Yeah weight classes help for women (since it counteracts the fact that men are generally just bigger), but even pound for pound, looking at weightlifting records on Wikipedia men are about 25% stronger. For comparison that is a bigger strength difference than the difference between weightlifting weight classes. Obviously MMA is much more than a strength competition but that would be really hard to overcome. Also, men are quicker with hand and foot speed.
Yeah weight classes help for women (since it counteracts the fact that men are generally just bigger), but even pound for pound, looking at weightlifting records on Wikipedia men are about 25% stronger. For comparison that is a bigger strength difference than the difference between weightlifting weight classes. Obviously MMA is much more than a strength competition but that would be really hard to overcome. Also, men are quicker with hand and foot speed.