Best UFC Women’s Featherweights of All Time: Top 9 145-Pound Greats Ranked
Women’s featherweight (145 lbs) has had a unique UFC history: it produced a few massive championship moments, but never had the roster depth of other women’s divisions.
The belt has been vacant since Amanda Nunes retired and UFC has suggested the division could effectively end with her exit. With that context, this ranking leans heavily on title lineage, quality of peak wins, and who actually mattered at 145 in the UFC.
Best UFC Women’s Featherweights of All Time: Top 9 Ranked
1) Amanda Nunes
The division’s greatest champ and its defining force. Nunes smashed Cris Cyborg to win the title, then defended it against Felicia Spencer, all while simultaneously holding (and defending) bantamweight gold. Her 145 run is the clearest “best fighter in the world” proof the division ever had.
2) Cris Cyborg
(Lucas Noonan/BELLATOR MMA)
The most dominant true featherweight the UFC had on its roster. Cyborg won the vacant belt and logged title defenses, bringing a level of fear-factor and finishing that shaped the entire weight class. Even though her UFC stint was shorter than fans wanted, her peak at 145 is undeniable.
3) Germaine de Randamie
The inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion, winning the first title fight at UFC 208. Her reign ended quickly (stripped after declining to defend), but she’s still permanently etched into the division’s history as “the first.”
4) Holly Holm
Not a long-reigning 145 staple, but one of the division’s biggest names and biggest nights. Holm fought for the inaugural belt, later challenged Cyborg for the title, and her presence gave the division instant legitimacy (and mainstream attention) when it was still forming.
5) Felicia Spencer
Spencer is the most credible “new-era” featherweight contender the UFC built around—tough, durable, and skilled enough to earn a title shot against Nunes for the belt. In a shallow division, she was a real, consistent top-tier 145er.
6) Megan Anderson
Anderson’s case is simple: she mattered at 145 when there weren’t many options. She climbed to a title shot against Nunes and became one of the division’s recognizable contenders during its later UFC years.
7) Yana Kunitskaya
Kunitskaya reached the top quickly—earning a title fight with Cyborg—and her place on this list is tied to being part of the championship lineage in a division with limited title opportunities.
8) Tonya Evinger
Evinger fought Cyborg for the vacant title, and in a division that barely had enough contenders to stage championship fights, simply being in that “for a UFC belt” moment matters for historical ranking.
9) Norma Dumont
Dumont became one of the most consistent UFC fighters competing around 145 during the division’s “in limbo” period—helping keep the weight class alive on cards even as UFC leadership openly questioned its future.
Just missed: There simply weren’t many long-tenured UFC 145ers—so several fighters who were better known at 135 (or fought mostly elsewhere) never got enough true featherweight résumé to crack a UFC-only top nine.
