Best Female Muay Thai Fighters In MMA
Muay Thai is often seen as the best striking style when it comes to the standup aspect of MMA fighting. It teaches you how to use all limbs as weapons to throw kicks, punches, knee and elbow strikes. This is why so many great UFC fighters have had a strong Muay Thai base.
Keep reading this article to find out who are the best female Muay Thai fighters in MMA. Some of the ladies on our list are former world champs in “the art of eight limbs”.
1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Joanna is, without a doubt, the most violent Muay Thai fighter we have seen a fight in MMA. From the insane output of strikes to hard kicks, she is all about Muay Thai inside the cage. She came into MMA from competing in Muay Thai where she had a lot of success fighting at the world stage:
- Muay Thai World Champion (6x)
- IFMA European champ (4x)
- WMC/EMF European champ (one time)
Muay Thai was a big part of MMA long before Joanna had arrived in 2012. But she deserves a lot of credits for elevating the striking game to another level. We have never seen someone with such good cardio, the output of strikes, dominating the game. Just take a look at what she was able to achieve in MMA in a very short time span.
- Most Leg kicks in a fight in UFC history (+78)
- 2nd most leg kicks in a fight in UFC history (+75)
- Former UFC Champ (Five title defenses)
2. Valentina Shevchenko
When someone mentions Muay Thai in MMA, the first name that comes to our minds has to be Valentina Shevchenko. You will never find another fighter, including men, that executes Muay Thai techniques in MMA better than her. Like her nickname “The Bullet” suggests, she is fast and deadly.
Shevchenko spent 13 years fighting in Muay Thai and kickboxing from 2003–2015. In this time span, she won everything there was to win in this sport. Just take a look at her insane Muay Thai resume:
- IFMA World Muay Thai champ (8 times!)
- IFMA Royal World Cup Winner
- WMF World Champ in Thailand
- Word Combat Games Gold Medalist
- WMC World Champion
What a lot of fans don’t know about her career is that Shevchenko fought both in Muay Thai and MMA at the same time for many years. She made her pro-MMA and Muay Thai debut the same year in 2003. What she does best inside the cage is keeping her distance with wild kicks. She is a pure master in ripping the body with a hard spinning kick, and she also likes to throw them high as well. And we don’t have to spend many words saying how beautiful it is to watch her execute these techniques.
3. Antonina Shevchenko
Antonina is an older sister of the UFC champ, Valentina Shevchenko. Even though Antonina isn’t as successful as her sister in MMA, she was also a world champ in Muay Thai. In Muay Thai and Kickboxing, she put together a record of 36 wins and just one loss. Here are some of her best achievements:
- WMC Muay Thai World Champ (2017)
- IFMA Amateur Muay Thai World Champ (3x)
- WKC Muay Thai World Champ
Like her younger sister, Antonina has also fought both in pro-MMA and Muay Thai matches at the same time. She secured her UFC contract on the “Contenders Series” show in 2018 with the win over Ji Yeon Kim. When it comes to striking, one has to be crazy to stand and trade strikes with her. She does a great job of using her long reach to always keep her range with kicks or straight punches. And we don’t have to bring up that her clinch game is insanse as well.
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But, the lack of ground game certainly cost her a couple of losses on her record.
4. Joanne Calderwood
Calderwood is another UFC fighter who came into the sport from Muay Thai. She got into Thai boxing at the age of 13 when her mother sent Joanne and her brother to the Muay Thai gym for a trial class. Right away, she fell in love with the sport and she went on to win the British WBC Muay Thai title.
She shifted over to MMA shortly after retiring from Muay Thai in 2012. While working her way up the lathers, she put together a record of 8–0. This was more than enough for the UFC to spot her talent, and give her a contract in 2014.
Like a true Thai boxer, she is always pressing forward and forcing the opponent to fight off the back foot. She has an insane cardio and her outcome of strikes on the feet is really high. Most of her opponents she has faced thus far have had a hard time matching her pace.
She really does a great job of setting up her kicks with the punches and vice versa. This makes her a really tough matchup for any fighter in the division. In her bout against Katlyn Chookagian, for instance, she landed 69 leg kicks.
5. Germaine De Randamie
De Ranamie is a UFC fighter who came into the sport as an undefeated fighter in Muay Thai and kickboxing. We have to point up that she started training Muay Thai just to lose some weight. Yet, she instantly fell in love with the sport and went on to become one of the very best.
During her career, she took part in 46 matches, out of which she ended 30 with violent KOs.
- WIKBA World Champion
- IMTF World Champion
- Holds a record for the longest win streak (46)
De Randamie kicked off her MMA career in 2010.. She signed with the UFC in 2013 and the biggest moment of her career came when she beat the great Holly Holm to win the inaugural UFC 145lbs title. Just two years later, she would fight for the UFC’s 135 lbs title. But she failed to win the second title by losing a decision to Amanda Nunes.
When it comes to fighting skills, De Randamie is a really gifted athlete. Apart from Muay Thai, she also has good boxing skills, and her takedown defense is getting better with every fight. She is one of those fighters who shows an improved version of herself in every fight.
6. Loma Lookboonmee
Correct us if we are wrong, but Loma might be the first Muay Thai fighter from Thailand to fight in the UFC. Like most kids in Thailand, Loma got into the sport at a very young age by training in her father’s gym. She spent her youth fighting against other girls, and even boys in some cases. In her career, she was also a member of Thailand’s national team, and she won many titles including:
- IFMA World champion (2x)
- IFMA Royal World Cup Winner
- Asian Beach Games Muay Thai champion
- S-1 World Champion
- Rangsit Stadium Champion
- Assawindam Stadium Champion
She turned into pro-MMA in 2018 by signing with the Invicta FC promotion. After just a couple of fights, she got the call from the UFC to join their 115 lbs roster. And thus far, she showed not just great Muay Thai skills inside the UFC cage, as her grappling is not bad at all.
Feeling inspired? want to learn Muay Thai? We’ll go in depth on how long it takes to learn Muay Thai here.
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