The Best Wrestlers in Women's MMA (Patreon)

By Zach Goldrosen (@goldjaboytellem)

While conducting my research for this piece, I noticed that though the wrestling in women's MMA is good, there aren't many female fighters who wrestle exceptionally well, even among otherwise sound submission grapplers. There are several structural reasons why the wrestling in women's MMA is more underdeveloped than their male counterparts. 

Although women's MMA is young in the already young sport of MMA, men's wrestling was an Olympic sport for over a century before the addition of women's freestyle wrestling in 2004. Moreover, women's wrestling only attained Emerging Sport status with the NCAA in 2020, while American colleges and universities have had men's wrestling teams since the early 20th century.

For most of modern sports history, men's wrestling has had an insuperable head start in the recruiting and development of young wrestlers.

However, there are more female wrestlers than ever before, so I expect a big influx of wrestlers into women's MMA within the next few years. 

Kanako Murata, a former Junior World Champion for Japan, debuted in the UFC last year and previously held the Invicta Strawweight Championship. Ritu Phogat, a former Asian Championships medalist for India, made her MMA debut with ONE Championship in 2019 and is currently 6-1 in the promotion. Forrest Molinari, a current member of the US national team, and Julia Salata, a recently retired US national team wrestler, have also shown interest in MMA. Salata has already won a few Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments at blue belt as a side hobby during her wrestling career.

But for now, here are my picks for the best wrestlers in women's MMA:

Strawweight: Tatiana Suarez

A two-time world bronze medalist in freestyle wrestling, the undefeated Suarez outwrestled the division's original wrestle-fighter Carla Esparza and won the takedown battle 9 to 0. Suarez sets up single legs from distance by kicking with the same leg that penetrates forward on her takedowns and uses similar footwork for both kicks and takedowns, forcing her opponents to guess which is coming. Suarez chain wrestles through her shots, running her opponents to the fence, usually finishing with a back trip.

Her fight with Nina Nunes is also a good example of Suarez's pressure and control from the front head and arm. After scoring the takedown, she keeps control with leg rides and wrist control against the fence. She also uses a far ankle ride if her opponent manages to turn over to turtle, which is often the only viable escape route back up to their feet. If Suarez doesn't like her current positioning on top, she will back off and give her opponent enough space to get up, only to walk them right into another takedown.

Flyweight: Valentina Shevchenko

The UFC Women's Flyweight Champion hasn't lost a takedown battle since losing to Amanda Nunes in 2017. Valentina draws out counters that she then times to step in for a bodylock, usually from double underhooks, though she's also comfortable from over-unders.

From the bodylock, she can finish takedowns with a variety of trips that she can hit from either side of the body, all by sensing the changes in her opponent's weight distribution. Shevchenko took Jessica Andrade down at will, all from the bodylock. 

Shevchenko is also good at catching a leg and finishing the takedown by attacking the far hip. Though this is a low percentage move in freestyle or American folkstyle wrestling, it works in MMA because of the upright stances. Shevchenko hit this twice in her successful title defense against Kaitlyn Chookagian.

Bantamweight/Featherweight: Amanda Nunes

Though Amanda Nunes doesn't have an Olympic medal in wrestling like Sara McMann, nor was she a state wrestling champion like Miesha Tate, Nunes is still the best MMA wrestler in women's bantamweight. However, due to her striking power, her wrestling isn't given enough credit.

Against Tate, Nunes used a proficient whizzer to defend takedowns, and the one time the whizzer failed her, she was able to scramble back to her feet. In their rematch, Nunes showed sound defense against Valentina Shevchenko's clinch takedown attempts, even taking down Shevchenko with a trip of her own. 

Against Felicia Spencer, Nunes was able to take her down with reactive snatch single legs and a dynamic throw against the fence with an underhook. Her simple but effective leg attacks proved even more formidable against Germaine de Randamie.