers of the sport there alongside Shinashi. Making her mark in Smackgirl and Deep promotions in Japan, Shinashi went unbeaten in her first 23 fights. She would defeat all contenders before taking a six-year break from competition in 2009 following the birth of her child. While she has never fought in a major promotion, her legacy and longevity are widely celebrated in Japan.

5 Marloes Coenen

The 2000 ReMix World Cup held in Japan was the first major women's MMA championship tournament and Marloes Coenen wrote her name into the history books by defeating three opponents in one night to become the first-ever champion. Coenen would go on to have a prestigious career, signing contracts with EliteXC, Strikeforce, Invicta FC, Dream and Bellator through the years.

She became a major star in Strikeforce, beating Sarah Kaufman to become the second Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion. She would successfully defend her title against Liz Carmouche before losing the belt to Miesha Tate. She would go on to have a 17-year career and eventually retired in 2017 after Bellator 174 following her defeat to Julia Budd in a Bellator Featherweight title bout.

4 Cris Cyborg

The only MMA fighter in history to win titles across four major promotions, Cris Cyborg is the current Bellator Featherweight Champion. After a defeat in her inaugural bout against Erica Paes, Cyborg went unbeaten for an astonishing 15 years, which included 21 contests.

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She has had a few controversies along the way, including a positive doping test that resulted in her vacating the Strikeforce Featherweight title in 2011. Dana White wasn't initially keen on having her in the UFC, but Cyborg's status as the toughest female fighter in the whole of MMA basically forced him to create the UFC Women's Featherweight division specifically for her. She inevitably became the champion there but lost the title after Amanda Nunes beat her in a Champion vs Champion super fight in 2018.

Cyborg's relationship with the UFC was never great, and she was not offered a new contract when her deal expired in 2020. She would move on to Bellator soon after and is currently knocking out challengers left and right as their Featherweight Queen.

3 Amanda Nunes

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Amanda Nunes is widely regarded as the best female MMA fighter in history. With victories over Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, Miesha Tate, Cris Cyborg, and Valentina Shevchenko, Amanda Nunes has beaten every major contender over the course of her career. She amassed a six-year, 12-fight unbeaten streak which yielded her the UFC Featherweight and Bantamweight titles, becoming the only female double champion in UFC history.

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She might have lost the Bantamweight strap to Julianna Pena in a huge upset at UFC 269, but bookmakers have already deemed her as the favorite in the eventual rematch. While she has not been marketed to the same extent as Ronda Rousey despite her dominance, Nunes' body of work leaves no doubt as to who the GOAT of Women's MMA is.

2 Gina Carano

Gina Carano was considered to be the face of women's MMA from 2006 to 2009 as she competed in Strikeforce and EliteXC. Carano and Cris Cyborg became the first women to headline a major MMA show when they fought for the Strikeforce Featherweight title in 2009.

Carano would lose that bout to Cyborg, the only blemish in her eight-fight MMA career.

While she has not competed since, her subsequent foray into acting brought more focus on women's MMA than ever before. She would go on to be part of major films like Deadpool, Fast & Furious 6, and Haywire, winning praise for her screen presence and acting ability. Her popularity was so high that a bout between her and fellow MMA icon Ronda Rousey was touted as the first female superfight for many years. Sadly, the matchup never happened, but Carano would pave the way for Rousey to become a mainstream star. And speaking of Rousey, she did quite alright as well....

1 Ronda Rousey

She might have lost her last two fights in under a minute, but nothing can take away Ronda Rousey's contribution towards making women's MMA a bankable sport. An Olympic bronze medalist, her popularity forced Dana White in 2013 to do an about-face on his previous statement that women would never fight in the UFC. Rousey was part of the first-ever Women's UFC match at UFC 157 and the rest is history.

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Already the Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion when that promotion was acquired by the UFC, Rousey went on to successfully defend the newly rechristened UFC Bantamweight Championship six times in Dana White's promotion. Her presence and dominance made her a pop-culture phenomenon, with roles in major movie franchises like The Expendables and the Fast & Furious. Numerous talk show appearances and red carpet photographs followed, raising her profile as well as that of the sport.

Rousey is also credited with introducing trash talk to women's MMA and while her defeat to Holly Holm and later Amanda Nunes sent shock waves across the UFC, she fully deserves the credit for being a true MMA pioneer.

NEXT: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Rose Namjunas