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The women’s divisions inside the UFC – Featherweight, Bantamweight, Flyweight and Strawweight – have now been around for quite a substantial time, since 2013, and the majority of the doubters that were around when the promotion decided to open its gates to female fighters have largely been silenced.
One knock on female fighters that still seems to remain, however, is the suggestion that they don’t have the same kind of knockout power in their strikes that their male counterparts do. But while it’s true that there aren’t as many one-shot knockouts in the women’s divisions of the UFC, to say female fighters don’t have knockout power is simply ludicrous.
Here are 5 of the best knockouts in the history of the UFC women’s divisions – knockouts that prove the idea of a lack of KO power completely wrong.
#1 Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia
Prior to 2015, Ronda Rousey had made her name as almost a pure grappler in the Bantamweight division. Sure, she had two TKO stoppages to her name in 2014 over Sara McMann and Alexis Davis, but the Davis win was set up by a huge judo throw and the rest of her wins were all via submission thanks to her legendary armbar.
‘Rowdy Ronda’ changed that perception at UFC 190 though with a truly vicious knockout of Brazilian brawler Bethe Correia. Correia had made the fight highly personal – taking jabs at Rousey’s family prior to the event – and it was clear that the champion was gunning for revenge, even though the fight was to take place in Correia’s home country.
Rousey came right out of her corner swinging, and despite Correia tagging her with some punches, she was able to keep coming forward. A wild trade swiftly followed and seconds later, the fight was done – Rousey nailed the challenger with a combination of left hands and a knee and followed it with a right to the temple that sent Correia down, face-first, unconscious.
It was one of the more brutal knockouts in 2015, and immediately made people believe that not only did Rousey have world-class grappling, but that her striking game was quickly catching up and that she had incredible knockout power, too. At the peak of Ronda-mania, this was probably her signature win.
#2 Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey
If Ronda Rousey’s win over Bethe Correia three months prior to this fight made her – and her legions of fans - believe she had tremendous striking and knockout power, then this loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 quickly suggested otherwise. Former boxing champion Holm came into her title fight with Rousey as a huge underdog, and rightfully so – she’d scraped past fringe contenders Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau to earn her title shot, hardly impressive wins, while Rousey looked unstoppable.
In front of a UFC record crowd in Melbourne, Australia, though, Holm quickly proved the idea that Rousey was unbeatable firmly wrong. Rather than attempt to implement her grappling right away, Rousey came out looking to strike as she’d done against Correia, but it was quickly made clear that she wasn’t fighting a brawler this time.
The fight looked more like a bull – Rousey – chasing after a matador in Holm and failing miserably to land any offense, while ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ was able to use her pinpoint counter-strikes to catch the champion over and over. By the time the first round was over, it was clear that Rousey was probably in over her head.
She never saw the end of the second round. Holm dropped her with a left hand in the early going and as a stunned Rousey rose to her feet, Holm landed a huge left head kick that switched her lights off immediately, sending her crashing down to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Holm had shocked the world with one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history, and even four years on her head kick KO of the legendary champion remains one of the most replayed finishes of all time.
#3 Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
By late 2017, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had ruled over the UFC’s Strawweight division with an iron fist for what felt like a much longer period than two and a half years. The Polish star had beaten Carla Esparza for the title in March 2015 and had defended it successfully 5 times, using her aggressive striking style to destroy her opponents.
She’d never been able to unleash a clean one-shot knockout though, and incredibly, when one did happen during one of her fights, it was Jedrzejczyk who was on the wrong end. At UFC 217, her latest challenger Rose Namajunas wasn’t really being given a chance, despite coming off a big win over Michelle Waterson a few months beforehand.
Despite her underdog status, Namajunas came out looking confident, and even whilst exchanging some early feeler strikes, it looked like she had Jedrzejczyk’s timing worked out. An early right hook sent the champion down, but she’d been dropped before and had always recovered. Joanna got to her feet, but this time things seemed to be different.
Moments later, ‘Thug Rose’ put her down for good – landing a huge left hook that sent Jedrzejczyk crashing to the ground, and some follow-up shots sealed the deal for good. It was one of the biggest upsets of 2017 and definitely one of the most memorable knockouts in the history of the UFC women’s divisions – and it made Namajunas into a superstar in one fell swoop.
#4 Jessica Andrade vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
After a somewhat middling career in the Bantamweight division, Jessica Andrade dropped to 115lbs in 2016 and made an immediate impact, reeling off 3 straight wins before failing in an attempt to dethrone then-champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. She bounced back by defeating longtime contenders Claudia Gadelha and Tecia Torres, but it was clear that to gain another title shot, she needed to do something special.
That something special came during her fight with fellow former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 228. A highly skilled fighter, Kowalkiewicz looked like a difficult test for Andrade, although it was clear to everyone that she lacked the brute power of ‘Bate Estaca’. And Andrade wasted no time in proving her point.
Both women came out swinging but it was quickly obvious that Andrade was able to hurt Kowalkiewicz when she was able to land, and an early combination had the Polish fighter badly stunned. Like PRIDE-era Wanderlei Silva, Andrade simply didn’t let up and kept on swinging, and eventually, a huge right hook waylaid Kowalkiewicz and knocked her absolutely silly.
Andrade didn’t even need to follow up with any shots on the ground as it was clear that Kowalkiewicz was done. This was undoubtedly one of the most brutal knockouts ever unleashed by a female fighter in the UFC – and unsurprisingly, it was enough to net her another title shot.
#5 Amanda Nunes vs. Cris Cyborg
The Superfight between UFC Featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and her Bantamweight counterpart Amanda Nunes was one of the most heavily hyped fights of 2018, but coming in it seemed difficult to imagine a way that Nunes could win. The naturally smaller fighter, it was hard to see how Nunes could outstrike or outgrapple Cyborg, who hadn’t lost a fight since 2005.
Incredibly though, ‘The Lioness’ found a way to win – and in the most violent fashion possible, too. Rather than look to use her technical striking to defeat Nunes, Cyborg evidently believed she could run through Nunes using brute force – and so came out swinging wildly, looking to trade with her smaller foe. It was a huge mistake.
Nunes proved to be the quicker fighter and also the cleaner striker, and she was immediately able to tag Cyborg with some hard counter-punches that had her in big trouble. A four-punch combination dropped Cyborg to her knees, and while the longtime champion was able to get back up, Nunes didn’t waste any time and turned out her lights with a huge right hand that sent her down face-first.
It was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history and one of the biggest title victories too, as Nunes had become a double champion in a way that had almost seemed impossible coming into the event. Nunes had been able to deliver some brutal knockouts before – most notably over Ronda Rousey – but this one was clearly the biggest and best of her career.
