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)
- Larissa Pacheco (NR)
- Kayla Harrison (3)
- Aspen Ladd (NR)
- Julia Budd (4)
- Cat Zingano (5)
- Macy Chiasson (6)
- Arlene Blencowe (7)
- Norma Dumont (8)
Dropped out of the rankings: Pam Sorenson (9), Sarah Kaufman (10)
The month of November saw a couple of big changes. Larissa Pacheco scored a massive upset win over Kayla Harrison, boosting her up the rankings. Aspen Ladd also moved to 145 and defeated Julia Budd to debut herself in the rankings. As of now, no top-10 featherweights are scheduled to fight in December.
- Amanda Nunes (1)
- Julianna Pena (2)
- Ketlen Vieira (3)
- Holly Holm (4)
- Raquel Pennington (5)
- Irene Aldana (6)
- Yana Kunitskaya (8)
- Miesha Tate (9)
- Pannie Kianzad (10)
- Macy Chiasson (NR)
Dropped out of the rankings: Aspen Ladd (7)
No top-10 fighters competed in the month of October. As of now, no top-10 fighters are scheduled to compete in November.
- Valentina Shevchenko (1)
- Liz Carmouche (2)
- Manon Fiorot (3)
- Alexa Grasso (4)
- Katlyn Chookagian (5)
- Juliana Velasquez (6)
- Jennifer Maia (7)
- Taila Santos (8)
- Lauren Murphy (9)
- Viviane Araujo (10)
The month of November saw Jennifer Maia notch one in the win column, as she was able to defeat Maryna Moroz. Looking into December, Liz Carmouche will go head-to-head with Juliana Velasquez under the Bellator banner.
- Weili Zhang (3)
- Carla Esparza (1)
- Rose Namajunas (2)
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (4)
- Jessica Andrade (5)
- Amanda Lemos (8)
- Marina Rodriguez (6)
- Xiaonan Yan (7)
- Michelle Waterson (9)
- Mackenzie Dern (10)
The month of November saw Weili Zhang re-capture UFC gold and the top spot in the rankings, as she bested Carla Esparza. Also, Amanda Lemos jumped up the rankings after beating Marina Rodriguez. As of now, no top-10 strawweights are scheduled to compete in December.
- Jillian DeCoursey (1)
- Jessica Delboni (2)
- Seika Izawa (3)
- Alesha Zappitella (4)
- Ashley Cummins (5)
- Si Woo Park (6)
- Ayaka Hamasaki (7)
- Lindsey vanZandt (8)
- Saori Oshima (9)
- Rena Kubota (10)
Saori Oshima scored another win in November, beating Mizuki Furuse. Looking into December, Seika Izawa will be in action when she takes on Si Woo Park.