Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Pound-for-Pound Women

Honorable Mention: Weili Zhang

The list was compiled prior to Zhang becoming strawweight champion for a second time by virtue of submitting Carla Esparza, or she likely would have made it in. Personally, I had her at No. 7 even before then, and think it's a serious crime at least one of the fighters we will examine later is ahead of her. Zhang has long been the biggest and most muscular elite strawweight we've seen yet, an imposing monster for the weight class. She didn't always possess the skills to back this up, but thanks to a tireless work ethic and dedication to martial arts, she has shown tremendous improvement from fight to fight, and continues to add new elements to her game even now, at 33. She is currently an excellent striker, with an array of effective kicks and very solid boxing, to go along with good wrestling and an increasingly dangerous submission game, while possessing great cardio despite her size. Her chin could be better, but it's a flaw few have been able to exploit.

Zhang entered the UFC with an impressive record of 16-1, but wasn't the fighter she would later become, with her best win being a second round stoppage of Marilia Santos, with the Brazilian scoring a few knockdowns of her own. But as noted, Zhang would get better and better in the UFC, recording one-sided decisions over Danielle Taylor and Tecia Torres and beating up Jessica Aguilar before submitting her in the first round to gain a title shot against Jessica Andrade. Despite being an underdog, it took Zhang just 42 seconds to stop her with a barrage of brutal blows, beginning with an elbow from the clinch. Zhang would then defend against the legendary Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and took the split decision in one of the greatest fights ever, a verdict I personally agree with. Zhang would be shocked by Rose Namajunas, who took her title away with a head kick early in the first, and despite improving her skills for the rematch, still lost a split decision. Undeterred, Zhang continued getting better. A clear sign of this was the rematch against Jedrzejczyk. No longer a close fight that could have gone either way, Zhang finished her with an awesome spinning back fist in the second round, sending the Polish legend into retirement. After this list was compiled, she submitted Esparza in the second round to become champion for the second time while showing that she is still getting better. While she is 33, Zhang still has plenty of opportunity to crack and move up the top 10 list, especially if she can finally defeat her nemesis Namajunas.

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