Combat Press Women’s MMA Rankings: January 2023

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.

1. Amanda Nunes (1)
2. Cris “Cyborg” Justino (2)
3. Kayla Harrison (4)
4. Larissa Pacheco (3)
5. Aspen Ladd (5)
6. Julia Budd (6)
7. Cat Zingano (7)
8. Macy Chiasson (8)
9. Arlene Blencowe (9)
10. Norma Dumont (10)

No top-10 fighters competed in the month of December. As of now, no top-10 fighters are scheduled to compete in January.

1. Amanda Nunes (1)
2. Julianna Pena (2)
3. Ketlen Vieira (3)
4. Holly Holm (4)
5. Raquel Pennington (5)
6. Irene Aldana (6)
7. Miesha Tate (8)
8. Yana Kunitskaya (7)
9. Pannie Kianzad (9)
10. Macy Chiasson (10)

No top-10 fighters competed in the month of December. Looking into January, Raquel Pennington will be in action against Ketlen Vieira.

1. Valentina Shevchenko (1)
2. Liz Carmouche (2)
3. Manon Fiorot (3)
4. Katlyn Chookagian (5)
5. Alexa Grasso (4)
6. Juliana Velasquez (6)
7. Jennifer Maia (7)
8. Viviane Araujo (10)
9. Lauren Murphy (9)
10. Taila Santos (8)

December saw Liz Carmouche solidify herself as the No. 2 flyweight in the world, as she bested Juliana Velasquez in a rematch for the Bellator title. Looking into January, Lauren Murphy welcomes back Jessica Andrade to the flyweight division.

1. Weili Zhang (1)
2. Carla Esparza (2)
3. Rose Namajunas (3)
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (4)
5. Jessica Andrade (5)
6. Amanda Lemos (6)
7. Marina Rodriguez (7)
8. Xiaonan Yan (8)
9. Mackenzie Dern (10)
10. Tecia Torres (NR)

Dropped out of the rankings: Michelle Waterson (9)

No top-10 fighters competed in the month of December. Looking into January, Jessica Andrade moves back up to flyweight.

1. Jillian DeCoursey (1)
2. Jessica Delboni (2)
3. Seika Izawa (3)
4. Alesha Zappitella (4)
5. Si Woo Park (6)
6. Ashley Cummins (5)
7. Ayaka Hamasaki (7)
8. Lindsey vanZandt (8)
9. Saori Oshima (9)
10. Rena Kubota (10)

Seika Izawa continued to solidify herself as a top atomweight in December, as she bested Si Woo Park in a rematch. Looking into January, no top-10 fighters are scheduled to compete.