Mma's Toughest Women

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.

While several organizations promote women's fighting, Strikeforce arguably has been the top promoter of mainstream women's MMA. The Carano-Santos bout in 2009 drew in nearly a million viewers, so the women can definitely attract some attention from MMA fans.

While Carano has not fought since her loss against Santos during that high-profile 2009 fight, she is still known as the face of women's mixed martial arts and has a 7-1 pro record. Her only loss was against Santos. She also has a pro kickboxing record of 12 wins and two losses.

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.

Tara LaRosa is another notable MMA fighter, considered the best ever by many fans with 21 wins and two lost bouts. While she is clearly a strong competitor, she has not yet competed in Strikeforce due to her lighter weight. However, she has defeated some of the sport's toughest opponents, including Megumi Yabushita, Takayo Hashi and Shayna Baszler.




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