5 Best female MMA fighters who never fought in the UFC
Dana White once said that women would never fight in the Octagon as long as he was there. This statement, however, changed over time and now, WMMA fighters are an integral part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
White himself noted recently that WMMA is on fire.
While the change is a good thing, White’s initial stand on the matter kept a lot of talented female fighters away from the UFC. Even before Ronda Rousey made a name for WMMA, there were many pioneers of the sport and most of them did not fight in the UFC due to one reason or the other.
In this list, we will be looking at those iconic female MMA fighters who never fought in the UFC.
#5 Tara LaRosa
Technically speaking, Tara LaRosa did fight in the Ultimate Fighter once. However, since it was a pro-exhibition fight, LaRosa deserves to be in this list.
She started her career back in 2002 and went on to fight in many promotions such as HOOKnSHOOT, MFC, SmackGirl, Bodog Fight and Invicta Fighting Championship among others. LaRosa’s best run came in between 2004 and 2009 when she seemed untouchable as she secured 15 back-to-back wins. She also won the BodogFight Women's Bantamweight Championship during this run.
When she was on her prime, LaRosa was worshipped by her fellow fighters and rightfully so. LaRosa has a professional record of 22-5 to her name currently and most of the wins she secured came via stoppages as well.
The only forgettable chapter in her career was perhaps the Ultimate Fighter shot that she got. LaRosa was nowhere near her prime when she finally got the opportunity and this reflected in the result as well as she was defeated by Sarah Moras via a decision.