Before Amanda Nunes was the GOAT. Before Zhang Weili was filling arenas in China. Before Valentina Shevchenko was considered one of the most technically perfect fighters alive. Before any of it, there was a group of women who showed up and fought when barely anyone was watching and even fewer were taking them seriously.
This is about them.
Gina Carano -- The Face That Started the Conversation
In the mid-2000s, women's MMA existed in a sort of underground space. There were promotions running women's cards, and there were fans, but it was not considered a mainstream product. Gina Carano changed that, at least in the United States, by being the fighter who made casual sports fans pay attention.
Her fights on Strikeforce -- particularly the Kaitlin Young fight and the EliteXC events -- drew television audiences that women's combat sports had not previously attracted. She was genuinely skilled: excellent Muay Thai, good wrestling, real toughness. The loss to Cris Cyborg came after Carano was drained from a weight cut and fighting a monster, and it was competitive for a while.
But her role in history isn't about her record. It's about the fact that she was the first widely known female MMA fighter in North America. She opened a door. A lot of careers that followed -- including ones that ended with UFC title belts -- became possible because Carano made casual audiences aware that women's MMA existed.
Marloes Coenen -- The Submission Shark
Marloes Coenen was doing things on the ground in women's MMA that were ahead of their time. A Dutch fighter who trained at a high level in jiu-jitsu and submission grappling, she competed at a time when women's MMA technique was still developing rapidly, and she was consistently ahead of the curve.
She won multiple world titles and competed in the most competitive women's promotions of her era. Her fights against Cyborg and others were genuine championship-level contests. She's not a household name among casual fans, but in the community of people who followed women's MMA during its foundational years, Coenen is remembered as one of the best to ever do it.
Cris Cyborg -- The Monster Who Made Everyone Better
Cris Cyborg (Cristiane Justino) is one of the most physically formidable human beings ever to compete in MMA. For years -- years -- she was the most feared competitor in women's combat sports. She finished nearly everyone she fought. She competed at weights that were uncomfortable for her and still dominated.
Her career is complicated by a performance-enhancing drug violation, and that's part of the story too. But her impact on the sport is undeniable. She forced opponents to prepare at a higher level. She showed that women could have the same kind of aura -- the same intimidation factor, the same physical presence -- that the biggest male stars carried.
The moment Amanda Nunes walked into a cage with Cyborg at UFC 232 and knocked her out in 51 seconds, it was one of the most significant moments in combat sports history. But that moment only meant what it meant because Cyborg had spent years being the monster. She made the title of "best in the world" worth something.
Ronda Rousey -- The One Who Made the UFC Act
Whatever you think about where Ronda Rousey is now or how her career ended, the historical case is simple: she's the reason the UFC added a women's division.
Dana White famously said women would never fight in the UFC. Ronda Rousey's success in Strikeforce -- her dominance, her arm bars, her crossover appeal -- made that position indefensible. The UFC acquired Strikeforce partly to get Rousey. She headlined UFC pay-per-views. She fought at a time when pay-per-view buys were the primary revenue metric, and she moved numbers.
She also trained at a world-class level and was genuinely one of the best judo practitioners in American MMA history. The losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes were traumatic in ways that affected her career arc and her mental health publicly. That's a real person dealing with real consequences of public failure at an enormous scale.
But what she built -- the institutional acceptance, the pay-per-view credibility, the idea that women's MMA could be the headliner -- is permanent. Every women's champion who has ever closed a UFC event has Rousey to thank for making that possible.
Holly Holm -- The Upset That Proved Nothing Was Permanent
Holly Holm knocking out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in Melbourne is one of the greatest moments in combat sports history. A 70,000-seat stadium in Australia going absolutely berserk as a former boxing world champion landed a perfect high kick to send the apparently invincible Rousey to the canvas.
Holm is significant not just for the upset but for what she represented. A former multi-weight boxing world champion who transitioned to MMA later in her career and reached the absolute top. She showed that the sport was still growing, that new athletes were arriving who would change it, and that the UFC title was never truly safe.
She's also a genuinely lovely person who handles fame and the spotlight with remarkable grace. That matters. Not every fighter who makes history is someone you'd want your kids to look up to as a person. Holly Holm is.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk -- The Standard Bearer
Joanna Jedrzejczyk's run as strawweight champion from 2015 to 2017 set a standard for excellence that the division is still measured against. Five successful title defenses against the best competition in the world. A Muay Thai base that was arguably the most technically refined striking in women's MMA history.
She competed in a fight against Zhang Weili at UFC 248 that many consider the single greatest fight in UFC history, period. And she did it in a rematch she didn't have to take, against a champion who had already beaten her, in a division she had given years of her life to building.
Jedrzejczyk is the fighter you point to when you want to show someone what the combination of technical excellence and competitive heart looks like in practice.
The Ones Still Building
The story isn't finished. Tatiana Suarez coming back from injury to reclaim relevance. Mackenzie Dern building out of jiu-jitsu into a complete MMA game. The flyweight division developing depth that makes every title fight meaningful.
Women's MMA in 2026 is the healthiest it has ever been, with multiple divisions that have genuine depth and championship fights that would be the best events in any sport on the nights they happen.
Every fighter competing today walks on a path that these women paved. That's worth knowing. That's worth saying to your kids.
The full stories of these fights and careers are on UFC Fight Pass. Start with the Rousey vs Holm fight. It still gives you chills.