So has there ever been a time in recorded or 'forgotten' history where women fought equal to or better than men? Maybe not even that but enough to hold their own?
People like to run to Joan of Arc as a more recent example but what of Valkyries and 'Amazons'? Is there any validity to those stories of muscular super women that beat men at their own game?
I know that Diadoras Siculas (a Greek historian) wrote about the "Amazons" fighting during the Trojan wars and they were supposedly quite aggressive. They also supposedly were direct offspring from Heracles.
As far as any modern tales. No. How could there be any woman who was not an extreme outlier that could fight effectively against the best of men? Perhaps the best females could hold their own against decently talented fighting men. But eventually the best female fighter would come up against a very effective male fighter and get her clocked cleaned.
There is just something about size and muscle that makes it very difficult to overcome.
I had a friend that was a fairly successful heavyweight wrestler at his HS. From what I remember he won more than he lost by a decent margin, but he certainly wasn't the best heavywieght in the state. At the same school there were a couple of other wrestlers that were exceptionally good. Multiple time state champions and contenders for national titles. These other two wrestlers were probably 60lbs+ lighter than my friend.
I saw my fried "wrestling" against those two one day and he was just wiping the walls with them. There was nothing either of them (the national title contenders) could to do to overpower an opponent that was so much heavier. There truly is a power in size. My friend acted like it was no big deal that he was throwing around national contenders due to the weight difference. He said most heavyweights would be able to do something similar.
This describes the differences between men a women in a way. It's a profound size and strength difference (before you even bring testosterone and aggression into it). In theory a professional fighter who is a female is likely a FAR better fighter than a High School heavyweight. But I highly doubt that a decent HS heavywieght would have anytrouble absolutly destroying a professional MMA fighter who was a female simply due to size and strength differences. When women fight women they put on a show. When women fight men they get their asses kicked and the police get called.