The MMA Freak rankings are voted on by members of the writing staff. Fighters who are serving drug related suspensions, have been inactive for twelve months or have recently retired are currently ineligible. Also fighters are only eligible for one weight class unless they are champions in multiple divisions in which case they are exceptions to the rule:
Top 10 Women’s P4P Fighters (1/1/22)
1) Valentina Shevchenko (1)
2) Julianna Peña (2)
3) Amanda Nunes (3)
4) Cristiane Venacio (4)
5) Rose Namajunas (5)
6) Kayla Harrison (7)(6)
7) Jessica Delboni (N/A)
8) Alesha Zappitella (8)
9) Zhang Weili (10)
10) Jessica Andrade (N/A)
Honorable Mentions
Ayaka Hamasaki, Julia Budd, Katlyn Chookagian, Lauren Murphy, Irene Aldana
*Ronda Rousey, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Holly Holm, Germaine de Randamie and Tatiana Suarez are ineligible due to inactivity.
Top 10 Women’s Open Weights (1/1/22)
1) Kayla Harrison (1)
2) Julia Budd (2)
3) Taylor Guardado (3)
4) Larissa Pacheco (4)
5) Genah Fabian (5)
6) Mariana Morais (6)
7) Marina Mokhnatkina (7)
8) Amanda Leve (8)
9) Abigail Montes (9)
10) Claressa Shields (10)
Honorable Mentions
Kaitlin Young, Cindy Dandois, Helena Kolesnyk, Julija Pajić, Brittney Elkin
*Gabi Garcia, Jozette Cotton, Bobbi-Jo Dalziel, Bianca Daimoni, Morgan Frier and Lei’D Tapa are all ineligible.
Top 10 Women’s Featherweights (1/1/22)
1) Amanda Nunes (1)
2) Cristiane Venacio (2)
3) Cat Zingano (3)
4) Leslie Smith (4)
5) Megan Anderson (5)
6) Norma Dumont (6)
7) Felicia Spencer (7)
8) Sinead Kavanagh (8)
9) Arlene Blencowe (9)
10) Sarah Kaufman (10)
Honorable Mentions
Danyelle Wolf, Talita Nogueira, Leah McCourt, Yoko Higashi, Raquel Pennington
*Amanda Nunes is ranked in multiple classes but is an exception to the rule.
**Chelsea Chandler and Auttumn Norton are both ineligible due to inactivity.
***Ediane Gomes has retired from active competition.
Top 10 Women’s Bantamweights (1/1/22)
1) Julianna Peña (1)
2) Irene Aldana (4)
3) Aspen Ladd (N/A)
4) Yana Kunitskaya (5)
5) Sara McMann (6)
6) Pannie Kianzad (7)
7) Jessica-Rose Clark (8)
8) Ketlen Vieira (9)
9) Taneisha Tennant (10)
10) Julia Avila (10)
Honorable Mentions
Miesha Tate, Karol Rosa, Vanessa Melo, Talita Bernardo, Stephanie Egger
*Amanda Nunes is ranked in multiple divisions but is an exception.
**Ronda Rousey, Germaine de Randamie, Holly Holm and Lina Länsberg are all ineligible due to inactivity.
Top 10 Women’s Flyweights (1/1/22)
1) Valentina Shevchenko (1)
2) Lauren Murphy (2)
3) Jessica Andrade (3)
4) Katlyn Chookagian (4)
5) Jennifer Maia (5)
6) Jessica Eye (7)
7) Liz Carmouche (8)
8) Juliana Velasquez (9)
9) Andrea Lee (N/A)
10) Cynthia Calvillo (6)
Honorable Mentions
Taila Santos, Alexa Grasso, Maycee Barber, Montana De La Rosa, Mariya Agapova
*Agnieszka Niedźwiedź and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane are both ineligible for the rankings due to inactivity.
Top 10 Women’s Strawweights (1/1/22)
1) Rose Namajunas (1)
2) Weili Zhang (2)
3) Carla Esparza (3)
4) Marina Rodriguez (4)
5) Michelle Waterson (5)
6) Tecia Torres (7)
7) Yan Xiaonan (8)
8) Amanda Lemos (N/A)
9) Angela Hill (6)
10) Mackenzie Dern (10)
Honorable Mentions
Polyana Viana, Jessica Penne, Jinh Yu Frey, Amanda Ribas, Lupita Godinez
*Tatiana Suarez, Claudia Gadelha and Joanna Jędrzejczyk are ineligible due to inactivity.
Top 10 Women’s Atomweights (1/1/22)
1) Jessica Delboni (3)
2) Alesha Zappitella (2)
3) Seika Izawa (N/A)
4) Ayaka Hamasaki (1)
5) Lindsey VanZandt (4)
6) Marisa Messer-Belenchia (6)
7) Linda Mihalec (7)
8) Mina Kurobe (8)
9) Saori Oshima (10)
10) Elle Wagman (N/A)
Honorable Mentions
Satomi Takano, Jihin Radzuan, Aya Murakami, Moe Sasaki, Jillian Decoursey
*Lisbeth Lopez Silva, Suwanan Boonsorn, Yoon Ha Hong and Viviane Pereira are all ineligible for the rankings due to inactivity.