5 biggest upsets involving female fighters in UFC history
There are few more entertaining things to see in the world of the UFC than a major upset. Ever since the promotion introduced female divisions, we’ve seen plenty of stunning results.
Julianna Pena’s win over Amanda Nunes at UFC 269 was a huge upset, but does it rank amongst the biggest upsets involving female fighters?
JULIANNA PENA SHOCKS THE WORLD 🌎 #UFC269 https://t.co/LNr4amWe94
Given Nunes’ status as the greatest female fighter in UFC and MMA history, the answer is that yes, it certainly does. But what are some of the others?
Here are the five biggest upsets in UFC history involving female fighters.
#5. Valentina Shevchenko vs. Holly Holm – UFC on Fox 20
At this stage, it seems insane to think that Valentina Shevchenko could ever have been responsible for an upset.
‘Bullet’ has held the UFC flyweight title for the past three years, making a total of six successful title defenses in the process. Essentially, if a challenger were to dethrone her now, then it’d probably be considered one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.
However, if you rewind back to 2016, Shevchenko was still largely unheralded. The native of Kyrgyzstan debuted in the UFC in late 2015 with a win over Sarah Kaufman, but lost out to Amanda Nunes in her second bout and looked somewhat undersized in the bantamweight division.
So when the UFC booked her against former bantamweight champ Holly Holm, who was coming off her defeat at the hands of Miesha Tate, it felt like they’d put together the perfect bounce-back fight for ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’.
After all, Holm was widely considered the most highly credentialed female striker in UFC history at that point, with her boxing accomplishments dwarfing Shevchenko’s success in Muay Thai.
However, despite dropping ‘Bullet’ in the first round, Holm soon found herself firmly outgunned by her smaller opponent. Shevchenko managed to force ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ onto the offensive and then used her skills to work her over on the counter for a five-round decision.
The result didn’t produce as much fanfare at the time as it should’ve done, probably because it wasn’t hugely exciting. Given where both women were in their UFC careers at the time, it should still be remembered as a major upset.
Wow! Valentina Shevchenko hands Holly Holm her 2nd consecutive loss, winning by unanimous decision. #UFCChicago https://t.co/L79fVbRvEj