John
Brannigan/Sherdog.com illustration
Even as she approaches 40 years old, Cris
Cyborg continues to add championship hardware to her
collection.
The heavy-handed Brazilian turned away a game Larissa
Pacheco at PFL “Battle of the Giants,” capturing a unanimous
decision on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. By winning her eighth
consecutive outing, Cyborg claimed the PFL Superfights belt, adding
it to a trophy case that already includes titles from the UFC,
Strikeforce, Bellator MMA and Invicta. As long as Amanda
Nunes stays retired, it’s hard to deny Cyborg of the top spot
in the women’s pound-for-pound rankings. However, with Kayla
Harrison in the UFC, Pacheco was the most interesting challenge
left for Cyborg. As always, it will remain difficult to find
worthwhile opposition for the fearsome Chute Boxe representative in
the months to come.
Pacheco, meanwhile, might regret not pushing the pace a little bit
more down the stretch as she sees her 10-fight professional winning
streak come to an end. The former PFL two-division champion has
only lost against top-flight competition during her career,
however, and she remains a worthy member of these rankings at No.
12.
Note: Previous rankings listed in brackets.
Even at 39 years old, “Cyborg” remains the cream of the crop in the
women’s featherweight division. She once again proved her supremacy
in the PFL “Battle of the Giants” co-main event, where she
outdueled Larissa Pacheco for five rounds to capture the
promotion’s Superfights belt. The heavy-handed Brazilian has now
captured championships in the UFC, PFL, Strikeforce, Bellator and
Invicta, making her perhaps the most accomplished female fighter
ever. With a lack of depth at 145 pounds, Justino’s next move will
prove to be interesting indeed.
Shevchenko was a woman on a mission in the UFC 306 co-main event,
as she dominated Alexa Grasso with takedowns and positional control
en route to a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph at the Sphere in
Las Vegas. “Bullet” regains the flyweight belt she lost to Grasso
in a massive upset at UFC 285 and evens their trilogy at 1-1-1.
Perhaps more impressively, Shevchenko improved to 9-2-1 during her
current run of 11 straight title fights, further solidifying her
status as the greatest female flyweight of all-time.
While Zhang was potentially robbed of a first-round finish against
Xiaonan Yan in the UFC 300 co-main event, the reigning flyweight
queen was undeterred, as she kept her focus and rolled to a
five-round verdict over her Chinese rival. “Magnum” now has five
victories in UFC title bouts to her credit — second most in
strawweight history — and she remains head and shoulders above the
rest of the contenders in the division. However, Zhang could use
another boost like the one she received from her first fight
against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2020 to raise her star profile to
another level.
Grasso spent much of her trilogy bout against Valentina Shevchenko
on her back, and the Mexican star paid the price, as she
relinquished her flyweight title in a unanimous decision loss at
UFC 306. Grasso struggled to find her range on the feet and outside
of a couple submission attempts, was unable to seriously threaten
her rival over the course of the 25-minute affair. Still, Grasso is
1-1-1 against Shevchenko overall, so she shouldn’t be too far from
contention at 125 pounds.
Fiorot relied on her physical advantages at UFC on ESPN 54, as she
cruised to a unanimous decision triumph over Erin Blanchfield in
the evening’s main event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New
Jersey. Fiorot’s winning streak now stands at seven, and while it
wasn’t an especially enthralling performance, it’s hard to deny the
Frenchwoman her place as the division’s No. 1 contender. However,
Fiorot might have to wait until Alexa Grasso and Valentina
Shevchenko square off for a third time after coaching on “The
Ultimate Fighter 32” — or even longer than that, depending on the
result of their trilogy.
Blanchfield appeared to be overmatched by the larger Manon Fiorot
in the UFC on ESPN 54 main event, as she struggled to close the
distance for 25 minutes in a clear-cut unanimous decision defeat.
While Blanchfield deserves credit for staying in her opponent’s
face until the final horn, the Elmwood Park, New Jersey native
missed out on a golden opportunity to assert herself as the
division’s No. 1 contender. Instead, “Cold Blooded” will attempt to
get back on track against Rose Namajuas at UFC Edmonton on Nov.
2.
Namajunas was a step ahead of short-notice foe Tracy Cortez
throughout their UFC on ESPN 59 headlining encounter, cruising to a
unanimous decision at Ball Arena in Denver. After falling to Manon
Fiorot in her 125-pound debut, the ex-strawweight queen has rallied
to post five-round verdicts over Cortez and Amanda Ribas to
establish herself as a person of interest in the flyweight
division. She’ll get to make a claim for the next title shot when
she squares off against Erin Blanchfield at UFC Edmonton on Nov.
2.
Returning to action at UFC 307 after more than two years away, “The
Venezuelan Vixen” picked up right where she left off, edging out
Raquel Pennington by split decision to reclaim the title she lost
in July 2022. In so doing, the 35-year-old Washington state native
became one of the unlikeliest two-time champs in UFC history,
proving that when healthy, she can hold her own with anyone. While
she used her moment in the spotlight to try and goad retired former
champ Amanda Nunes into a rubber match, it seems much more likely
that the first title defense of her second reign will be either a
rematch with Pennington, or against surging newcomer Kayla
Harrison.
Santos mixed clean combination striking with opportunistic
grappling to take a hard-fought unanimous verdict over Bellator
flyweight queen Liz Carmouche in the PFL semifinals on Aug. 2.
Santos, who came up short in her bid for UFC gold at 125 pounds,
will get a crack at $1 million and the PFL flyweight crown against
Dakota Ditcheva later this year.
10. Seika Izawa
(14-0) | Rizin
[10]
Izawa kept her undefeated record intact at Rizin 48, outdueling
Kanna Asakura over three entertaining rounds in a non-title, super
atomweight bout at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on Sept.
29. The reigning Rizin and two-division Deep champion threatened
her opponent with submissions throughout the contest but was unable
to get the finish, ending her run of consecutive submission
victories at four. Nonetheless, Izawa solidified her position as
one of the top female fighters in the world regardless of weight
class.
Other Contenders: Raquel
Pennington, Larissa
Pacheco, Kayla
Harrison, Liz
Carmouche, Virna
Jandiroba.
Sherdog’s divisional and pound-for-pound rankings are compiled
by a panel of Sherdog.com staff members and contributors: Tristen
Critchfield, Mike Fridley, Brian Knapp, Ben Duffy, Jay Pettry,
Marcelo Alonso, Keith Shillan, Tyler Treese, Sayan Nag and Robert
Sargent.
