Women’s MMA continues to boom and 2015 only witnessed an increase of it. In fact because of events in 2015, MMA pretty much made the mainstream partially due in part to women’s MMA.
Because of how integral to the success of MMA women are, one of the awards for the MMA Freak Awards is the women’s award. Some women who were nominated didn’t make the list but made the honorable mentions:
Tecia Torres – Fought twice this year, earning wins against Angela Hill and Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger.
Alexis Davis – Won against Sarah Kaufman at UFC 186 but took the rest of the year off due to a pregnancy.
Tonya Evinger – Captured the vacant Invicta FC Bantamweight Championship and fought again, both finishes.
Marloes Coenen – Fought at Bellator 141 where she defeated Arlene Blencowe by armbar submission.
Livia Renata Souza – In her Invicta FC promotional debut she defeated Katja Kankaanpaa for the title.
Here are the Top 10 Women Fighters of 2015:
10) Michelle Waterson
Michelle Waterson made her UFC debut this year and successfully defeated Angela Magana on July 12th.
9) Rose Namajunas
After making it to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter, Rose Namajunas won two fights this year by submission.
8) Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes bounced back from a loss last year to defeat Shayna Baszler and Sara McMann this year.
7) Ayaka Hamasaki
Winning two in a row last year in Deep, Ayaka Hamasaki came back to Invicta FC to take the Atomweight title.
6) Claudia Gadelha
Claudia Gadelha earned a title shot with a victory over highly ranked Jessica Aguilar at UFC 190 on August 1st.
5) Ronda Rousey
While Ronda Rousey did lose her title, to give her credit she did defend it twice finishing both matches in 40 sec.
4) Cristiane Justino
Cristiane Justino defended her Invicta FC Featherweight Championship twice and finished both in 50 seconds.
3) Miesha Tate
Cupcake Miesha Tate defeated Sara McMann and Jessica Eye, earning a title shot with a victory against Eye. She will now get a second chance at the UFC Bantamweight Championship at UFC 197 against Holly Holm
2) Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Joanna Jedrzejczyk won the UFC Strawweight Championship by defeating Carla Esparza then defended it twice, against Jessica Penne and Valerie Letourneau, setting a striking record in a the fight with the latter.
1) Holly Holm
When 2015 started, Holly Holm was making her debut but three matches and a year later she is the UFC Bantamweight Champion. She had to defeat Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau before Ronda Rousey.
Stay tuned for the MMA Freak Awards finale.