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)
The month of March saw Cat Zingano continue her momentum in the Bellator featherweight division, as she beat Leah McCourt to potentially score her title shot against Cris Cyborg in the near future. Looking into April, Larissa Pacheco will compete in the 2023 PFL season, with her first fight coming against Julia Budd. Also, Aspen Ladd will take part in the season, as she takes on Olena Kolesnyk.
- 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)
The month of March saw Holly Holm continue to prove herself a contender, as she bested Yana Santos. As of now, no top-10 fighters are scheduled to compete in April.
- Alexa Grasso (7)
- Valentina Shevchenko (1)
- Liz Carmouche (2)
- Tatiana Suarez (3)
- Erin Blanchfield (4)
- Manon Fiorot (5)
- Katlyn Chookagian (6)
- Juliana Velasquez (8)
- Jessica Andrade (9)
- Jennifer Maia (10)
A major shakeup took place in March, as Alexa Grasso unseated Valentina Shevchenko to earn the UFC Flyweight Championship. In addition to that, Jennifer Maia scored a win over Casey O’Neill to hold solid in her top-10 position. Looking into April, Liz Carmouche defends her Bellator title against DeAnna Bennett.
- Weili Zhang (1)
- Carla Esparza (2)
- Rose Namajunas (3)
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk (4)
- Amanda Lemos (5)
- Marina Rodriguez (6)
- Xiaonan Yan (7)
- Mackenzie Dern (8)
- Tecia Torres (9)
- Michelle Waterson-Gomez (10)
No top-10 fighters competed in the month of March. Looking into April, Michelle Waterson-Gomez will be in action when she takes on Luana Pinheiro.
- 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)
The month of March saw Ashley Cummins move up to 115 pounds to fight for Bellator, where she lost a late-notice fight to Randi Field. If she fights at strawweight one more time, which is likely if she has a Bellator contract, she will be removed from the 105-pound rankings. Looking into April, Rena Kubota will compete against Claire Lopez under the Rizin banner.