With the growing popularity of women’s MMA, it is important to recognize these women with a rankings system similar to the men. Between the UFC’s inclusion of a bantamweight division, its addition of a strawweight division, its recent announcement of a flyweight division and the all-female promotion of Invicta FC, more and more women are being exposed to casual and hardcore fans alike. Every month, Combat Press compiles the staff’s individual rankings from featherweight to atomweight to create the Combat Press Women’s MMA Rankings.
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from the previous rankings.
- Amanda Nunes (1)
- Cris “Cyborg” Justino (2)
- Julia Budd (3)
- Holly Holm (4)
- Felicia Spencer (6)
- Megan Anderson (5)
- Olga Rubin (8)
- Talita Nogueira (7)
- Arlene Blencowe (9)
- Amanda Bell (10)
Felicia Spencer pushed into the division’s top five by beating Megan Anderson at UFC on ESPN+ 10. Spencer submitted the Aussie to earn a fight with Cris Cyborg in July at UFC 240.
- Amanda Nunes (1)
- Germaine de Randamie (2)
- Holly Holm (3)
- Ketlen Vieira (4)
- Aspen Ladd (8)
- Raquel Pennington (5)
- Cat Zingano (7)
- Tonya Evinger (9)
- Yana Kunitskaya (10)
- Marion Reneau (-)
- Dropped from the rankings: Sarah Kaufman (6)
Sarah Kaufman exits the bantamweight rankings due to her commitment to fight in the women’s lightweight division for this year in the Professional Fighters League. This allows Marion Reneau to re-enter the picture. Meanwhile, Aspen Ladd makes a big move up to No. 5 after beating Sijara Eubanks at UFC on ESPN+ 10. Tonya Evinger suffered a loss to Lina Lina Länsberg in the latter’s home country of Sweden at UFC on ESPN+ 11, but that fight took place in June and therefore the result will factor in to next month’s edition of the rankings.
- Valentina Shevchenko (1)
- Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (2)
- Jessica Eye (3)
- Liz Carmouche (4)
- Katlyn Chookagian (7)
- Jennifer Maia (6)
- Alexis Davis (9)
- Vanessa Porto (10)
- Roxanne Modafferi (-)
- Andrea Lee (-)
- Dropped from the rankings: Nicco Montaño (5), Agnieszka Niedźwiedź (8)
Inactivity shakes up the flyweight rankings, as Nicco Montaño and Agnieszka Niedźwiedź have fallen out of the top 10. In their place, Roxanne Modafferi and Andrea Lee join the rankings. Lots of ranked fighters will be in action in June. The most notable is UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, who puts her strap on the line against Jessica Eye in the co-main event of UFC 238 in Chicago. On that same card, Katlyn Chookagian looks to get back in the mix when she takes on fellow contender Joanne Calderwood. Lee, one of the newcomers to the top 10, gets a chance to solidify her status when she takes on prospect Montana De La Rosa at UFC on ESPN+ 12 in South Carolina.
- Jessica Andrade (3)
- Rose Namajunas (1)
- Joanna Jędrzejczyk (2)
- Nina Ansaroff (4)
- Claudia Gadelha (5)
- Tatiana Suarez (6)
- Weili Zhang (7)
- Michelle Waterson (8)
- Carla Esparza (9)
- Tecia Torres/Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10)
Jessica Andrade moves to the top of the strawweight poll after brutally defeating Rose Namajunas for the UFC championship at UFC 237. The future of Namajunas is up in the air, but the UFC has a dangerous champion now occupying the throne. In June, Nina Ansaroff takes on Tatiana Suarez, and Karolina Kowalkiewicz looks to break her tie for the No. 10 spot when she takes on Alexa Grasso.
- Ayaka Hamasaki (1)
- Seo Hee Ham (2)
- Jinh Yu Frey (3)
- Alesha Zappitella (4)
- Minna Grusander (5)
- Ashley Cummins (6)
- Kanna Asakura (7)
- Amber Brown (8)
- Rena Kubota (9)
- Mina Kurobe (10)
The atomweights were silent in May, but the top 10 will certainly see some shakeups due to June’s action. Ayaka Hamasaki came out victorious in a rematch with Jinh Yu Frey under the Rizin banner. On that same card, Kanna Asakura was upset by Miyuu Yamamoto. While these fights are already in the book, they won’t be reflected in the rankings until June’s edition of the polls. June still holds additional action, as Invicta FC 35 features Alesha Zappitella in her hunt to clinch a title shot when she takes on UFC veteran Viviane Pereira. Meanwhile, Rena Kubota will fight Lindsey vanZandt on the Bellator New York card.