2016 UFC Fighters To Watch: Women's Bantamweight
2016 UFC Fighters To Watch: Women's Bantamweight
FloCombat breaks down the UFC fighters you need to watch in the women's bantamweight division during 2016.
By T.P. Grant
Mixed Martial Arts can be a difficult sport to follow at times, to all but the most hardcore of followers of the sport it can seem a confusing mess of weight classes and champions. The UFC roster currently sits at over 500 fighters, not to mention the thousands of fighters outside of the promotion, so it’s understandable to have a hard time keeping so many names straight.
So to help with that, FloCombat is going to run down each UFC weight class and highlighting fighters that the new or casual MMA fan should be watching. The first women’s divisions to be introduced to the UFC, the Women’s 135-lb division has become home to some of MMA’s biggest stars. The star of Ronda Rousey lifted the profile of the entire division and with her loss the division is in the spotlight more now than ever. The division now has a firmly established elite that is slowly growing as more women enter into the sport. Here a few fighters for the new fan tune in for:
In 2010 Miesha Tate was the best Women’s Bantamweight on the planet, but then in 2012 along came Ronda Rousey who unseated Tate as Strikeforce Champion. The UFC then adopted the Women’s Bantamweight division, with Rousey as their new champion. Tate also fought I the UFC but served mainly as a foil to Rousey, who defeated Tate again in 2013. In the following years Tate continued to win fights and waited for another shot at the belt. When Holly Holm upset Ronda Rousey, Tate saw her chance and lobbied for her shot. Tate got the fight and scored a come from behind submission victory to earn the UFC Women’s Bantamweight title.
Tate’s combination of toughness, relentless wrestling, sneaky striking and top notch submission grappling has carried her through her storied career. Now after six years Tate has finally returned to the top of the sport. It will be very interesting to see if Tate is able to hold on to her title, but even she isn’t that a veteran like Miesha Tate was able to hold the belt is a moment of justice in a sport that rarely offers such occasions.
Judo Olympian, UFC Champion, movie star; Ronda Rousey’s achievements are well known at this point, as is her fall. Rousey had a meteoric rise in MMA, becoming a dominant champion in her weight class in an amount of time that most MMA fighters spend just getting themselves off the regional scene. Rousey’s Judo background gave her a peerless ability to throw and submit seemingly any opponent. However at some point she stopped growing as a fighter, her skills stagnated, and when that happened Holly Holm was waiting.
Questions surround Rousey following her loss. Issues of focus, drive to return, ability to grow her skill set, and of shattered confidence are all points of concern. Tate winning the UFC title seems to be a bit of a windfall for Rousey, Tate is a very favorable match up for Rousey and could return some of the lost invincibility Rousey once shielded herself with. Despite the loss to Holm, Ronda is still less than a year removed from being an utterly dominant champion, and while Holm still poses problems it seems there are few other women’s Bantamweights that could replicate that success against Rousey.
Known to the world as the women who dethroned Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm is an accomplished combat sports athlete in her own right. A former boxing champion and kickboxing competitor, Holm has spent her entire career at the Jackson-Winklejohn Mixed Martial Arts school. MMA was a consideration for Holm long before she actually stepped in the cage, so when Holm started her MMA career in 2011 she was well prepared.
Holm is an out fighter, she likes to keep opponents at distance and pepper with them punches and kicks until they are so worn down they cannot fight anymore. She has struggled at times with grappling, but against Ronda Rousey, Holm pitched the proverbial perfect game as she masterfully outclassed Ronda en route to a stunning knockout upset. The tables were turned on Holm when she faced Meisha Tate, Holm seemed to be set to win a close decision before Tate was able to submit her in a last second bid to claim victory. While a setback for Holm, she is actually younger in her MMA career than both Ronda and Tate and very easily could outlast both to become the better, more developed MMA fighter.
The odd woman out in the trifecta forming at the top of the division, Cat Zingano is a physically imposing 135-lber with a growing skill set. The first ever mother to compete inside the UFC, Zingano married and trained with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Mauricio Zingano until his suicide in 2014. It was against that emotional backdrop that Cat earned a title shot against Ronda Rousey and then lost via armbar in 14 seconds. While Cat has been out of action since, she holds a win over now champion Miesha Tate and is now calling for another fight with Tate, this time for the title. Zingano also holds a win over top contender Amanda Nunes, making her clearly the best of the rest in the Bantamweight division. However it is likely she will need to wait while Holm, Rousey, and Tate fight over the title.
Mixed Martial Arts can be a difficult sport to follow at times, to all but the most hardcore of followers of the sport it can seem a confusing mess of weight classes and champions. The UFC roster currently sits at over 500 fighters, not to mention the thousands of fighters outside of the promotion, so it’s understandable to have a hard time keeping so many names straight.
So to help with that, FloCombat is going to run down each UFC weight class and highlighting fighters that the new or casual MMA fan should be watching. The first women’s divisions to be introduced to the UFC, the Women’s 135-lb division has become home to some of MMA’s biggest stars. The star of Ronda Rousey lifted the profile of the entire division and with her loss the division is in the spotlight more now than ever. The division now has a firmly established elite that is slowly growing as more women enter into the sport. Here a few fighters for the new fan tune in for:
Miesha Tate
In 2010 Miesha Tate was the best Women’s Bantamweight on the planet, but then in 2012 along came Ronda Rousey who unseated Tate as Strikeforce Champion. The UFC then adopted the Women’s Bantamweight division, with Rousey as their new champion. Tate also fought I the UFC but served mainly as a foil to Rousey, who defeated Tate again in 2013. In the following years Tate continued to win fights and waited for another shot at the belt. When Holly Holm upset Ronda Rousey, Tate saw her chance and lobbied for her shot. Tate got the fight and scored a come from behind submission victory to earn the UFC Women’s Bantamweight title.
Tate’s combination of toughness, relentless wrestling, sneaky striking and top notch submission grappling has carried her through her storied career. Now after six years Tate has finally returned to the top of the sport. It will be very interesting to see if Tate is able to hold on to her title, but even she isn’t that a veteran like Miesha Tate was able to hold the belt is a moment of justice in a sport that rarely offers such occasions.
Ronda Rousey
Judo Olympian, UFC Champion, movie star; Ronda Rousey’s achievements are well known at this point, as is her fall. Rousey had a meteoric rise in MMA, becoming a dominant champion in her weight class in an amount of time that most MMA fighters spend just getting themselves off the regional scene. Rousey’s Judo background gave her a peerless ability to throw and submit seemingly any opponent. However at some point she stopped growing as a fighter, her skills stagnated, and when that happened Holly Holm was waiting.
Questions surround Rousey following her loss. Issues of focus, drive to return, ability to grow her skill set, and of shattered confidence are all points of concern. Tate winning the UFC title seems to be a bit of a windfall for Rousey, Tate is a very favorable match up for Rousey and could return some of the lost invincibility Rousey once shielded herself with. Despite the loss to Holm, Ronda is still less than a year removed from being an utterly dominant champion, and while Holm still poses problems it seems there are few other women’s Bantamweights that could replicate that success against Rousey.
Holly Holm
Known to the world as the women who dethroned Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm is an accomplished combat sports athlete in her own right. A former boxing champion and kickboxing competitor, Holm has spent her entire career at the Jackson-Winklejohn Mixed Martial Arts school. MMA was a consideration for Holm long before she actually stepped in the cage, so when Holm started her MMA career in 2011 she was well prepared.
Holm is an out fighter, she likes to keep opponents at distance and pepper with them punches and kicks until they are so worn down they cannot fight anymore. She has struggled at times with grappling, but against Ronda Rousey, Holm pitched the proverbial perfect game as she masterfully outclassed Ronda en route to a stunning knockout upset. The tables were turned on Holm when she faced Meisha Tate, Holm seemed to be set to win a close decision before Tate was able to submit her in a last second bid to claim victory. While a setback for Holm, she is actually younger in her MMA career than both Ronda and Tate and very easily could outlast both to become the better, more developed MMA fighter.
Cat Zingano
The odd woman out in the trifecta forming at the top of the division, Cat Zingano is a physically imposing 135-lber with a growing skill set. The first ever mother to compete inside the UFC, Zingano married and trained with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Mauricio Zingano until his suicide in 2014. It was against that emotional backdrop that Cat earned a title shot against Ronda Rousey and then lost via armbar in 14 seconds. While Cat has been out of action since, she holds a win over now champion Miesha Tate and is now calling for another fight with Tate, this time for the title. Zingano also holds a win over top contender Amanda Nunes, making her clearly the best of the rest in the Bantamweight division. However it is likely she will need to wait while Holm, Rousey, and Tate fight over the title.