30 greatest UFC fighters of all time [UPDATED]

21. Ronda Rousey

The pioneer for women’s MMA, Dana White once said there would never be a women’s division in the UFC, but that all changed when Ronda Rousey came around. Rousey was the first American female to earn an Olympic medal in Judo when she started MMA in 2011 and after submitting all six of her opponents by first-round armbar, she caught the attention of the UFC boss. Every fight Rousey would have in the UFC would be a title fight.

Rousey was awarded the inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight championship and had her first title defense against current Bellator champion Liz Carmouche in 2013. Rousey was an enigma with the UFC, everyone everywhere was talking about her as she ran through Miesha Tate, fellow Olympic medalist Sara McMann, Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano, and Bethe Correia.

In 2015 Rousey was scheduled to defend her title against professional boxer Holly Holm and was heavily favored to win. In one of, if not the biggest upset and knockout of all-time, Holm bludgeoned Rousey throughout two rounds before putting her lights out with a perfectly-timed head kick. That loss changed everything in the division and Rousey stepped out of the spotlight for a year before returning to challenge new champion Amanda Nunes for her old belt. Nunes made quick work of Rousey and that would be the last we saw of her in MMA.

Rousey would retire in 2016 and went on to star in movies and eventually join the WWE. Rousey went 6-2 in title bouts with seven performance bonuses and holds the record for most women’s bantamweight title defenses with six. Rousey was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.