After watching a fair amount of MMA this year, I have come to the following conclusions.
- Don’t try to write columns after several hours of discussions with the Captain and taking a few bad beats at poker.
- Bigger fighters do not necessarily make for better fights.
- I would rather see a fighter leave it all out there and lose, than “play it safe” (let’s call it “doing a Timmah!”) and win. The fan base will cheer for you more (and thus increase your exposure and paycheck) for an honest effort to take out your opponent.
- Lighter fighters who are well matched are damn exciting.
- Women fighters bring it with reckless abandon.
- Internet columnists who try to rank fighters are usually delusional keyboard jockeys that inspire the wrath of other keyboard jockeys and UFC/PRIDE/Shooto/etc. nuthuggers everywhere.
- There is no such thing as a sure thing in MMA.
With all of those things in mind, I have decided to don my protective helmet and engage my delusions head-on. While watching Amanda Buckner pound out Shayna Baszler on Bodog the other night, I wondered where Buckner was in terms of overall ranking in her weight class. With that in mind, I began a little search and found a few things here and there, but nothing weight specific. For example, you can hit mmaranks.com and they have a women’s division, but it’s open weight (Of course, on that site, for the men’s heavyweight division, UFC champion Randy Couture is not even in the top 20. The guy he beat is still #7 and this after updating on March 20, no less) So, there wasn’t a whole lot really to reference.
Being the pig-headed tunnel-visioned person I am (at least when I’m not on duty), I decided to try my hand at researching and ranking women’s MMA fighters. I found it to be somewhat challenging as even finding what divisions these fighters were fighting in was as nebulous as nailing down a politician’s position during the primaries. I did find that most fighters fell into the following categories: under 125 pounds and 126-140.
Of course, the Unified weight divisions are Flyweight (less than 125), Bantamweight (125-135), Featherweight (135.1-146) and thence to Lightweight (146.1-155). Naturally, this posed a problem from the get-go. Rank fighters by Unified weight divisions or rank by pound for pound or cheat a little and “alter” the division weight limits. I chose the third option. Flyweight remains the same and Bantamweight gets bumped to a max of 140 pounds. I thought that was somewhat reasonable at this point and, hell, it’s my column.
For research, I hit the usual sites for stats, and watched a load of fights from google and youtube and other miscellaneous links. The hitch, of course, was that some fighters were well represented. Some (many) fighters were not. Despite that, I soldiered on and came up with almost three dozen fighters. There are some names that could be on the list that are not. I excluded fighters that have not had a fight in 2006 or 2007. There are also fighters that are not in either weight division, but I could not come up with a sample size large enough to justify a ranking system. Before I get to it, I readily admit that I am no professional analyst, I’m just another internet MMA junkie that would like to see women’s MMA get some more recognition. I will gladly welcome any remediation from MMA minds that are more sound or knowledgeable than mine. I look forward to any commentary from the masses as my columns usually draw a load of profanity-laced invective from phantom IP addresses that complain that my usually sure-fire MMA selections have cost them their mortgage/drug binge/alimony payment.
Also, the opinions expressed below are in no way representative of the mmatorch.com writers, staff or groupies. I swear on the departed soul of John Labatt that I was not influenced in any way by them and these are my opinions solely.
With all of that in mind, here we go.
FLYWEIGHT Division (125 pounds and under)
1 – Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii (10-0, 8 sub). Her detractors will say that she hasn’t beat anybody yet. I’ll say that she hasn’t lost any either and she has some nasty submissions. You can catch Fujii finishing off Serin Murray with a wicked ankle lock, that looks for all the world like Murray’s ankle cracked, on youtube. She’s very smooth on the ground and has won her last four fights in less than three minutes. At some point, she’ll probably face Tsuji or Ward in Japan’s Smack Girl promotion and that should be worth the price of admission.
2 - Yuka Tsuji (16-1, 1 TKO, 12 sub). Tsuji, I believe, is the current Smack Girl Flyweight Champion (Google translates web pages well, but let’s just say my Japanese is spotty). Her only loss was back in July 2003 to Michelli Tavares by decision. Tsuji has been on cruise control since then, but has not fought since June 2006, which means she needs to be on a card soon or else lose her spot. One would think that a matchup with Fujii is not far off.
3 – Lisa Ward (8-2, 5 sub). Ward has steadily worked her way into title contention. She has a strong ground game and heavy hands. She is currently the Fatal Femmes Fighting Champion having decisioned Masako Yoshida in February. Ward migrated to the Smack Girl promotion and submitted two decent fighters in Misaki Takimoto and Miku Matsumoto. Ward has been able to jump around weight classes and is looking for a shot against Smack Girl Lightweight Champion Sakoto Shinashi, who, Ward claims, is ducking her.
4 – Hisae Watanabe (18-5, 11 TKO, 1 Sub). Watanabe gained a huge dollop of respectability in the ring when she Koed then undefeated Sakoto Shinashi back in August 2006 with a devastating right hand (its on youtube, check it out). You will see one of the better pop and drop shots you will see in either gender at any weight class. To be fair, Watanabe was getting the better of Shinashi all fight long. Watanabe is an oddity in the Japanese market as she is primarily a striker with very good standup, arguably the best in the division. Watanabe’s ring attire makes her look like Pebbles from the Flintstones, but she hits like Bam-Bam. Check the Shinashi fight out. Very fun to watch.
5 – Sakato Shinashi (24-1-2, 19 sub). Shinashi was the class of her division for almost five years. During that time, she beat everybody, usually by submission. Her train was derailed by Watanabe. Since then, she has been shaky at best, winning two fights against opponents who are combined 0-5 and a split decision against Takimoto whom she had submitted by armbar in the first round, not once, but twice before. It was a crushing knockout and many fighters can’t come all the way back from such a loss. Shinashi’s decision win against Takimoto in March (also available on youtube) might have raised more questions than it answered. She’ll need a win against a name opponent before she moves up any further. The future is now for Shinashi.
6 – Naoko Ohmuro (7-4-1, 2 sub). Ohmuro has a couple of tough losses to Watanabe and Shinashi, but otherwise has demonstrated some good all-around skills against lower level fighters. She should be on a fight card in the near future since her last bout in November 2006.
7 – Miko Matsumoto (10-3, 1 TKO, 5 sub). Matsumoto’s last bout was also back in November. She’s had a bit of inconsistency lately, but owns a win and a loss with Carina Damm. Like most fighters in this group, she prefers the ground and will need a win against the top fighters to move up the ladder.
8 – Rosi Sexton (6-1, 1 TKO, 5 sub). You may caught her upset win against Carina Damm on Bodog (or better yet, you read my review of the fight!). Sexton has good ground skills and has some striking ability. Her only loss was to Gina Carano in the heavier weight class. After her televised win, Sexton could use another won or two to move up.
9 – Carina Damm (5-3, 4 sub). Damm lost her well-hyped Bodog fight, but she has demonstrated good Jiu-Jitsu in other bouts. Her Jiu-Jitsu should allow her a fair amount of advantage against many of her opponents in this weight class who are primarily submission fighters. Bodog went out of their way to promote her out-of-ring appeal, but she will need to string a win or two together to be the whole package. It’s certainly not impossible, but she has lost her last two and needs a win.
10 – Masako Yoshida (13-8-5, 7 sub). Yoshida sneaks into the top ten, but five straight losses are not helping her cause. Granted, all five losses have come to top opponents, but still, a loss is a loss. A tenuous ranking at best, Yoshida needs some wins in a hurry to stay here.
BANTAMWEIGHT Division (125.1-140 pounds)
1 – Tara Larosa (12-1, 1 TKO, 6 sub). Larosa had a huge 2006 going 5-0 and beating several fighters on this list. Her only loss came at the hands of Jennifer Howe, a prolific fighter herself, who has not fought since November 2005. And that was in 2003. This division is pretty stacked and for now, anyway, Larosa is on top. You can see Larosa on several mixed video clips as well as a few fights on various video sites.
2 – Laura D’Auguste (8-0-1, 4 TKO, 2 sub). D’Auguste has a win over Buckner and remains undefeated, although her only draw was with Buckner as well. D’Auguste has some strong all-around skills and continues to improve. Her last fight was August 2006 and, ideally, we can hope to see her face someone of significance this year.
3 – Amanda Buckner (11-4-1, 1 TKO, 8 sub). Bucker is rapidly becoming one of my favorite fighters. Bodog viewers got to see her fight a few times including a convincing decision win over Hitomi Akano this past weekend at the Bodog PPV. Also, anyone that goes to Japan for the Yuuki Kondo Retirement Celebration and kneebars the lady of honor in the main event certainly merits a high ranking. Buckner has heavy hands and a solid ground and pound game to back them up. She will be a tough opponent for anyone in this division.
4 – Gina Carano (4-0, 2 TKO). Carano has received much media attention in the wake of her win over Julie Kedzie during the Elite XC card in February. In that fight, she demonstrated some very hard hands and solid striking skills. As her overall MMA game improves, she will be a name to watch as this weight class gains more notoriety in the U.S. You can catch the fight with Kedzie on most video sites and see why she is a rising star in the division.
5 – Shayna Baszler (4-3, 4 sub). Baszler impressed many with a strong showing in the BodogFight show. If she stops fighting Buckner for a while, her record should improve as her only losses have come at Buckner’s hands. Baszler is a slick ground specialist who has some great submission skills and she should be considered a game opponent to anyone in this division.
6 – Hitomi Akano (9-3, 6 sub). Akano is the rare Asian on the list, but with some good wins, including one over Debi Purcell, she is very deserving. The down side is that she just suffered a loss to Buckner last weekend and will have to go back to the drawing board, especially with already having a loss to Larosa as well.
7 – Jen Case (4-1, 4 sub). Case is a tough cookie that has only lost to Erin Toughill (more on her later. It was pretty difficult to find information and fight footage for Case, but two wins over Julie Kedzie is a reasonable argument to include her in the top ten. And, anyone that will go in against Toughill deserves a nod as well. I am unclear as to how active she plans to be, but for an inaugural ranking, I think she deserves a spot.
8 – Roxanne Modafferi (8-4, 2 sub). Again, fans may have been exposed to Modafferi’s game on Bodog, but she also has a fair amount of footage online. Modafferi is the only fighter to have beaten Jennifer Howe and she did it twice. Since then, her record has been good, although a loss to Baszler did her no favors. By most accounts, she is improving and, on the face of it, could make a move with a good win or two in 2007.
9 – Julie Kedzie (7-6, 1 TKO, 2 sub). Another of my favorite fighters, Kedzie is fun to watch and her footage is pretty available, especially the fight with Carano. Kedzie got back on the winning track last weekend with a TKO win on the Bodog PPV. She has been able to beat fighters of lower levels, but has struggled with some of the bigger names in the division, with losses to Case (twice), Carano and Buckner. 2007 could be a good year for Kedzie if she can get over the hump and take out some bigger names.
10 – Debi “Whiplash” Purcell (4-1, 2 TKO, 1 Sub). Purcell trains with Ruas Vale Tudo, home of Pedro Rizzo and Marco Ruas. Purcell has probably the most recognizable website devoted to women’s MMA. The site is www.fightergirls.net and it has a super forum. If you’ve read this far, check it out. Purcell herself has a solid record although she does have a loss to Akano. She has not fought since February 2006, which was the Akano loss, and, again, I am unclear if she is staying active as a fighter, but she deserves a spot in this set of rankings.
There are those that certainly deserve mention. Among them are Erin Toughill. Erin fights with a listed weight of 165 pounds according to Sherdog. She has a record of 7-2-1 and owns a win over Jen Case. Toughill has a dynamic style and appears to only getting better. As her skill increases, ideally, she should find more opponents in her weight class.
Marloes Coenen sports a record of 11-1 with her only loss coming to Toughill. Coenen is listed at 154 pounds and also has beaten several solid, but lighter opponents. She too will benefit from bigger fighters entering and getting experience in women’s MMA.
So, there it is. A jumping off point if there ever was one. I will take off my protective helmet now and await the invective from the masses. I would be happy to hear from people who are associated with some of these fighters or people who follow the women’s game regularly. As I mentioned above, it is difficult to find footage of many of these fighters. If you have video of a fighter that you think I have unjustly ranked, feel free to send me some evidence. I will be reviewing the rankings from time to time as events and evidence come along. Again, I don’t pretend to be an expert and I would certainly appreciate some other well-informed opinions. I know that mmatorch.com is interested in providing unique material for the growing legions of MMA fans out there. Ideally, a ranking system will bring the women’s MMA further into the spotlight. My email address is below. Have at it.
You can contact me at drscruf@hughes.net.
