With the growing popularity of women’s MMA, it is important to recognize these women with a rankings system of their own. Between the UFC’s inclusion of weight classes from strawweight up to featherweight, Bellator’s increasing attention to the women’s side of the sport, and the all-female promotion 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 month.
- Amanda Nunes (1)
- Cris “Cyborg” Justino (2)
- Kayla Harrison (3)
- Julia Budd (4)
- Norma Dumont (5)
- Cat Zingano (6)
- Felicia Spencer (8)
- Arlene Blencowe (9)
- Pam Sorenson (10)
- Sarah Kaufman (NR)
Dropped out of the rankings: Megan Anderson (7)
No top-10 fighters competed in the featherweight division in the month of February, but Megan Anderson’s retirement and year away from the cage have removed her from the rankings. In her place moves Sarah Kaufman. Looking into April, Bellator Champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino takes on Arlene Blencowe in an anticipated rematch.
- Julianna Pena (1)
- Amanda Nunes (2)
- Germaine de Randamie (3)
- Holly Holm (4)
- Raquel Pennington (5)
- Aspen Ladd (6)
- Irene Aldana (7)
- Ketlen Vieira (8)
- Yana Kunitskaya (9)
- Miesha Tate (10)
No top-10 fighters competed in the bantamweight division in the month of February, so the rankings remain unchanged. In April, Raquel Pennington will meet Aspen Ladd in a matchup of top-10 ranked bantamweights.
- Valentina Shevchenko (1)
- Liz Carmouche (2)
- Jessica Andrade (3)
- Katlyn Chookagian (4)
- Juliana Velasquez (6)
- Manon Fiorot (NR)
- Alexa Grasso (NR)
- Jennifer Maia (5)
- Ilima Macfarlane (7)
- Lauren Murphy (8)
Dropped out of the rankings: Andrea Lee (9), Taila Santos (10)
Both Manon Fiorot and Alexa Grasso stormed into the top-10 rankings in the month of March. Fiorot did so by besting former UFC title challenger Jennifer Maia, while Grasso finished Joanne Wood to earn her spot. Looking into April, Juliana Velasquez defends her Bellator championship against Liz Carmouche.
- Rose Namajunas (1)
- Weili Zhang (2)
- Joanna Jędrzejczyk (3)
- Carla Esparza (4)
- Marina Rodriguez (6)
- Xiaonan Yan (5)
- Michelle Waterson (7)
- Tecia Torres (8)
- Amanda Ribas (9)
- Mackenzie Dern (10)
The month of March saw a doce-do by Marina Rodriguez and Xiaonan Yan, as Rodriguez defeated Yan in combat. Looking into April, Tecia Torres will square off with Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas welcomes Jessica Andrade back into the strawweight division.
- Jessica Delboni (3)
- Alesha Zappitella (4)
- Ayaka Hamasaki (2)
- Ashley Cummins (5)
- Lindsey vanZandt (8)
- Seika Izawa (NR)
- Kanna Asakura (6)
- Rena Kubota (7)
- Saori Oshima (NR)
- Si Woo Park (NR)
Dropped out of the rankings: Seo Hee Ham (1), Miyuu Yamamoto (9), Alyona Rassohyna (10)
Seo Hee Ham drops out of the rankings with her continued journey at 115 with ONE Championship, which has caused a massive rearrangement of the 105-pound rankings. There weren’t any current ranked 105ers in action in March, but in April we will see Seika Izawa take on Ayaka Hamasaki and Kanna Asakura take on Satomi Takano.