Dana White slams 'insane' omission from top 10 stars who 'changed women's MMA' list
03/29/2025 05:55 PM
Dana White couldn’t bite his tongue when ESPN left a legend off their list of WMMA pioneers.
To celebrate Women’s History Month, the UFC’s official broadcast partner shared a list of ladies who have ‘shattered stereotypes and elevated women's MMA to unprecedented heights in the 21st century’.
The 10-person list featured Holly Holm, Megumi Fujii, Miesha Tate, Zhang Weili, Rose Namajunas, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Valentina Shevchenko, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, and Amanda Nunes.
They are undoubtedly some of the greatest female fighters of all time, but Dana White believes the list is missing someone.
Dana White stunned by Gina Carano’s omission
Gina Carano left her mark on MMA, despite only fighting for three years between 2006 and 2009.
The 7-1 fighter was a big star before transitioning to acting after suffering a KO loss to Cyborg.
Even though she never fought in the UFC, White believes Carano did more than enough to earn a spot on ESPN’s list of women who have positively impacted MMA in the past 25 years.
“@ginajcarano not being on the list is INSANE,” the UFC boss commented on ESPN’s post.
Former UFC fighter Josh Thomson was just as confused by Carano being snubbed.
He asked: “How is @ginajcarano not on this list?”
Gina Carano responds to snub
Carano appreciated being backed by White after being left off ESPN’s list of great MMA women.
She tweeted: “You think @espnmma: Do not have qualified journalists who know real WMMA history or are they trying re-write history by keepin me out of it? Even @danawhite called them out.
“No, they will not be re-writing my history. If anything they're writing themselves into mine..
“When I get through this I think jaws will drop. Thank you everyone for the support.”
The only fighter to beat Carano followed in the footsteps of White in the comment section.
“You are an absolute legend,” Cyborg replied.
“The significance our fight had and more importantly the commercial success it proved was capable with women's mixed martial arts changed the sport of MMA forever.
“I will forever be thankful of that opportunity and hope one day it's represented on the UFC Hall of Fame for its importance.”
