5 Boys vs 5 Girls: The Greatest Names in Combat Sports

Here are five of the most notable boys in the octagon ring. Who do you think is the greatest among them?

Matt Hughes

He successfully defended his titles against fighters from other nationalities. This include both western and oriental bred fighters. This makes him capable of unleashing a variety of fighting styles, which is what MMA is all about anyway. He was recorded to have fought for sport and for revenge. Regardless of his motives, defeats and victories, Hughes will always be considered as one of the sport’s all-time legends.

Chuck Liddell

Why he is nicknamed “The Iceman” is only partially due to his coolness as a pal and as a fighter. A bigger part of it is that he is the warrior that can make a fellow fighter cower in chilling fear due to his brutal strikes. At his peak from, he was highly capable of knocking out his opponents with his right-hand punches. His great footwork and balance is the very reason why it’s so difficult for an opponent to knock him off and pin him to the ground. It is due to this, that the name Chuck Liddell is one of the most feared competitors in the annals of MMA.

Alexandre Franca Nogueira

For 6 years and 6 months, he held his championship title under Shooto – a feat which is known to be the longest title reign at that time (1999-2006) of any mix martial arts organization. He won the title in a match against Noboru Asahi and successfully went on to defend his status against the likes of Stephen Palling and Hiroyuki Abe. It was unfortunate that he was stripped off his title due to a knee injury because obviously, he couldn’t fight fairly anymore. Still, he is highly regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, had he been allowed to stay longer in the game.

Tito Ortiz

While most fighters are known to carve their reputations on the ring alone, Tito Ortiz is also known for other stunts like wearing provocative apparel to spurn his opponents and having a relationship with a known pornstar. This doesn’t undermine his fighting capabilities though for he was also known to be a valiant fighter having fought against the very best in MMA, including The Iceman himself. He maybe better remembered as a controversial figure in his chosen sport, but it can’t be dissed that he is also one of the longest-reigning champions there ever was.

Urijah Faber

His first notable achievement was capturing the WEC featherweight championship in 2006. It was a victory over Cole Escovedo. He held the title for more than 2 years while maintaining his active champion status under the nickname, “The California Kid”. Like any other struggling fighters, he also had his share of defeats and disappointments. Nonetheless, he was still actively into the sport in the years that followed. He is not a big guy in a physical sense, but he is one of the biggest names in the history of MMA as well as that in combat sports.

And now from the opposing corner… the girls.

Who among these real-life femme fatales is the greatest woman in combat sports?

Jade Jones

For her services to Taekwondo, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2013. She is nicknamed “The Headhunter” because she prefers to garner points from hitting her opponent’s head rather than their body as it awards more quality points. For someone who has a very pretty face, she seems to favor destroying the faces of others… not in a literal sense of course.

Lucia Rijker

Her passion for the fighting arts goes like this — She started her martial arts career at the early age of 6 by training in judo. She then hopped into kickboxing when she was 15, in which she knocked out the reigning American kickboxing champion then, Lily Rodriguez. She eventually amassed a 36-0 record as a kickboxer, and won four different world titles. After four different world championship titles, she changed her focus to boxing in 1996.

Holly Holm

She has an achievement that no man or woman ever attained — she is the first person to win championships in both boxing and mixed martial arts. Her most notable win in mixed martial arts was when she gave Ronda Rousey her first loss. How she got such strength and tenacity could be due to her being a multi-talented athlete. On her younger years, she played soccer, gymnastics, swimming and diving.

Sasha Banks

Born and raised in Fairfield, California, she had a different method of schooling because she was into online studies. On her leisure time, she watches All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling, and claimed to grow up gorging on that show. Eventually, she wrestled on the independent circuit, most notably for Chaotic Wrestling. Since then, the name Sasha Banks had been synonymous to female wrestling.

Ryoko Tani

As one of the most prominent Judoka in the world, she remained unbeaten for 12 years. Thanks to her success and cheerful personality, Tani grew immensely popular in Japan. She appeared in numerous TV commercials and video projects in which people would seem to forget that she is actually a tough and fierce fighter on the ring. In a career spanning around 20 years, she was only defeated 5 times. In 2011, the International Judo Federation named her “best female judoka ever.”