Photos: Meet the next generation of female MMA fighters ready to pack a punch

Don’t for one minute be fooled by their looks. These girls are fully capable of knocking out their opponents with one punch or squeezing their breath out with a choke hold. They posses amazing fighting skills in the world of mixed martial arts. Some of them have already made a name for themselves, others are on the verge of doing so. Either way you are going to hear a lot about them.

Valerie Loureda: Bellator’s Loureda is an American MMA and taekwondo fighter, model and actress. She competes in the flyweight division. As a model from Miami, Loureda boasts a certain star appeal and competes as a member of American Top Team. She is 3-1 in her pro career having posted wins over Colby Fletcher, Larkyn Dasch and Tara Graff.

Denice Zamboanga: Filipina bantamweight Zamboanga has looked unstoppable in the ONE Championship Circle. She is 8-0 as a pro, and 3-0 under the ONE banner, which has included rousing wins over seasoned fighters such as Jihin Radzuan and Mei Yamaguchi.

Claressa Shields: Shields is a three-division boxing champion who recently signed a deal with the PFL. She is just 25 years old but possesses tremendous potential to make her present felt in MMA. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021. Shields is the only boxer in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing — WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. She won golds at both the London and Rio Olympic Games.

Angela Lee: ONE atomweight champion Lee has been tipped to make her mark on the MMA scene in 2021. A Canadian-American mixed martial artist of Singaporean, Chinese and Korean heritage, Lee became the youngest person to ever win a world title in MMA by defeating Mei Yamaguchi to win the ONE atomweight title. She is currently ranked at No. 18 in strawweight division.

Veronica Macedo: Macedo is a professional mixed martial artist from Venezuela. She currently competes in the women’s bantamweight division in UFC. Macedo may have struggled recently, including a decision loss to Bea Malecki in 2020 at UFC Fight Night 170 but she is by no means a pushover and is sure to bounce back sooner rather than later.

Michelle Waterson: Waterson is a popular mixed martial artists who is known as the ‘The Karate Hottie’. Waterson started attending karate classes at the age of 10 and she holds a black belt in American freestyle karate and has a modelling background. She is the former Invicta FC atomweight champion. Between 2013 and 2014, she was ranked the No. 1 atomweight fighter in the world.

Ariane Lipski: A Brazilian mixed martial artist of Polish heritage, Lipski made her debut in UFC in 2019 and so far has a record of two wins and three losses. Ariane is a former KSW women’s flyweight champion and currently competes in the flyweight division. She lost her most recent fight to Montana De La Rosa on June 5 but is sure to bounce back soon.

Montana De La Rosa: De La Rosa is yet another fascinating female MMA fighter competing in a stacked UFC flyweight division. She is ranked No. 15 and is married to UFC fighter Mark De La Rosa and has a daughter. De La Rosa faced Ariane Lipski on June 5 and won via TKO in the second round, the first of her career.

Amanda Ribas: Ribas is a 27-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist competing in the UFC’s strawweight division and is ranked No. 11. She was part of one of the national youth teams in Brazil and is famous for saying: ‘I was born on the mat. It was for me.’ Her pro record boast 10 wins from 12 fights.