5 most dominant UFC championship reigns in the women's divisions

#2. Amanda Nunes – former UFC bantamweight and current featherweight champion

Amanda Nunes is arguably the greatest female fighter to ever grace the octagon. After going 2-1 in her first three bouts in the UFC, Nunes was regarded as just another competitor in the women's bantamweight division, back when Ronda Rousey was the reigning 135-pound titleholder.

Nunes made her way up the rankings with victories against Shayna Baszler, Sara McMann, and Valentina Shevchenko to earn a shot at gold. In 2016, she won the belt with an incredible first-round submission victory over Miesha Tate.

She then beat Rousey, cementing her status as the best female fighter at 135 pounds in the world. With no new contenders for then-featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, Nunes made a successful move up to 145 pounds to become the first-ever two-division female champion in promotional history.

She remains the only woman to accomplish this feat.

All the way until late 2021, Nunes held the top spot in the women's pound-for-pound rankings. She defended her bantamweight belt five times, in addition to defending her featherweight title twice. It felt as though the self-proclaimed GOAT was running out of real challengers going into UFC 269, where she took on Julianna 'The Venezuelan Vixen' Pena, who was 2-2 in her last four octagon outings.

Pena took the fight to 'The Lioness' unlike anyone had done previously, repeatedly catching the long-reigning champion with her pin-point jab. In the second round, Nunes looked noticeably fatigued. Sensing her opportunity, the challenger dragged the Brazilian titleholder down to the mat and locked in a rear-naked choke to complete one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history.

Nunes is still the reigning titleholder in the women's 145-pound division. However, that particular weight class is in a state of disarray at the moment, as is evident in the fact that the promotion doesn't even have rankings for the women competing at featherweight.

Nevertheless, 'The Lioness' is still a UFC champion.

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#1. Valentina Shevchenko – UFC flyweight champion

Valentina Shevchenko has solidified her status as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet in recent years, irrespective of gender. The lifelong martial artist has enjoyed an astonishing martial arts career so far and is also one of the most dominant champions in all of combat sports.

Shevchenko spent almost half her career competing at 135 pounds before dropping down to the 125-pound division. Despite clearly being undersized for bantamweight, ‘Bullet’ emerged as one of the best fighters in the weight class, picking up wins over former titleholder Holly Holm and current champion Julianna Pena.

Her impressive run in the 135-pound division pre-dated the UFC’s 125-pound weight class altogether. When the flyweight division was eventually created, she secured a shot at the vacant title with a win over Priscila Cachoeira, and subsequently defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk to become the champion.

'Bullet' has been defending her flyweight belt ever since.

Shevchenko holds an overall MMA record of 22-3, with eight of her victories coming via KO/TKO.

Notably, she appears to take pleasure in using her opponents' strengths against them. In her fights against Julianna Pena and Jessica Andrade, two fighters who many believed would have the grappling advantage, 'Bullet' took both fighters down and dominated the exchanges on the ground before securing finishes.

Despite her evident improvements in the grappling realm, Shevchenko's bread and butter lies in the striking arts. The multi-time kickboxing world champion's stand-up is arguably the best in all of mixed martial arts and her headkick knockout against Jessica Eye remains one of the greatest finishes in women's MMA history.

Shevchenko has vowed to remain atop the division for a long time to come. Her impeccable skills, which have been honed since she was a child, ensure that she hardly sustains any damage in her fights.

While there don't appear to be too many legitimate threats to her flyweight throne, a return to bantamweight is still on the cards, as is the prospect of her becoming a two-division champion.

Watch highlights of Valentina Shevchenko's championship reign below: