Marina Rodriguez is the perfect candidate if you are looking to find new talent in UFC Strawweight. She has made it to the top by working her way through other promising young fighters in the UFC Strawweight division. She is not the greatest grappler but she has the best defense.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Strawweight Division) is one of UFC's best fighters. She is an ex-amateur standout, who made her professional debut back in 2012. She won both her amateur fights, going 2:2. She made her official UFC debut at Lawler vs. Brown in July 2014. Juliana Lima was Jedrzejczyk’s opponent. She defeated Jedrzejczyk via TKO during the first round.
Valentina Shevchenko is a Polish martial arts fighter who has also trained in Muay Thai. She started her MMA career at flyweight in 2012. Later, she switched to the strawweight weight division. She has competed in the 135-pound bantamweight.
Carla Esparza
Carla Esparza was a former UFC strawweight champion. She is also the first woman ever to defend the title two times. Esparza won UFC 274 by split decision against Rose Namajunas in May. She has won six straight bouts and will defend the title against Zhang Weili at UFC281.
Madison Square Garden will host the fight on Nov. 12. It will also be a comain event. Although the UFC has not confirmed this fight, both fighters posted about it on social networks. The news was first reported by MMA Fighting reporter Ariel Helwani.
Rose Namajunas
Rose Namajunas is the current UFC strawweight champion and has a great record against top contenders. Carla Esparza (currently ranked No. 2. Namajunas was originally scheduled as the comain event. But, due to COVID-19 protocols, she had to pull out. Esparza won the fight via rear-naked.
Rose began her professional fighter career with Invicta FC back in 2013. Rose then joined the Ultimate Fighter Series, where she was part of the finals. She has now been fighting in the UFC since 2015, and she currently holds a record of 10-4-0. Her nutrition support system, PERFECT, has been a key part of her success. It fuels her growth and performance as well as her recovery.
Jessica Andrade
UFC strawweight Jessica Andrade holds a strong record that has attracted fans throughout the course of her career. Before she lost her first title fight to Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Andrade was a three-fight winner. Andrade is on a win streak against Claudia Gadelha, which has helped her climb the ladder to the title.
She is well-known for her expertise in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She was the Women's Strawweight Champ when she signed with UFC in 2013. She will likely be one of the main event fighters or title challengers in the upcoming fight card. UFC events are dependent upon large crowds to pay their prize money.
Weili Zhang
Weili Zim is a Chinese mixed martial artist who competes in the UFC strawweight category. Before she became a professional MMA fighter in 2012, she was a kindergarten teacher as well as a fitness instructor and a cashier at a supermarket. In 2012, she joined Beijing's Black Tiger Fight Club and began training in MMA. In November 2013, she fought Meng Bo in her professional debut at the China MMA League. She lost the fight via split decision, but she then won seven of her subsequent fights. Kunlun Fight 52 was the result of this streak.
The fight was not a walk in the park for Zhang. While she was able initially to score a takedown, Namajunas was in a position to defend her takedown to force the fight to a halt. Namajunas was eventually able to take down her opponent after a short stand-up.