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Women – Independent World MMA Rankings (March 19, 2010)
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2010
From the office of the Independent World MMA Rankings
March 19, 2010: We are proud to announce the launch of the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings. These rankings are independent of any single MMA media outlet or sanctioning body, and are published on multiple web sites, as well as www.IndependentWorldMMARankings.com.
Much like the Men’s Independent World MMA Rankings, which were launched last June, the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are based purely on the votes of the members of the voting panel, with nobody’s vote counting more than anybody else’s vote, and no computerized voting.
The rankings will be tabulated and published on a monthly basis, with fighters receiving ten points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second-place vote, and so on.
According to the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, the official names of the weight classes in women’s MMA are Middleweight for the 145-pound division, Welterweight for the 135-pound division, Lightweight for the 125-pound division, and Featherweight for the 115-pound division.
The members of our voting panel are instructed to vote primarily based on fighters’ actual accomplishments in the cage/ring (the quality of opposition that they’ve actually beaten), not based on a broad, subjective perception of which fighters would theoretically win hypothetical match-ups.
Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.
Disciplinary Suspensions: Fighters who are currently serving disciplinary suspensions, or who have been denied a license for drug test or disciplinary reasons, are not eligible to be ranked.
Changing Weight Classes: When a fighter announces that she is leaving one weight class in order to fight in another weight class, the fighter is not eligible to be ranked in the new weight class until she has her first fight in the new weight class.
Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class.
The members of the voting panel for the Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings are, in alphabetical order: Nicholas Bailey (MMA Ratings); Jim Genia (Full Contact Fighter, MMA Memories, and MMA Journalist Blog); Yael Grauer (MMA HQ); Jesse Holland (MMA Mania); Robert Joyner (Freelance); Zac Robinson (Sports by the Numbers MMA); Leland Roling (Bloody Elbow); Michael David Smith (AOL Fanhouse); Joshua Stein (MMA Opinion); and Ivan Trembow (Freelance).
Special thanks to Eric Kamander, Joshua Stein, and Yael Grauer for their invaluable help with this project, and special thanks to Garrett Bailey for designing our logo.
March 2010 Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings
Ballots collected on March 16, 2010
Middleweight Rankings (136 to 145 lbs.)
1. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (9-1)
2. Erin Toughill (10-2-1)
3. Marloes Coenen (17-4)
4. Gina Carano (7-1)
5. Yuko “Hiroko” Yamanaka (7-1-1)
6. Shana Olsen (3-0)
7. Cindy Dandois (2-0)
8. Malissa Sherwood (3-1)
9. Amanda Nunes (5-1)
10. Jamie Seaton (2-1)
Welterweight Rankings (126 to 135 lbs.)
1. Sarah Kaufman (11-0)
2. Tara LaRosa (18-1)
3. Roxanne Modafferi (14-5)
4. Takayo Hashi (12-2)
5. Hitomi Akano (15-6)
6. Shayna Baszler (10-6)
7. Miesha Tate (8-2)
8. Adrienna “AJ” Jenkins (17-2)
9. Vanessa Porto (10-4)
10. Jennifer Tate (6-1)
Lightweight Rankings (116 to 125 lbs.)
1. Rosi Sexton (10-1)
2. Aisling Daly (9-0)
3. Tara LaRosa (18-1)
4. Emi Fujino (8-3)
5. Sally Krumdiack (7-3)
6. Lynn Alvarez (5-1)
7. Rin Nakai (6-0)
8. Lena Ovchynnikova (6-0)
9. Monica Lovato (4-1)
10. Matsumi Kasai (4-0)
Featherweight Rankings (106 to 115 lbs.)
1. Megumi Fujii (19-0)
2. Yuka Tsuji (22-2)
3. Lisa Ward (12-5)
4. Mei “V Hajime” Yamaguchi (6-2)
5. Jessica Pene (7-0)
6. Jessica Aguilar (7-3)
7. Kyoko Takabayashi (10-4)
8. Angela Magana (8-4)
9. Elena Reid (4-0)
10. Saori Ishioka (8-4)
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
No Kerry Vera? She destroyed Kim Couture!
How many rocks do you need to look under to get 10 women in each division?
I understand Miku Matsumoto is not there, because she’s just retired, but where is Carina Damm?
How many of the voters have actually seen all 40 of those women fight?
I highly doubt most of them have….
Female rankings should maybe be Top 5 at this point. It’s stretching to do a top 10.
I actually agree with you on this. I had issues tabulating top 10 lists because they all jump so many weight classes (so I chose not to).
Miku Matsumoto has announced her retirement, but hasn’t had her last match yet. She should have been on this list.
No Mika Nagano or Shizuka Sugiyama?
Regarding the eligibility of Miku Matsumoto and Carina Damm:
-Miku Matsumoto is not eligible to be ranked because she announced her retirement. Her upcoming match-up with Megumi Fujii is just an exhibition.
-The reason that Carina Damm is not eligible to be ranked is because she never served her 12-month drug suspension from the California State Athletic Commission and she is still suspended. (The women’s rankings have the same policy as the men’s rankings, which is that anyone who is under an athletic commission suspension for drug testing or disciplinary reasons is temporarily ineligible to be ranked.)
When I e-mailed the CSAC a while back to ask if Damm’s suspension had expired due to the fact that it has been more than one year and due to the fact that she has only fought outside of the United States after the suspension was handed down (her fight in Wisconsin was after the California fight but before the positive drug test came back from the lab), this is the response that I received:
“You are correct. She wasn’t on suspension at the time of her fight in Wisconsin.
Since that time, she has ignored the suspension and continued to fight. She has not paid her fine. She hasn’t communicated with us at all, even through legal representation.
One can only assume that she has made a decision not to fight anywhere an ABC Commission has jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, if she did try to come back somewhere in a Commission state or territory, she would have a lot of explaining to do to clear this up…if she’s even interested in that.”
Nothing to see here. Move along.
WAR ROXY!!!!
Come on Rosi! Top lass