Debut of UFC Women’s Strawweight Rankings
Debut of UFC Women’s Strawweight Rankings
This past Friday night Carla Esparza became the first ever UFC women’s strawweight (115-pounds) champion as she defeated Rose Namajunas via rear-naked-choke at 1:26 in Round 3. The two met in the finale of the 20th season of the Ultimate Fighter.
The following night at UFC on FOX 13 Joanna Jedrzejczyk won on the judges’ scorecards to earn the nod over Claudia Gadelha. Jedrzejczyk will likely challenge Esparza first for the title.
For the first time ever the official rankings for the UFC women’s strawweight division are as follows:
Champion: Carla Esparza
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk *NR
2 Claudia Gadelha *NR
3 Jessica Penne *NR
4 Rose Namajunas *NR
5 Tecia Torres *NR
6 Joanne Calderwood *NR
7 Randa Markos *NR
8 Felice Herrig *NR
9 Aisling Daly *NR
10 Heather Clark *NR
11 Paige VanZant *NR
12 Juliana Lima *NR
13 Angela Hill *NR
14 Bec Rawlings *NR
15 Seohee Ham *NR
*NR – Not ranked before this first official ranking. As fights proceed and competitors shift up and down the ranking system, the *NR will be removed.
Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings. Rankings will be updated approximately 36 hours after each event.
