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)
- Larissa Pacheco (4)
- Aspen Ladd (5)
- Julia Budd (6)
- Cat Zingano (7)
- Macy Chiasson (8)
- Arlene Blencowe (9)
- Norma Dumont (10)
No top-10 fighters competed in the month of February. Looking into March, Cat Zingano will fight Leah McCourt in an attempt to move up the rankings and potentially secure a Bellator title shot.
- Amanda Nunes (1)
- Julianna Pena (2)
- Holly Holm (3)
- Raquel Pennington (4)
- Ketlen Vieira (5)
- Irene Aldana (6)
- Miesha Tate (7)
- Yana Santos (8)
- Pannie Kianzad (9)
- Macy Chiasson (10)
No top-10 fighters competed in the month of February. Looking into March, Holly Holm is set to fight fellow ranked fighter Yana Santos.
- Valentina Shevchenko (1)
- Liz Carmouche (2)
- Tatiana Suarez (NR)
- Erin Blanchfield (NR)
- Manon Fiorot (3)
- Katlyn Chookagian (4)
- Alexa Grasso (5)
- Juliana Velasquez (6)
- Jessica Andrade (7)
- Jennifer Maia (8)
Dropped out of the rankings: Viviane Araujo (9), Lauren Murphy (T-10), Taila Santos (T-10)
The month of February saw big shake ups in the flyweight rankings. Tatiana Suarez returned after a long layoff to defeat Montana de la Rosa, immediately making her a title contender. Also entering the rankings is Erin Blanchfield, who upended Jessica Andrade with a shocking submission victory. Looking into March, Valentina Shevchenko defends her UFC title against Alexa Grasso. Also, Jennifer Maia squares off with the surging Casey O’Neill.
- Weili Zhang (1)
- Carla Esparza (2)
- Rose Namajunas (3)
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (4)
- Amanda Lemos (6)
- Marina Rodriguez (7)
- Xiaonan Yan (8)
- Mackenzie Dern (9)
- Tecia Torres (10)
- Michelle Waterson (NR)
Dropped out of rankings: Jessica Andrade (5)
No top-10 fighters competed in the month of February. As of now, no top-10 fighters are scheduled to compete in March. Jessica Andrade is now at flyweight, so she has dropped from the rankings and Michelle Waterson moves in at #10.
- Jillian DeCoursey (1)
- Jessica Delboni (2)
- Seika Izawa (3)
- Alesha Zappitella (4)
- Si Woo Park (5)
- Ashley Cummins (6)
- Ayaka Hamasaki (7)
- Lindsey vanZandt (8)
- Saori Oshima (9)
- Rena Kubota (10)
No top-10 fighters competed in the month of February. Ashley Cummins will move up to 115 in March to fight Randi Field under the Bellator banner.