For years, the realm of combat sports was considered a man's world. Women's matchups would get hardly any coverage whatsoever and UFC head honcho Dana White famously once said that women would never compete inside the Octagon. How wrong he was. Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was the catalyst for women taking over the combat sports arena. She shot to stardom around a decade ago, finishing the likes of Bethe Correia, Cat Zingano and Alexis Davis in a matter of seconds. It took a while for boxing to catch up, but eventually, it did.

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Ireland's Katie Taylor, as well as American stars such as Claressa Shields and the Serrano sisters have ensured that women's boxing has a place of its own on the sporting landscape. And in 2023, there have been plenty of big fights, perhaps even rivalling that of their male counterparts. Here are the biggest talking points from 2023 so far.

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Boxing

Men's boxing has had plenty of big fights so far throughout the calendar year, and there is still more to come. Terence Crawford dominated Errol Spence Jr. to become the undisputed welterweight world champion, while Canelo Alvarez will be returning on September 30th.  As those who have already bet on Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo will tell you, the Mexican box office sensation is a huge favourite to retain his undisputed super middleweight championship, with him currently priced at 1/4 to get the victory over his American rival.

But while the men's arena has plenty to shout about, so does the women's. Back in February, Amanda Serrano became the undisputed featherweight world champion when she knocked out Erika Cruz. Three months later, Britain's Chantelle Cameron stunned Katie Taylor as she secured a unanimous decision in her rival's hometown of Dublin, Ireland. Undefeated Claressa Shields returned home to Detroit and soundly defeated Marcela Cornejo to retain her undisputed middleweight championship.

In the coming months, there is plenty to be excited about. Taylor will get her shot at redemption when she rematches Cameron on November 25th. Amanda Serrano will also be in action once more before the year is out, as will Terri Harper, who defends her WBA & WBO light-middleweight titles against Cecilia Braekhus on a blockbuster card from Sheffield, UK.

MMA

The biggest story in women's MMA so far this year was Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko's stunning upset defeat at the hands of Mexico's Alexa Grasso back in March at UFC 285. 'Bullet' had long been considered one of the finest female fighters of all time, with the only blemishes on her record a pair of contentious decision losses to double-world champion Amanda Nunes. However, she could have no complaints on the undercard of Jon Jones' return as she was choked out by the Mexican challenger.

The Uzbek fighter had the chance to regain her title as the pair had a rematch on September 16th in Las Vegas. However, the champion retained her title as the pair fought to a split draw and as such, a third bout between the pair looks likely. Elsewhere, the aforementioned Nunes was in action back in June, soundly defeating Irene Aldana via a wide unanimous decision. Chinese sensation Zhang Weili has also been in action, knocking off Amanda Lemos via decision in August.