Strikeforce Columbus Fight Card: The Top 10 Female Fighters in MMA Today

Behind every strong man who can kick your ass is a strong woman who can kick your ass.

Two of "The Big Three" in Mixed Martial Arts are proof of this as they hold their share of what you're about to see—the top 10 female fighters in our evolving sport today.

Did it really take much of a resume to make the list?

Not really—as long as they were a female who could kick any guy's ass (including me) and as long as they're still pretty relevant or about to be relevant, they make the list.

Hopefully, none of these surprise you, so without further ado, let's get right into it.

Gina Carano

I won't lie. Carano is getting a free pass into this countdown just by virtue of the fact that she's coming back into action this June (which is in Dallas, much to my ecstatic approval).

Then again, she is 7-1, and Carano is to Women's MMA what Urijah Faber is to lighter weights in MMA, so that too is justification in its own right.

Who she'll face next is a mystery, but Gina will look to topple her and the next few opponents until it gets her back in line for Cris Cyborg.

Lisa Ward

The 14-6 veteran hasn't been seen in action since her loss to Megumi Fujii in Season 3 of Bellator Fighting Championships, but her long career squeezed her onto this list.

Her wins include the likes of Stephanie Frausto, Aisling Daly, Patti Lee, and a 2006 submission win over Jessica Aguilar.

Next time you see her in the cage, you can bet that it won't be pretty for the next lady who has to take her on.

Rosi Sexton

Rosi Sexton—the most notable British female fighter in the sport right now.

She's beaten some of the best, and she's been beaten by the best, but she still puts on for British Women's MMA by coming out and not backing down from any challengers.

She'll be coming off of a win over Roxanne Modaferri the next time she fights, and if you haven't seen her in action, you'd do well to check her out.

Zoila Frausto-Gurgel

It takes a lot to say that you beat the pound-for-pound best female fighter in the world, and unquestionably Zoila Frausto did just that at the end of Bellator's third season.

Her next fight comes at Bellator 35 against Karina Hallinan in a non-title affair, and her beating of Fujii has made it so that many would consider her the best P4P female besides Cris Cyborg and possibly even Fujii herself.

We'll know how good this young lady really is as she starts making waves in the division, which she now sits atop.

Sarah Kaufman

She was undefeated before facing Marloes Coenen and she lost to Coenen by an armbar that had its controversies (the question of whether Coenen may have held it for longer than she needed to), but the former Strikeforce Women's Welterweight Champion does get a spot on this list for what she's done in the sport so far.

She's kicked some faces in, taken some names, and gotten the sport some good exposure by slamming Roxanne Modaferri.

Don't be surprised if, after Coenen's bout against Liz "Girl-Rilla" Carmouche and the inevitable bout with Miesha "Takedown" Tate, we see Coenen-Kaufman II for the belt that Sarah definitely will want back sometime soon.

Miesha Tate

The "Alpha Female" of Team Alpha Male, Miesha Tate earned her spot (if we're calling it that at this time) by becoming the Strikeforce Women's Welterweight Tournament Champion and earning a rematch-with-Sarah-Kaufman-turned-now-postponed-struggle-with-Marloes-Coenen.

One thing about Tate, and I'm fully aware of what I'm setting up by saying this, is that she's the type of girl who is not shy about getting you on the ground, getting on top, and having her way with you.

Translation: If she does use her wrestling on you, there's a good chance that your face is getting beaten and battered before all is said and done.

Marloes Coenen

Her whole career is submissions. She beat Sarah Kaufman for the Strikeforce Women's Welterweight belt  in San Jose, and as far as image goes, she looks like Sarah Jessica Parker...if she were Dutch, never did Sex and the City, and above all else, could kick all our asses.

She's facing Liz Carmouche at Strikfeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, and will likely be the next opponent for Miesha Tate...and you wondered why she made the list.

Megumi Fujii

You might be asking yourself, "Mega Megu just lost her last fight, so why is she still in the top ranks of the Women's division according to you?"

The answer: Mega Megu is where she is in my ranks because Zoila Frausto wasn't her last opponent.

My personal take on Fujii-Frausto aside, Megumi did bounce back from her first career loss to face Emi Fujino and win a unanimous decision at Sengoku's Soul of Fight.

In defense of Mega Megu, she's still one of the best pound for pound best female fighters in the world, and certainly a top name in the Women's 115-pound division.

There's a reason why nobody before Frausto was able to beat this woman.

Tara LaRosa

There's never enough you can say about a woman like Tara LaRosa, who has almost always been considered the best female mixed martial artist to have not been born under the name of Cristiane Santos.

After Gina Carano's time away from the cage and before anyone had seen Megumi Fujii in the states, there were three names in the sport that held prominence in the Women's division: Sarah Kaufman, LaRosa, and Santos.

Arguably, the second-best female fighter in MMA comes back at Shark Fights 14 next Friday against Carina Damm.

Cris Cyborg

Cris Cyborg is an example of a champion who is only getting contenders to her Women's Middleweight belt just so Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker can say "this woman fought Cyborg once."

In this instance, it's not because Coker and his team are poor matchmakers...seriously.

The fact that there are almost no competitors left to face Cyborg tells you that she has wiped out her division well enough to where the only way she'll get ANY other challengers is if we see some females move up to Middleweight or if we see girls from other promotions come into Strikeforce.

Other than a rematch with Gina Carano, though, who else can you line up for this unstoppable female force?