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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
We're back on the rotation in our “Keeping Tabs On…” series, where we break down the UFC's Top 15 ranked fighters in each division. We'll let you know where we've got them ranked, what they've got coming up, how often they've been competing, what we've said about them recently at MMATorch, and more. We finalize this rotation with the women's bantamweight division.
Champ: Ronda Rousey
MMATorch Rank: 1 Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Sara McMann (Win), UFC 170 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 5 Contender Status: Current Champ What We're Saying: "It seems Rousey's going to wind up paying up some money to Fight Tribe following arbitration, and honestly, if they backed her to the point alleged, then it will turn out as the right thing. Of course, not knowing the particulars of their rift to begin with makes it hard to speculate with any certainty on this type of thing. Regardless, she's no longer got obligations to Fight Tribe as a management group, but she will have to deal with the rest of the issues contained in what's moving to the supreme court." - Jamie Penick
1. Cat Zingano
MMATorch Rank: 2 Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Miesha Tate (Win), TUF 17 Finale Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 2 Contender Status: Likely to fight for title in return from injury What We're Saying: "It's a similar situation to what happened with Georges St-Pierre, though apparently less severe. She was likely overcompensating for the knee and working the other one harder than she meant to, which ultimately led to further injury. Hopefully this timeline can work out for her, because if she can fight four to six months from now she'll be able to face the winner of Rousey-Tate." - Jamie Penick
2. Alexis Davis
MMATorch Rank: 3 Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Jessica Eye (Win), UFC 170 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 9 Contender Status: Rising, could potentially be next title challenger What We're Saying: "Cat Zingano... hasn't beaten anyone remotely close to someone as talented as Ronda Rousey. Same applies to Alexis Davis. To her credit though she's 3-0 in the UFC now and her list of victories looks more impressive on paper. Despite all that, again I don't see her causing Rousey any problems at all, even if she is in peak condition and Rousey isn't." - Dan Moore
3. Miesha Tate
MMATorch Rank: 7 Next Fight: Liz Carmouche, UFC on Fox 11, April 19 Previous Fight: Ronda Rousey (Loss), UFC 168 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 4 Contender Status: Falling, unlikely to get another fight with Rousey What We're Saying: "Some of the drama with Rousey into the December event was really self-induced by Tate, but regardless of all that happened there, it's got to be refreshing to have a change of pace. Tate and Rousey were going strong for a solid six months after filming early last summer, so now she gets a fight with Carmouche without any of that at all. Now, it probably won't have much of an effect one way or the other here, as this fight is simply about whether or not she's better than Carmouche. She needs to go out and prove that, and if she does it will be the first step in getting back to a second UFC Title fight." - Jamie Penick
4. Sara McMann
MMATorch Rank: 4 Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Ronda Rousey (Loss), UFC 170 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 4 Contender Status: Falling, controversial stoppage could boost her chances at rematch What We're Saying: "I think there's a key difference between this stoppage and the UFC 169 main event, also stopped early by Dean, that makes this one less egregious. Dean stepped in after McMann reacted to that gut shot, whereas he stepped in well after Urijah Faber had gotten hurt and at a moment in which he was trying his comeback. McMann hadn't quite gotten to that point, though she could have after a few more moments." - Jamie Penick
5. Sarah Kaufman
MMATorch Rank: 6 Next Fight: Amanda Nunes, “The Ultimate Fighter: Nations” Finale, April 16 Previous Fight: Jessica Eye (Loss), UFC 166 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 4 Contender Status: Stagnant, Getting loss overturned to a draw gives her a new start What We're Saying: "Kaufman is making her second UFC appearance, with her first fight resulting in a no contest after Jessica Eye's failed drug test for marijuana. Nunes enters with consecutive TKO victories in the UFC in 2013." - Jamie Penick
6. Jessica Eye
MMATorch Rank: 5 Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Alexis Davis (Loss), UFC 170 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 7 Contender Status: Falling, loss in conjunction with UFC 166 debacle hurts her standing What We're Saying: "The most maddening issue here with Eye is the fact that it was completely unnecessary. She comes off as a very nice person, and she's easy to like in conversation, so why she'd have felt the need to lie, and do so continuously regarding something so benign as a marijuana test failure at 16ng/ML is beyond most. It just doesn't make sense. Had she come out and said she smoked marijuana, or that she ingested it in some other fashion a week or two before the fight, as that level could have suggested, no one would have held it against her." - Jamie Penick
7. Liz Carmouche
MMATorch Rank: 8 Next Fight: Miesha Tate, UFC on Fox 11, April 19 Previous Fight: Alexis Davis (Loss), UFC Fight for the Troops 3 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 5 Contender Status: Falling, relegated to gatekeeper status What We're Saying: "Carmouche fought Rousey in the first ever UFC Women's Title bout, and while she added a win over Jessica Andrade last summer, she lost to Alexis Davis in her third UFC fight in November." - Jamie Penick
8. Amanda Nunes
MMATorch Rank: 10 Next Fight: Sarah Kaufman, “TUF: Nations” Finale, April 16 Previous Fight: Germaine de Randamie (Win), UFC Fight for the Troops 3 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 4 Contender Status: Rising, could contend with a few more wins What We're Saying: "Nunes was supposed to face UFC newcomer Alexis Dufresne on the April 19 Fox card, but with a slot opened up opposite former Strikeforce Champ Sarah Kaufman, she'll make her return to the cage three days earlier." - Jamie Penick
9. Jessica Andrade
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked (received votes) Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Raquel Pennington (Win), UFC 171 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 12 Contender Status: Rising, continues on her run What We're Saying: "This was really close. Andrade picked up the split decision here, and the second round was the decisive one. Pennington was countering well, but Andrade was being very aggressive and landing the heavier shots. This was a hard one to judge." - Frank Hyden
10. Julianna Pena
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Jessica Rakoczy, TUF 18 Finale Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 3 Contender Status: Stagnant, serious injury has her out of action What We're Saying: "Clearly, they were both training aggressively, and in this instance, with Gow seemingly trying to prove he could indeed take her down, did so in a way that just destroyed her knee. She's got a significant amount of rehab ahead of her because of it, and no matter what her part in things may have been, the victim blaming out of the camp has been wrong from the start, and no one in that camp has taken responsibility for what went down." - Jamie Penick
11. Germaine de Randamie
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Amanda Nunes (Loss), UFC Fight for the Troops 3 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 3 Contender Status: Falling, loss to Nunes What We're Saying: "One-sided fight once it hit the ground. De Randamie couldn't get out of that position once Nunes got into that mount position, and though Nunes wasted a lot of energy on shots that were not getting through, the relentless nature of it had as much to do with the stoppage as anything." - Jamie Penick
12. Bethe Correia
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked Next Fight: Jessamyn Duke, UFC 172, April 26 Previous Fight: Julie Kedzie (Win), UFC Fight Night 33 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 7 Contender Status: Several wins from contention What We're Saying: "Correia made an impression in her debut, defeating Julie Kedzie on short notice in December at UFC Fight Night 33 by split decision. That moved her to 7-0 overall in her young MMA career." - Jamie Penick
13. Raquel Pennington
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Jessica Andrade (Loss), UFC 171 Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 8 Contender Status: Further away from contention despite solid performance in Andrade loss What We're Saying: "
Overall, I was impressed with the entire card. There were good performances by Jessica Andrade and Raquel Pennington in the women's divsion." - Cash Norman
14. Jessamyn Duke
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked Next Fight: Bethe Correia, UFC 172, April 26 Previous Fight: Peggy Morgan (Win), TUF 18 Finale Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 4 Contender Status: Well out of contention for now, significant win streak could elevate her What We're Saying: "Duke and Correia hope to build off of wins in their respective UFC debuts last fall. Duke defeated fellow Ultimate Fighter 18 teammate Peggy Morgan at the TUF 18 Finale. She's officially undefeated as her sole loss was overturned to a no contest due to an illegal knee." - Jamie Penick
15. Jessica Rakoczy
MMATorch Rank: Not Ranked Next Fight: TBA Previous Fight: Julianna Pena (Loss), TUF 18 Finale Number of Fights Since Jan. 2012: 2 Contender Status: Highly unlikely she’d contend for a UFC Title in her career What We're Saying: "Though Rakoczy got back to her feet from that takedown, it was not to be on the next one, and Pena unleashed a furious assault from the mount. Rakoczy tried to buck out of it, and tried to defend initially, but it was a futile attempt, and she ultimately resorted to cover up. Pena rained down more strikes, and Yamasaki had seen enough." - Jamie Penick
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
