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Dana White once said that women would never fight in the Octagon as long as he was there. This statement, however, changed over time and now, WMMA fighters are an integral part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
White himself noted recently that WMMA is on fire.
While the change is a good thing, White’s initial stand on the matter kept a lot of talented female fighters away from the UFC. Even before Ronda Rousey made a name for WMMA, there were many pioneers of the sport and most of them did not fight in the UFC due to one reason or the other.
In this list, we will be looking at those iconic female MMA fighters who never fought in the UFC.
#5 Tara LaRosa
Technically speaking, Tara LaRosa did fight in the Ultimate Fighter once. However, since it was a pro-exhibition fight, LaRosa deserves to be in this list.
She started her career back in 2002 and went on to fight in many promotions such as HOOKnSHOOT, MFC, SmackGirl, Bodog Fight and Invicta Fighting Championship among others. LaRosa’s best run came in between 2004 and 2009 when she seemed untouchable as she secured 15 back-to-back wins. She also won the BodogFight Women's Bantamweight Championship during this run.
When she was on her prime, LaRosa was worshipped by her fellow fighters and rightfully so. LaRosa has a professional record of 22-5 to her name currently and most of the wins she secured came via stoppages as well.
The only forgettable chapter in her career was perhaps the Ultimate Fighter shot that she got. LaRosa was nowhere near her prime when she finally got the opportunity and this reflected in the result as well as she was defeated by Sarah Moras via a decision.
#4 Marloes Coenen
A former Strikeforce Bantamweight champion, Marloes Coenen started fighting professionally in 2000 and was a mainstay in Strikeforce during the later stages of her career. She fought some big names like Miesha Tate, Cris Cyborg, Sarah Kaufman and Roxanne Modafferi during her career which ended with a professional record of 23-8.
Coenen was so iconic that she was chosen to headline the first fight card of Invicta Fighting Championship which was held in 2012. Although she secured a win in the fight, her second fight in Invicta ended in a defeat as she was outclassed by Cris Cyborg.
Coenen also had a run in Bellator MMA where she fought four times. It was some contractual disputes between her team and the UFC that kept her away from the Octagon. This fact, however, takes nothing away from the legendary career that Coenen had.
#3 Miku Matsumoto
Miku Matsumoto was a pioneer of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts in Japan. Her career started in 2004 and lasted only five years. However, in this time span, Matsumoto built up a professional record of 23-4 to her name which included many iconic fights.
Her rivalry with Misaki Takimoto, in particular, was one of the highlights of her career. In the earlier stages of her career, Matsumoto went 10-2 with her only two losses coming up against Takimoto. She then avenged both these losses later on and defeated Takimoto on two separate occasions.
In the later stages of her career, Matsumoto was a mainstay in DEEP where she was crowned the Lightweight champion in 2007. She also had two successful defences of the title.
In 2010, she had an exhibition match with another legendary Japanese fighter Megumi Fujii and this was the last time Matsumoto fought. As for Fujii, she is our next entry in the list.
#2 Megumi Fujii
Just like Miku Matsumoto, Megumi Fujii was a pioneer of Japanese WMMA. In fact, Fujii was a bigger name than Matsumoto.
Fujii started her career in 2004 and was unbeaten for six years. She won 22 straight fights and only went the distance on three occasions. Her undefeated run went all the way to the Bellator Tournament final for the inaugural 115 pound Women’s championship.
Unfortunately, she suffered her first defeat in that fight against Zoila Frausto Gurgel via split decision and also lost the chance to hold the Bellator title. Interestingly, Fujii was 36-years-old when she fought for the Bellator title.
She fought six times after this defeat and won four fights including one against Mei Yamaguchi who is a prominent name in ONE Championship these days. In 2013, Fujii decided to retire from the sport as her age was starting to catch up on her.
#1 Gina Carano
Although Gina Carano’s career only lasted three years, the impact she made was huge. It all started in 2006 when she debuted in World Extreme Fighting. In her first fight, Carano knocked out Leiticia Pestova in just 38 seconds. She then went on to secure six more victories and defeated names like Julie Kedzie, Tonya Evinger and Kaitlin Young.
However, Carano will be remembered most for the fight she had with Cris Cyborg for the Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight championship in 2009. It was the fight that put Women’s MMA on the mainstream map as it had huge hype.
Cyborg emerged victorious in the showdown via a first-round TKO and handed Carano her first defeat. This was also the last time Carano stepped into the cage for fighting. She finished her career with a record of 7-1 and moved on to a career in Hollywood.
Who did we miss out? Let us know in the comments section below.
