Ranking the Top 10 WMMA GOATs

[BFoe]

Putting Zhang above JJ is absolutely absurd.

Lol there’s a lot that’s absurd about that list. Carano over Holly? Weili Zhang being there at all is crazy, let alone ranked above Ronda, who he has at #8. Silliness.

 

[Pastinaca1]

Putting Zhang above JJ is absolutely absurd.

Zhang has a much better record and she defeated JJ.

Then again, this is WMMA so no one really cares

 

[Pastinaca1]

Lol there’s a lot that’s absurd about that list. Carano over Holly? Weili Zhang being there at all is crazy, let alone ranked above Ronda, who he has at #8. Silliness.

Only thing Holy has done is derail the Ronda Rousey hype train, nothing more.
Carano at least was a huge draw back in the day and lost only once. Holm has lost 5 times already.

Zhang has a very good record and defeated JJ in one of the very very few Wmma fights worth watching. She just fought for the title as well.

Ronda was an overhyped one trick pony. Once she faced some real competition she could not do shit. We saw that specially in the Nunes fight. She looked like somebody who has never even trained.

 

[Striker Fox]

You read that correctly, fellow Sherdoggians—I said WMMA GOATs. I.e., the best female mixed martial artists we’ve seen so far. This should be a topic that sets Sherdog on fire
But I think it’s important to do this, to begin to try and codify who the very best female athletes are that we’ve seen, same as we do in men’s MMA. And in light of the great wins from Val and Rose the other night, I think the topic is timely.

EXPLANATION OF CRITERIA:
When I compile GOAT lists, I do it based on overall resume and accomplishments. I look at categories such as championships won, number of title defenses, number of ranked wins, and the always popular criteria of former/future champions beaten. This is particularly tough to do with WMMA, as not all the big promotions have always had women’s divisions—and ones that did, didn’t always have rankings. So for the purpose of this thread, I will be using the criteria of: Notable Wins, Championships Won, Title Defenses, Former/Future Champions Beaten, as well as Losses.

DISCLAIMERS: I will attempt to rank fighters regardless of PED failures. Additionally, I will be listing championships won in in smaller orgs. We don’t do this with men’s MMA, but I found it necessary as major promotions did not always have women’s divisions. Yes, I know that not all championships are equal. While GOAT lists are always somewhat subjective, this one is more so than usual, due to the fact that WMMA in general is newer in its growth than men’s MMA. In the event that these criteria seemed equivalent for two or more fighters, I then looked at whether these fighters had fought one another, and the outcome. Because of all this, I expect a fair amount of controversy.
Well, that and neckbeards who still can’t handle the fact that it’s 2021 and women compete in all sorts of athletics.
Without further ado, here are my Top 10.

10. JULIA BUDD View attachment 850280
Record: 15-3
Notable wins: 3 (GDR, Arlene Blencowe, Marloes Coenen)
Championships won: 1 (Bellator)
Title defenses: 3
Champs beaten: 3 (GDR, Blencowe x 2, Coenen)
Losses: Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg
Budd is a Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer, who also has a 10-2 kickboxing record. She made her pro MMA debut in 2010, and has fought for Strikeforce, Invicta, and Bellator.

9. HOLLY HOLM View attachment 850283

Record: 14-5
Notable wins: 6 (Pennington x 2, Reneau, Rousey, Correia, Anderson, Aldana)
Championships won: 1 (UFC)
Title defenses: 0
Champs beaten: 2 (Rousey and Anderson)
Losses: Tate, Schevchenko, De Randamie, Cyborg, Nunes
Holly is a boxer (33-2-3) and kickboxer (22-1-7) who made her pro MMA debut in 2011. She has fought for Legacy FC, Bellator, Invicta, the UFC, and others.

8. MIESHA TATE View attachment 850285

Record: 18-7
Notable wins: 5 (Coenen, Carmouche, McMann, Eye, and Holm)
Championships won: 3 (FCF, Strikeforce, UFC)
Title defenses: 1 (FCF title. 0 successful defenses of SF and UFC titles)
Champs beaten: 2 (Coenen and Holm)
Losses: Young, Kaufman, Rousey x 2, Zingano, Nunes, Pennington
Miesha started wrestling in high school, then later trained jiu jitsu. She made her pro debut in 2007, and competed in BodogFight, FCF, Strikeforce, UFC, and others.

7. MARLOES COENEN View attachment 850287

Record: 23-8
Notable wins: 5 (Kondo, Modafferi, Carmouche, Kaufman, Blencowe)
Championships won: 1 (Strikeforce)
Title defenses: 1
Champs beaten: 3 (Modafferi, Blencowe, Kaufman)
Losses: Toughill, Modafferi, Dandois, Cyborg x 2, Tate, Dufresne, Budd.
Marloes started training martial arts at age 14, and made her pro MMA debut in the year 2000. She has fought in organizations such as Shooto, Smackgirl, ReMix, K-Grace, Strikeforce, Invicta, DREAM, and Bellator.
(Yes, there was an org called “Smackgirl.” I did not make that up. Maybe not the best branding, in retrospect.)

6. CRIS CYBORG View attachment 850289

Record: 23-2-1
Notable wins: 8 (Baszler, Carano, Coenen x2, Holm, Kunitskaya, Spencer, Budd, Blencowe)
Championships won: 4 (Strikeforce, Invicta, UFC, Bellator)
Title defenses: 8
Champs beaten: 7 (Baszler, Coenen x 2, Smith, Holm, Evinger, Budd, Blencowe)
Losses: Erica Paes, Amanda Nunes
1 NC due to PED test failure
Cyborg has a Muay Thai base, and debuted in 2005. She has a 2-1 Muay Thai record, a 7-1 submission grappling record, and has fought for Storm Samurai, EliteXC, Strikeforce, Invicta, UFC, Bellator, and others.

5. ROSE NAMAJUNAS View attachment 850295

Record: 10-4
Notable wins: 7* (Hill, Van Zant, Torres, Waterson, Jedrzejczyk x 2, Andrade, Zhang)
Championships won: 2 (UFC SW title x 2)
Title defenses: 1
Champs beaten: 5 (Hill, Waterson, Jedrzejczyk x 2, Andrade, Zhang)
Losses: Torres, Esparza, Kowalkiewicz, Andrade
*also holds win over Calderwood on TUF. Technically an exhibition
Rose started training Tae Kwan Do at age 5, then later trained karate, kickboxing, and jiu jitsu. Rose made her professional debut in 2013, and has fought in Invicta and the UFC.

4. JOANNA JEDRZEJCZYK View attachment 850302

Record: 16-4
Notable wins: 9 (Sexton, Esparza, Penne, Gadelha x 2, Letourneau, Kowalkiewicz, Andrade, Torres, Waterson)
Championships won: 1 (UFC SW)
Title defenses: 5
Champs beaten: 6 (Sexton, Esparza, Penne, Andrade, Kowalkiewicz, Waterson)
Losses: Namajunas x 2, Schevchenko, Zhang
Joanna is a Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer. She started training Muay Thai at 16, and made her pro MMA debut in 2012. She has an amateur Muay Thai record of 40-3, and a kickboxing record of 30-3. She has won 5 gold medals and one silver in Muay Thai world championships, and fought MMA in PLMMA, CWFC, UFC, and other orgs.

3. VALENTINA SCHEVCHENKO View attachment 850305

Record: 21-3
Notable wins: 9 (Kaufman, Holm, Pena, Jedrzejczyk, Eye, Carmouche, Chookagian, Maia, Andrade)
Championships won: 1 (UFC FLW)
Title defenses: 5
Champs beaten: 4 (Kaufman, Holm, Jedrzejczyk, Andrade)
Losses: Carmouche, Nunes x 2
Valentina is a Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer. She started training Tae Kwan Do at age 5, Muay Thai at age 12, and then Vale Tudo. She has a kickboxing record of 57-2, won 8 gold medals and one silver in Muay Thai world championships, and has a 2-0 pro boxing record. She has fought in many MMA orgs including Legacy, Fusion, and UFC.

2. RONDA ROUSEY View attachment 850307

Record: 12-2
Notable wins: 8 (Budd, Tate x 2, Kaufman, Carmouche, McMann, Davis, Zingano, Correia)
Championships won: 1* (Strikeforce BW, later promoted to UFC BW)
Title defenses: 7
Champs beaten: 5 (Budd, Tate x 2, Kaufman, Davis, Zingano)
Losses: Holm, Nunes
Ronda began training judo at age 11. She has won a variety of medals in the Pan Am Games, Pan Am Championships, World Judo Championships, and was a bronze medalist in judo in the 2008 Olympic Games. She made her MMA pro debut in 2011, and has fought in KOTC, HKFC, Strikeforce, and UFC.

1. AMANDA NUNES View attachment 850310

Record: 21-4
Notable wins: 11 (Budd, De Randamie x 2, Baszler, Schevchenko x 2, McMann, Rousey, Pennington, Cyborg, Holm, Spencer, Anderson)
Championships won: 2 (UFC BW, and UFC FW, held simultaneously)
Title defenses: 7 (UFC BW x 5, UFC FW x 2)
Champs beaten: 10 (Budd, De Randamie x 2, Baszler, Schevchenko x 2, Rousey, Tate, Cyborg, Holm, Spencer, Anderson)
Losses: 4 (Ana Maria, Davis, D’Alelio, Zingano)
Nunes started training capoeira at age 5 and karate when she was 7. She started training jiu jitsu when she was 16. Amanda has fought in Prime: MMA Championship, Samurai FC, Strikeforce, Invicta, UFC, and others.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Germaine De Randamie, Yuka Tsuji, Megumi Fuji, Tara LaRosa, Gina Carano, Cat Zingano.

Spoiler

@Ares Black @Ironnik94 @Kyojiro Kagenuma @Zebra Cheeks @Spath @Arkham's Notorious Geyser

It's criminal having Rousey ahead of Shevchenko

 

[BFoe]

Only thing Holy has done is derail the Ronda Rousey hype train, nothing more.
Carano at least was a huge draw back in the day and lost only once. Holm has lost 5 times already.

Zhang has a very good record and defeated JJ in one of the very very few Wmma fights worth watching. She just fought for the title as well.

Ronda was an overhyped one trick pony. Once she faced some real competition she could not do shit. We saw that specially in the Nunes fight. She looked like somebody who has never even trained.

Just to make sure I took all that in:

• You allege that Ronda lost once she faced “real competition,” but don’t apply the same standard to Carano.
• You say that Holly has don’t nothing in her career except beat Ronda, yet she must be “real competition” by your definition, she somehow still makes your Top 10 all time list, but Miesha who beat Holly (and won more titles in her career) does not make the list.
• You call Ronda overhyped; but she only has 2 losses. One of the 2 people who beat her is your #1, Ronda has wins over 3 different people that beat your #1, yet they don’t count as “real competition” for some reason.

Does that about sum it up?

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Zhang has a much better record and she defeated JJ.

Then again, this is WMMA so no one really cares

Lol, no she doesn't. She was also a champion with only one defense.

 

[Pastinaca1]

Just to make sure I took all that in:

• You allege that Ronda lost once she faced “real competition,” but don’t apply the same standard to Carano.
• You say that Holly has don’t nothing in her career except beat Ronda, yet she must be “real competition” by your definition, she somehow still makes your Top 10 all time list, but Miesha who beat Holly (and won more titles in her career) does not make the list.
• You call Ronda overhyped; but she only has 2 losses. One of the 2 people who beat her is your #1, Ronda has wins over 3 different people that beat your #1, yet they don’t count as “real competition” for some reason.

Does that about sum it up?

You are doing tons of MMA math, and it does mot work that way

 

[Pastinaca1]

Lol, no she doesn't. She was also a champion with only one defense.

JJ record is 16-4
Zhangs record is 21-2

The first number means wins, and the second one means loses.

So let’s do some kindergarden level math. Which record is better, 16-4 or 21-2?

 

[Adamant]

Why is it so hard for people to understand what "GOAT" means? GOAT is wholly singular. It is not plural. There isn't more than 1 GOAT in any sport.

Unless you are comparing Michael Jordan to Tom Brady to Fedor Emelianenko, then "GOATs" isn't a thing.

 

[BFoe]

You are doing tons of MMA math, and it does mot work that way

I didn’t do any MMAmath. If I said, “Alexis Davis beat Nunes, Ronda beat Davis, therefore I think Ronda would beat Nunes,” *that* is MMAmath.
All I’m doing is judging the level of competition—in other words, how good do we think a given fighter is?
Now, there’s other factors. I mean, it’s obvious that in Amanda Nunes’ case, she evolved and grew a lot as a fighter over the years. But I think it’s a valid point that if Amanda is a badass (which she is), then fighters like Zingano or Davis who beat Nunes by stoppage must be at least legit fighters.
And Ronda beat those fighters in seconds. So I don’t think it’s fair to call Ronda a one trick pony who never trained (I assume you mean trained MMA, not at all) in her life.

Either way, I do appreciate you dropping by my thread. It’s clear that you’re not a big WMMA fan, but you still checked out the thread and even offered your own list.
Enjoy the fights tonight!

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

JJ record is 16-4
Zhangs record is 21-2

The first number means wins, and the second one means loses.

So let’s do some kindergarden level math. Which record is better, 16-4 or 21-2?

Wow. You're stupid. You're like, actually stupid.

Does the word context mean anything to you buddy?

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

I didn’t do any MMAmath. If I said, “Alexis Davis beat Nunes, Ronda beat Davis, therefore I think Ronda would beat Nunes,” *that* is MMAmath.
All I’m doing is judging the level of competition—in other words, how good do we think a given fighter is?
Now, there’s other factors. I mean, it’s obvious that in Amanda Nunes’ case, she evolved and grew a lot as a fighter over the years. But I think it’s a valid point that if Amanda is a badass (which she is), then fighters like Zingano or Davis who beat Nunes by stoppage must be at least legit fighters.
And Ronda beat those fighters in seconds. So I don’t think it’s fair to call Ronda a one trick pony who never trained (I assume you mean trained MMA, not at all) in her life.

Either way, I do appreciate you dropping by my thread. It’s clear that you’re not a big WMMA fan, but you still checked out the thread and even offered your own list.
Enjoy the fights tonight!

No dude, he's clearly an imbecile lmao.

 

[Pastinaca1]

Wow. You're stupid. You're like, actually stupid.

Does the word context mean anything to you buddy?

I said zhang has a better record than JJ and you said like a retard “no, she doesn’t”. I proved you wrong and now you are bitching like a little kid.

Ok, so just for your information. 21 is a higher number than 16, and 4 is a higher number than 2.

Here is the order of the numbers. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.

Write them and learn them. You tell me when you are ready and then we will go from 26 to 50. Good luck

 

[BFoe]

No dude, he's clearly an imbecile lmao.

Hey I’m trying to be nice here!

Why is it so hard for people to understand what "GOAT" means? GOAT is wholely singular. It is not plural. There isn't more than 1 GOAT in any sport.

Unless you are comparing Michael Jordan to Tom Brady to Fedor Emelianenko, then "GOATs" isn't a thing.

I think everyone understands that the GOAT is the single greatest fighter of all time. Are you saying that if I had named the thread, “Ranking the 10 Greatest WMMA Fighters Of All Time” that would make sense, but my current title somehow doesn’t make sense?

 

[TheJohnnyWalkerEra]

Putting Rousey at number 2 and Cyborg at 6 is just retarded

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Who is that Japanese lady who dresses like a cavewoman and just knocks DNBs stone cold dead? Never seen her fight that I'm aware, but her highlights are outrageous. She may not be top ten, but she's got to have a top ten all time WMMA highlight reel.

 

[sfer1]

Carano made a career out of fighting smaller opponents. She didn't make weight for 5 out of her 8 pro fights. Lost once and retired. Same thing she did in kickboxing. She was a draw because of her looks. Mediocre fighter and a quitter.

Valentina is better than Amanda. She didn't cut any weight to fight at 135. Even though, Amanda had 20 lbs on her, many people think Valentina won the second fight. If they were the same size, Valentina would beat Amanda 10 out of 10 times.

Ronda was very relevant to put WMMA on the map. In terms of skills, she's definitely not in the top 10.

Joanna over Rose? Nah. She accumulated an impressive record before the level of competition got actually high. Her takedown defense is better than Rose's, but that's about it. Rose is better everywhere else and beat her twice. Rose is more versatile, has better footwork and distance management, hits a lot harder and is way more dangerous on the ground. I think Valentina and Rose are the two most technically skilled female fighters we've seen.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Putting Rousey at number 2 and Cyborg at 6 is just retarded

Why? The biggest knock against Rousey is that she got totally clowned by Nunes and Holms. Afterwards Rousey's popular rating dropped from probable win over Floyd Mayweather to total can. But people forget that she beat some really good fighters. And then Cyborg got clowned by Nunes just as badly. Rousey has a stronger resume than Cyborg, and most of the girls she fought were in at least generally the same size. I'd say Cyborg was much more well-rounded, but Rousey had the specialist advantage. If you couldn't avoid the clinch, and only two of her opponents ever could, she was tossing your ass and taking your arm.

Going forward, I think Rousey's legacy is going to age a lot better than Cyborg's.

 

[BFoe]

Carano made a career out of fighting smaller opponents. She didn't make weight for 5 out of her 8 pro fights. Lost once and retired. Same thing she did in kickboxing. She was a draw because of her looks. Mediocre fighter and a quitter.

Valentina is better than Amanda. She didn't cut any weight to fight at 135. Even though, Amanda had 20 lbs on her, many people think Valentina won the second fight. If they were the same size, Valentina would beat Amanda 10 out of 10 times.

Ronda was very relevant to put WMMA on the map. In terms of skills, she's definitely not in the top 10.

Joanna over Rose? Nah. She accumulated an impressive record before the level of competition got actually high. Her takedown defense is better than Rose's, but that's about it. Rose is better everywhere else and beat her twice. Roae is more versatile, has better footwork and distance management, hits a lot harder and is way more dangerous on the ground. I think Valentina and Rose are the two most technically skilled female fighters we've seen.

I don’t necessarily disagree with you. I just don’t think it’s an objective criteria, so that’s not how I ranked the fighters. Personally, I think Rose is a better striker than Joanna and I enjoy Rose’s striking more. But how I feel about it isn’t the relevant point imo—Joanna was a champ with a shitload of defenses, and has wins over a lot of good fighters. He record and accomplishments are what I take into account.
Yes, Ronda’s striking is kind of meh while her grappling is top notch—but so is Khabib’s, frankly. But if Ronda and Khabib were able to impose their strengths on their opponents and accomplish what they did, then what difference does it make? But I do understand where you’re coming from.

 

[Bamboozled]

Cyborg is #1 and Mega Megu isn't on your list :|