Julianna Peña And The Legacy Of Two-Time Women’s Champions

Nunes’ second reign would last just one more fight. In Vancouver at UFC 289, Nunes maintained her form and thwarted Irene Aldana’s bid for the belt. After taking home the decision win, Nunes laid both of her belts in the middle of the Octagon and retired as the undisputed greatest female fighter of all time. 

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Valentina Shevchenko

Few title reigns in recent memory were as dominant as Valentina Shevchenko’s first run as the flyweight champion. She notched seven defenses in about three years, dismantling any and all challengers who came her way. That streak made her loss to Alexa Grasso all the more stunning, and it would take Shevchenko two more fights against Grasso to get her belt back. Shevchenko left no doubt in their trilogy bout, taking home the unanimous nod on the scorecards to become the first two-time flyweight champion. 

In the first defense of her second reign, Shevchenko found herself slated as the underdog against Manon Fiorot. While the Frenchwoman fought well, Shevchenko’s experience and ability to adjust was too much, and she picked up another title defense at UFC 315 with little to no signs of slowing down. 

Rose Namajunas

Perhaps no fighter provides more fireworks in title-winning moments than Rose Namajunas. After she lost her belt to Jéssica Andrade, Namajunas adjusted her approach to the fight game, avenged her loss to Andrade and earned a title bout against Zhang Weili. When the two lined up in Jacksonville at UFC 261, many anticipated a sort of repeat of Zhang’s Fight of the Year contender against Joanna Jędrzejczyk from the year prior. Instead, Namajunas produced an epic head kick knockout less than two minutes into the bout to become a two-time champion. 

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“Thug Rose” would stifle Zhang once more in their rematch at UFC 268, but ultimately lost her belt to Carla Esparza in one of the more curious fights of the decade thus far. Since then, Namajunas moved up to the flyweight division and has gone 2-2 at 125 pounds. 

Carla Esparza

The first strawweight champion needed more than eight years to work her way back to title contention. When she did, though, “Cookie Monster” made the most of her opportunity. Esparza rode a five-fight winning streak into her rematch with Namajunas and did enough over five rounds to regain her belt. The 2,612 days between her title reigns stands as a UFC record.

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Esparza would fall to Zhang in her first attempt at a title defense and retired one fight later after losing to Tecia Pennington. 

Zhang Weili

After her epic first stint as the strawweight champion, Zhang couldn’t get past the Namajunas-shaped wall keeping her from a second run on the throne. After she knocked out Jędrzejczyk, Zhang finally got her next title shot and ran rampant through Esparza to get the belt back. 

Since then, it’s more or less been smooth sailing for “Magnum.” She has fought and defended her belt three times and many fans would like to see her challenge Shevchenko for the flyweight title.