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)
- Cat Zingano (5)
- Macy Chiasson (6)
- Arlene Blencowe (7)
- Norma Dumont (8)
- Pam Sorenson (9)
- Sarah Kaufman (10)
Cat Zingano may have earned herself a Bellator title shot in the month of June, as she was able to defeat former Invicta champ Pam Sorenson. Looking into July, Kayla Harrison competes in a PFL lightweight seasonal bout against Kaitlin Young.
- Julianna Pena (1)
- Amanda Nunes (2)
- Ketlen Vieira (3)
- Holly Holm (4)
- Raquel Pennington (5)
- Irene Aldana (6)
- Aspen Ladd (7)
- Yana Kunitskaya (8)
- Miesha Tate (9)
- Pannie Kianzad (10)
No top-10 bantamweights were in action in June. As for July, a major rematch for the UFC Bantamweight Championship will take place, when Julianna Pena takes on former champ Amanda Nunes.
- Valentina Shevchenko (1)
- Liz Carmouche (2)
- Katlyn Chookagian (3)
- Juliana Velasquez (4)
- Manon Fiorot (5)
- Alexa Grasso (6)
- Jennifer Maia (7)
- Lauren Murphy (8)
- Viviane Araujo (9)
- Taila Santos (10)
Valentina Shevchenko maintained her top-dog status in June, as she beat a difficult test in Taila Santos to keep her UFC title. As of now, no top-10 bantamweights are scheduled to compete in July.
- Carla Esparza (5)
- Rose Namajunas (1)
- Weili Zhang (2)
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (3)
- Jessica Andrade (4)
- Marina Rodriguez (6)
- Xiaonan Yan (7)
- Michelle Waterson (8)
- Mackenzie Dern (9)
- Tecia Torres (10)
Weili Zhang ended the legendary career of Joanna Jedrzejczyk in June and potentially scored a title shot against Carla Esparza. Zhang did so with a highlight-reel spinning backfist of the aforementioned Joanna. Looking into July, Michelle Waterson will be in action when she takes on Amanda Lemos.
- Jessica Delboni (1)
- Seika Izawa (2)
- Alesha Zappitella (3)
- Ayaka Hamasaki (4)
- Ashley Cummins (5)
- Jillian DeCoursey (6)
- Lindsey vanZandt (7)
- Saori Oshima (8)
- Si Woo Park (9)
- Rena Kubota (10)
No top-10 atomweights were in action in June. Looking into July, Saori Oshima looks to improve her standing in the 105-pound rankings when she takes on Miyuu Yamamoto.