MMA
Where does Cris Cyborg rank among the best women’s MMA fighters?
Watch Battle of the Giants on DAZN on Oct. 19
The Professional Fighter's League is hosting its biggest fight card ever when it puts three titles on the line at Battle of the Giants on Oct. 19. The card features a women's featherweight title bout for the co-main event featuring one of MMA's biggest female stars, Cris "Cyborg" Justino, taking on PFL's biggest female star, Larissa Pacheco. Cyborg's long-standing history of excellence and Pacheco's history-making moments put them both on the best WMMA rankings of all time, but where exactly?
Greatest women's MMA fighters of all time
1. Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes' position as the No. 1 pound-for-pound best was solidified after defeating both Cyborg and Ronda Rousey via stoppage. She is also the only woman to ever hold two titles at the same time in the UFC.
2. Cris Cyborg
Cyborg comes in a close second under Nunes due to losing to her in 2018. Cyborg holds wins over some of the best female fighters ever including Gina Carano, Marloes Coenen, Holly Holm, and Julia Budd. In her 30 professional bouts, she's lost just twice. To call her a pioneer would be an understatement. She is the only fighter (male or female) to earn titles in four major promotions (UFC, Bellator, Invicta and Strikeforce) and if she wins on Oct. 19 she'll have five titles across five major promotions.
3. Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey is credited with making WMMA popular and for that, she deserves her roses. She might have placed higher had she fought the level of competition that Cyborg or Nunes did.
4. Valentina Shevchenko
For many years Valentina Shevchenko was the most frightening woman in the UFC's flyweight division. Then Alexa Grasso came along. Her many undefeated years and her bounce-back victory over Grasso earned Shevchenko the No. 4 spot.
5. Weili Zhang
Weili Zhang is one-half of arguably the greatest women's fight of all time. Her fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk has gone down in history. She won the UFC women's strawweight title and lost it, then won it again and became the first Chinese fighter to win a UFC title and the first Asian-born fighter to win a title.
Where does Lariss Pacheco rank amongst WMMA's best?
Pacheco doesn't make the top five, but she might make my top 10. She was the first woman to hand Kayla Harrison a loss in the MMA cage and she's the only PFL fighter to win titles in two different weight classes. Her level of competition isn't as great as the ladies above, but that's due to her not being signed to the UFC. I think she could hold her own amongst the best now that she's built up her skills and confidence. If Pacheco beats Cyborg on Oct. 19 she will undoubtedly move into my top 5.
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