5 best women's bantamweight title fights in UFC history

#4. Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm – UFC 196

Miesha Tate stunned everyone by choking out Holly Holm to win the UFC women's bantamweight title in 2016

Following her upset win over Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, many fans expected Holly Holm’s reign as UFC bantamweight champion to last for a lengthy time.

Unfortunately for ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’, the opposite turned out to be true, as she ended up dropping the gold in her first title defense against Miesha Tate at UFC 196.

The one redeeming factor, of sorts? The fight itself was a fascinating, back-and-forth one that saw both women shining for points, complete with a wild ending that practically nobody could’ve seen coming.

The first round went firmly to Holm, who comfortably outstruck the challenger standing to the point where it was easy to suspect the fight would be a rout. However, Tate turned that idea entirely on its head in the second round.

She secured a takedown on the champion and then passed her guard before spending the round on top, hammering Holm with elbows while also hunting for a potential choke.

‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ quickly went back to work in the third round, keeping the fight vertical again and once more comfortably outstriking ‘Cupcake’. When the fourth round followed the same pattern, it looked like Holm’s fight to lose.

Incredibly, though, with the fight slipping away from her in the fifth, Tate somehow managed to duck a punch and land another takedown. This time, knowing she had to finish things off, she wasted no time in taking Holm’s back again.

In a ridiculous visual, ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ then attempted to flip Tate off her back by diving to the ground, only to end up deeper in the choke. From there, ‘Cupcake’ squeezed until the champion passed out.

It was a miraculous and dramatic win for Tate, who, prior to it, looked like she’d go down as one of the best UFC fighters to never hold a title. Five years later, the ending is still pretty stirring.

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#3. Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche – UFC 157

Ronda Rousey had to fight out of some bad positions to take out Liz Carmouche in a stone cold classic at UFC 157

The UFC’s inaugural women’s bantamweight title fight was seen, informally at least, as a way to simply crown Ronda Rousey as the promotion’s newest big star.

‘Rowdy’ had been declared the champion a couple of months prior after transferring from the defunct Strikeforce promotion. While the UFC had also inked top-ranked women like Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano, they chose the lower-ranked Liz Carmouche as Rousey’s first opponent.

The fight headlined UFC 157 with plenty of fanfare. While many fans expected it to be a squash in favor of Rousey, the fight turned out to be a wild one that could’ve gone either way.

After a brief exchange to begin with, the two women hit the mat. Incredibly, during a scramble, Carmouche was able to take Rousey’s back. Seconds later, it looked like the impossible was about to happen. Rousey stood, but Carmouche slapped both hooks in and began to work for a possible choke or neck crank.

The hold looked sunk in, causing a collective intake of breath from the crowd. However, Rousey somehow shook Carmouche off and then took over the fight, eventually taking top position, where she eventually secured her trademark fight-ending armbar.

Rousey won the bout and become the big star, just as the UFC had hoped, but it hadn’t come without a serious fight, making this contest an instant classic.