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Notes -
I've been training Muay Thai for 10 years and coaching for 4.
Not only do men start at a higher baseline, they also respond better to training over a set period of time. If you take a man and a woman of similar height, weight and age, the man will have advantages in three traits:
The first means that any strength for strength activities will go the man: grappling, jostling, pinning, etc. The second means that men can dish out more damage, because force = mass x acceleration, and denser bones and muscles mean more mass. It also means that men can take more damage, because density resists manipulation, i.e. muscles don't tear as easily and bones don't crack as easily. The third and most important trait means that not only can men express more force in a shorter amount of time, resulting in more damage, they can also perform other fighting actions quicker: movement, defense, reactions, etc.
As I mentioned before, this is just the baseline. Over time, men will respond to training better than women on average. They will become more dangerous, able to express their advantages in more effective ways. And these are just the physical explanations. Mentally, men seem to have an animal like ability to deal damage, take damage, and enjoy it.
All this to say, the deck is stacked against women. In order to overcome this asymmetry, the skill differences needs to be significant, which I have seen plenty of times to be fair, but it's not common. These differences are important to know so that training can be shaped accordingly. When men and women spar together, due care and understanding is paramount so as to prevent injury. When women compete against other women, strength and conditioning makes a larger difference than when men compete with other men.
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