Toughest Women In MMA

By Nolan Barias


Mixed martial arts, in fact, most martial arts in general, have always been dominated by men. While there are MMA fans who believe this is the way it should always be, there are many tough women competing in professional bouts who attack the sport with the same ferocity as the men. Beginning with the Carano-Maxwell fight in 2006, women have made their presence known and are not going to leave MMA anytime soon.

One of the most important organizations for women's MMA has been Strikeforce. A Strikeforce fight between Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos drew more than 850,000 views in 2009. For those who believe that women can't bring the audience, these numbers certainly suggest otherwise.

Carano is certainly one of the top figures in women's MMA with an impressive record on 7 wins and 1 loss. She also has a solid kickboxing record, winning 12 of 14 bouts. Her only loss was against Cristiane Santos in 2009 and she has not fought since that bout.

Cristiane Santos is a terrifying presence in women's MMA with a record of 10 wins, one loss and one no contest. Born in Brazil, Santos trained at the Chute Boxe Academy before coming to the states and joining the team at The Arena in San Diego. Her last fight was in 2011 against Hiroko Yamananka. The fight was originally a TKO, but was changed to no contest after Santos failed a drug test and was suspended from competition. While she did appeal the conviction, she will not be eligible to fight until December, 2012.

Ronda Rousey is absolutely one of the top competitors of women's pro MMA, and she has an impressive, if brief, career so far. The former Olympian holds an undefeated 5-0 MMA record including wins against Miesha Tate, which earned her the Women's Bantamweight Championship title. She also has three wins as an amateur.

While Miesha Tate might have lost her title to Rousey, she still boasts a strong 12-3 pro record and is consistently on top ten lists when considering women fighters. A former champion high school wrestler, she also has an impressive MMA amateur career, winning five of her six bouts before turning pro.

Despite her lack of Strikeforce experience, Tara LaRosa is considered to be one of the best female mixed martial artists ever. Her 21-2 record is impressive, but because she weighs in at only around 125, there are no weight classes for her in Strikeforce. Despite this she has defeated tough opponents such as Megumi Yabushita and Shayna Baszler.




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