Topic: Women's Featherweight - 145

Let's fix Tapology's women's rankings: Featherweight

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kaonohiokala
kaonohiokala
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12.08.2014 | 9:11 PM ET

With another Invicta FC event just finishing this past Friday, it's time to take a closer look at women's rankings here on Tapology.  Personally, I follow all of the women's divisions, and featherweight is easily recognizable as the most shallow division that Tapology acknowledges.

So let's take a look at the current consensus top 10 women's 145ers and why it's easily the most outdated ranking on the site.

1. Marloes Coenen - Without a doubt the best active women's featherweight.  Good on ya Tapology.
2. Cristiane Justino (INACTIVE) - She started to fall from the #1 ranking fairly recently, and for good reason.  Cyborg's last fight was over 16 months ago and has no currently scheduled bouts, and by most people/media's standards, she is inactive and therefore unranked.  There's also the added factor that she explicitly stated that she's done at 145 and will fight her next bout at 135.
3. Julia Budd (INACTIVE) - Not as bad as Cyborg, but she also has not fought in over a year.  A great fighter nonetheless, and she recently signed with Bellator so hopefully we'll see her back soon.
4. Hiroko Yamanaka (INACTIVE) - Hasn't fought in almost 2 years.  Like Cyborg and Budd, Yamanaka's a proven top competitor, but when fighters are inactive for so long, it's tough to argue them as ranked competitors.  As for Yamanaka herself, she hasn't won a bout since 2011 when she beat Bolormaa Erdenebileg.
5. Elaina Maxwell (INACTIVE) - Now here's where things get really rough.  Maxwell hasn't fought since March 2012.  That's nearly three years ago, and she's ranked #5.
6. Yana Kunitskaya (INACTIVE) - Continuing with the trend, we have another fighter who hasn't fought in well over two years.  Kunitskaya's last bout was in June 2012.
7. Romy Ruyssen (INACTIVE) - Another woman who hasn't fought since 2012, where she lost to Marloes Coenen in April.  Her last win was in 2011.
8. Ediane Gomes (BANTAMWEIGHT) - Finally!  A fighter who isn't inactive!  However, Gomes recently dropped down to bantamweight and is ineligible to be placed on this list if you're updating your rankings now.
9. Cindy Dandois (Just lost to Tonya Evinger) - She recently made her return after over a three-year hiatus, so we can't call her inactive.  That being said, she just lost to Tonya Evinger (currently ranked #27). At least we know who can get bumped up in the rankings in place of all these inactive fighters (HINT: it's tonya evinger).
10. Faith Van Duin (Just lost to Arlene Blencowe) - She was arguably the best Aussie female featherweight a few months ago, but she lost her rematch to Arlene Blencowe.  Blencowe is currently ranked at #22 despite her recnet win over Van Duin and being on a three-fight winning streak.


WHO SHOULD BE RANKED THEN?

These rankings could probably be pretty solid if they were in place 2 years ago, but the women's featherweight landscape has changed and we've got a new set of active featherweights instead.

  • Marloes Coenen - Tapology agrees and Marloes Coenen is the current best active female featherweight in the game right now.  She holds big wins over current top-ranked UFC bantamweights Liz Carmouche and Sarah Kaufman.
  • Tonya Evinger - Six fight winning streak, including her wins over Cindy Dandois, Ediane Gomes, and Sarah D'Alelio.  Her only losses in the last seven years come from current UFC top 5 bantamweights.
  • Sarah Moras - Seeing as how she's in the UFC right now, she won't stay classified as a featherweight for long, but Tapology sees her as a featherweight at the moment so here she is.  A pro win over Julianna Pena and wins in the TUF house over Tara LaRosa and Peggy Morgan.
  • Peggy Morgan - Fresh off a win over Andria Wawro at Invicta FC 10, she's been fighting at a relatively high level of competition (key word: relatively), was a member of TUF 18 and her other pro wins are over notable fighters in Revelina Berto and Kaline Medeiros.
  • Latoya Walker - Undefeated at 4-0, with wins over Anita Rodriguez and Gabrielle Holloway.
  • Andria Wawro - Was a featherweight prospect signed to Invicta FC 10, but recently lost to Peggy Morgan, whom she was favored over.
  • Fallon Fox - Despite all the controversy surround Fallon Fox, Tapology classified her as a female featherweight and she's currently 5-1 as a professional, with her only loss coming to UFC fighter Ashlee Evans-Smith.
  • Tamikka Brents - A win over big bad Amanda Bell, despite falling to Fallon Fox and a lightweight in recent outings.
  • Annalisa Bucci - Recent signee of Bellator MMA and actually has a decent amount of professional bouts, with a recent notable win over Maria Hougaard Djursaa.
  • Amanda Bell - Big scary Amanda Bell, recently winning in her last Invicta bout, she was also the woman who brutally knocked out Ronda Rousey's teammate (one of the 'four horsewomen'), Marina Shafir.
  • Maria Hougaard Djursaa - Signed to Invicta though she's currently got a sub .500 record, but featherweight is a shallow division.  Djursaa's only recent losses have come from top women while she does have some relatively major wins.
  • Arlene Blencowe - Previously mentioned for her recent win over Faith Van Duin.  On a three fight winning streak, Blencowe is possibly* the current top Australian featherweight.
  • Megan Anderson - *Currently 4-1 as a professional, having avenged her first and only loss to Zoie Shrewis.  The title of top Australian featherweight is somewhere between Blencowe and Anderson.
  • Cindy Dandois - Previously mentioned, she's got a really good record for a female featherweight, but without a win in over 3 years.
  • Raquel Pa'aluhi - Fresh off a big upset win over Invicta staple Kaitlin Young.  Pa'aluhi would be 5-0 if she hadn't consistently fought the best women in the world (all four losses are to major players in women's MMA, three of which are currently ranked as UFC bantamweights).

Well that's about it from me.  While a lot of this post is my opinion which can freely be disagreed with, there's also quite a lot of fact.  For example, you can't argue that the majority of Tapology's consensus top 10 female featherweights are inactive.

So, go ahead and update your Top Women's Featherweights today and gain yourself some update points!

* Edited at 12.08.2014, 10:05 PM ET *

"E momole aku ana i Keka‘a ka ua nahua."

Responses

theMMAmessiah
theMMAmessiah
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12.08.2014 | 9:27 PM ET

There is literally a thread on this exact topic exactly under this post. 
Lopati
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12.08.2014 | 9:53 PM ET

Amanda Bell didn't win her Invicta debut. She is now 1-1 in Invicta

"One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted. If one were to present the sportsman with the death of the animal as a gift he would refuse it." Jose Ortega y Gasset

kaonohiokala
kaonohiokala
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12.08.2014 | 10:06 PM ET

Nice! Glad to see I'm not the only one who notices how outdated the rankings are.

Also, fixed the Amanda Bell note.

"E momole aku ana i Keka‘a ka ua nahua."

kaonohiokala
kaonohiokala
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12.09.2014 | 5:55 PM ET

Anyone else have some notable active featherweights worth ranking?

"E momole aku ana i Keka‘a ka ua nahua."

Last_stand
Last_stand
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12.12.2014 | 10:10 AM ET

couldn't agree more. These girls put on some exciting fights and the rankings should reflect as much. Lets hope that the Bellators women division brings them a bit closer to center stage.

"A man should be able to govern himself, based on whatever concept he sees fit."

horatiosanchez
horatiosanchez
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12.12.2014 | 2:35 PM ET

This is a ranking that has definitely needed an overhaul for a while now. Thank you for bringing attention to it. From reading your post, I have taken out Yamanaka, Maxwell, and Kunitskaya. I don't think that Cyborg should be taken off. She has recently said that she will be staying at featherweight and although she doesn't have a fight booked yet, she is likely to have one in the near future. Everyone knows she is the best featherweight anyway. I also kept in Budd. She was signed to Bellator not too long ago and doesn't really deserve to drop in the rankings due to Invicta not having fights for almost a year.

Some of your inclusions that I disagree with: Sarah Moras - She is in the UFC bantamweight division and as far as I know, has no plans of returning to featherweight. Having her in the featherweight ranking when almost all of her best work has been in the bantamweight division is a bit puzzling.

I noticed that Tonya Evinger's last fight was listed as a featherweight fight on Tapology, but they both weighed in at 135, so she is still a bantamweight. I am not sure what the cause of this error is, but I don't think she should be ranked at featherweight. She is probably the best 135'er Invicta has and should stay there.

Once again, I appreciate your post and the attention it brings to this ranking. The rankings, women's especially, can be pretty old and it is commonplace for fighters who have retired years ago to stay ranked. If this trend could somehow be curbed, that'd be sweet. Otherwise, we could just have a group of credible and honest rankers that have the integrity of the sport in mind. Hahahaha. Thanks again man.

"Get busy livin or get busy dyin"

CthulhuJones
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12.12.2014 | 3:51 PM ET

I haven't updated my rankings in a while, so **** on them all you want. That said, if you have Fallon Fox ranked you're a bad person and I hope you get the clap.
This user is suspended from posting until 1 year, 6 months, 3 weeks, 6 hours, and 5 minutes from now.
Last_stand
Last_stand
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12.12.2014 | 4:36 PM ET

HAHAHAHAHAHAA
I agree. Fallon Fox should be nowhere near these rankings.

"A man should be able to govern himself, based on whatever concept he sees fit."


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