[WMMA] Bantamweight just became the worst division

Example of any other case, ever, where a winner hasn't moved past the loser?

Other than obvious cases like Hammill beating Jon Jones.

It's like saying you don't automatically get the belt just because you beat the champion.

Matt Brown and Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger did not leapfrog Matt Brown just because he beat him.

'don't automatically get the belt...' That's an apples and oranges comparison.
 
Nunes vs Pennington is a serviceable main event for a free card or B-level PPV in Brazil (co-main for a good PPV). Viera is undefeated, GDR is a former FW champ and didn't lose the belt in the cage. Holm will probably return if she loses to Cyborg, or she could just decide to stay and fight Nunes instead.

All of that kills enough time to create more contenders, Nunes losing could shake up the division, or if she keeps winning a Nunes vs Cyborg super fight in Brazil could be fun too.
I don't think Nunes would fight Cyborg, certainly not for less than 500k
She said in some interview that her focus is totally on defending her belt and being a dominant champion
But yeah there are some fights to Nunes in future like you stated, but overall the division just became a mess..
Bethe at top 10 is really sad.
Example of any other case, ever, where a winner hasn't moved past the loser?

Other than obvious cases like Hammill beating Jon Jones.

It's like saying you don't automatically get the belt just because you beat the champion.
It's rare but happened a few times. Renato Moicano x Jeremy Stephens is a example i think.
 
One could argue this is the best thing to happen to WBW. There were a lot of middling fighters in that division (probably partially because of the lack of 125) who were never gonna beat Ronda (or Nunes) who will drop down.

I think 125 will look good on paper for a while, until girls realize "fighting at their optimum weight" (aka dropping down a division to reinvigorate your career just like the men do) doesn't automatically turn them into contenders.

After the dust settles hopefully we'll have two decent divisions instead of one mediocre bloated division.
 
One could argue this is the best thing to happen to WBW. There were a lot of middling fighters in that division (probably partially because of the lack of 125) who were never gonna beat Ronda (or Nunes) who will drop down.

I think 125 will look good on paper for a while, until girls realize "fighting at their optimum weight" (aka dropping down a division to reinvigorate your career just like the men do) doesn't automatically turn them into contenders.

After the dust settles hopefully we'll have two decent divisions instead of one mediocre bloated division.
Yeah it could look like this in some months:

1 - Valentina Shevchenko
2 - Alexis Davis
3 - Liz Carmouche
4 - Katlyn Chookagian
5 - Paige VanZant
6 - Joanne Calderwood
7 - Jessica Eye
8 - Justine Kish
9 - Bec Rawlings
10 - Ji Yeon Kim

Future fighters to join 125:

1 - Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 - Jennifer Maia
3 - Roxanne Modafferi
4 - Barb Honchak
5 - Aga Niedzwiedz
6 - Ariane Lipski
7 - Rin Nakai
8 - Andrea Lee
 
Potential UFC Bantamweights 10/17 (Active as Pros.) - A far from perfect list.


North America


Sarah Kaufman (18-4-0, 1NC) CA Age 32 5'5

Julia Avila (4-0-0) US Age 29 5'4 Wins over Nicco Montano and Marion Reneau.

Kelly Faszholz (4-2-0) US 5'8 Losses to Ketlen Vieira, by split decision, and Lauren Murphy (UFC FN 83 bonus) Biggest win over Elizabeth Phillips.

Shanna Young (4-0-0) US Age 26 5'7 Win over Pam Sorenson, split, title fight 5x5.

Brenda Gonzales (8-3-0) US Age 35 5'5 Best wins over Heather Bassett and Anita Rodriguez. Losses to Pam Sorenson, Colleen Schneider, and Rin Nakai. Several recent bouts cancelled.

Lauren Mueller (4-0-0) US Age 25 Best win over Kelly McGill-Velasco (Edit. Just remembering she was picked up due to her win over McGill-V on DWTNF a month ago. Fun fight.)

Leah Letson (4-1-0) US Age 25 5'7 Best win over Elizabeth Phillips.

Alexa Conners (4-2-0) US Age 26 5'6 Best win over Egger. A few other decent wins. Losses to Laura Howarth (controversial Split Decision) and a first round beat down by an overweight Katharina Lehner.

Raquel Pa'aluhi (6-6-0) US Age 27 5'7 She has fought lots of tough opponents. Some good wins in there too.

Marciea Allen (6-2-0) US Age 36 5'8 Dropped out of a fight with Letson due to toe injury.

Pam Sorenson (6-2-0) US 5'5 (Currently at 145lbs. Misses weight frequently.) Losses to Ediane Gomes and Shanna Young.

Early in their careers:

Shaianna "Yaya" Rincon (2-0-0) US Age 24 5'5 (Short notice fight at 145lbs in her last fight.)

Sarah Kleczka (1-0-0) US Age 24 5'5 Nice ammy record. Fought Amber Lynn Orr to a Split Decision win at Invicta 25. (Orr 0-2 as pro, good ammy record. Her first fight was against Sijara Eubanks - a very tough opponent despite her own record being 2-2).

Kelly McGill-Velasco (2-2-0) US Age 22 5'9 (Fought at 145lbs once) Losses to Mueller and Aspen Ladd.

Kerri Kenneson (2-0-0) US Age 31 5'6 (Last fought at 125lbs.) Good ammy career and a pro debut win over previous undefeated (3-0) Jennifer Leigh Norris. Good second win over tough competitor Valerie Aspaas in her pro debut.

Europe (Although some of these fighters train in the US)

Yana Kunitskaya (10-3-0, 1NC) RU Age 27 5'8 (Fought at 145lbs earlier in her career.)

Katharina Lehner (6-0-0) DE Age 27 5'5 (Has jumped around in weight classes from catchweight to featherweight. Missed weight by 5lbs in her last fight.)

Zarah Fairn Dos Santos (5-2-0) FR Age 30 5'10 (Fought at 145lbs in the past.) Lost to Elina Nilsson at 152lbs four years ago. Lost by robbery against Bellator Featherweight Sinead Kavanagh. On a two fight streak against decent opponents in Suvi Salmimies and Kerry Hughes. (Hughes is fighting Cindy Dandios in Cage Warriors at 140lbs soon.)

Stephanie Egger (2-1-0) CH (She has fought at 145lbs in the past.) Her last two fights didn't happen, shame as a fight with Yaya Rincon would have been fun to see. Split decision loss to Alexa Conners at Invicta 20. Biggest win is over Mara Romero Borella.

Zaira Dyshekova (4-2-0) RU Age 21 5'10 (Mostly fights at 137lbs) Losses to Eeva Siiskonen and Izabela Badurek in her pro debut by submission at 141lbs Wins over Ilona Daurova and Yana Kunitzkaya.

Antonina Schevchenko (2/4/6-0-0) PE Age 32 5'8 (Has old fights from 10+ years ago so you'll see different information on them.)

Pannie Kianzad (8-2-0) DK Age 25 5'7 (Fought at 145lbs mostly and has missed weight at 135lbs.) Losses to Tonya Evinger and Raquel Pa'aluhi. Wins over Lina Lansberg, Miliana Dudieva, Annalisa Bucci, Eeva Siiskonen and Jessy Rose-Clark.

Liana Jojua (6-2-0) GE Age 22 5'4 (Fought at 145lbs a few times.)

Questionable:

Maiju Suotama (7-3-0) FI Came back from retirement. Interesting to see if she can get back into top form. A win over Hatice Ozyurt isn't good enough but she was a good fighter back in her heydays. She was also more of a flyweight in the past.

Early in their careers:

Judo Olympians - Morgane Ribout (2-0-0) FR and Rizlen Zouak (2-0-0) FR (and Morocco) Age 31 (Been featherweight for her so far but losing weight since her pro debut.)

Marina Mokhnatkina (3-0-0) RU 5'6

Australia and New Zealand

Jessy Rose-Clark (7-4-0, 1NC) AU Age 29 5'4 Recent losses to Kaufman, Sorenson, and Kianzad and a win over Harding below.

Janay Harding (3-2-0) AU Age (last fight at 141lbs) Losses to Rose-Clark and Arlene Blencowe (who is a Bellator Featherweight and set to challenge Julie Budd for her title in a rematch later this year.)

Faith Van Duin (6-3-0) NZ Age 31 5'10 (Mostly fought at 145lbs., missed weight in her last fight by 2.5lbs.) Losses to Irene Aldana, Cyborg, and Blencowe (of whom she also holds a win over).

South America

Karolline Rosa (8-1-0) BR Age 22 5'6 (Has fought up to 145lbs before. Jumps around in weight classes) Best wins against Mariana Morais and Jessica Andrade. Loss to Gisele Moreira.

Taila Santos (14-0-0) BR Age 24 5'4 She hasn't fought the best so she is a bit of a stretch. She has been set to fight some decent opponents but issues from Visa to injury have wrecked many of her tougher planned bouts. Win loss ratio of opponents is pretty bad. I remember doing something about that two years ago.

Gisele Moreira (7-2-0) BR Age 36 5'6 Losses to Talia Santos and Bianca Daimoni (pro debut) Wins over Ariane Lipski, Priscila de Souze, and Karolline Rosa. (She has fought at 125lbs two plus years ago.)

Juliana Velasquez (5-0-0) BR Age 30 5'6 A number of good wins including recent UFC signee Talita Bernardo (de Oliveira). Hasn't fought in closing in on a year now.

Mayra Bueno Silva (4-0-0) BR 5'4 Wins over tough opponents Daiane Firmino (7-2) and Marilla Santos (8-2) (at 125lbs).

Mariana Morais (12-4-0) BR (also fights at 125lbs) 5'4

Bianca Daimoni (7-2-0) BR (also fights at 125lbs) 5'6 Mix of decent wins.

Rosy Duarte (11-5-1) BR Age 36 5'5 (also has fought at 125lbs but more recently at 135lbs) Mixed bag of a career. Good wins and mostly losses to tougher opponents.

Sarah Frota (6-0-0) BR Age 30 5'6 Some decent wins. Has fought downwards of 115lbs and 125lbs but mostly at 134lbs. Best win over Viviane Araujo.

Questionable:

Pamela Boveda Aguirre (5-1-0) AR Age 29 5'5 No really good wins but she tends to defeat weak opponents with ease. Best is trading 1-1 with Peruvian fighter Stephanie Bragayrac 7-4 who last fought in 2016 and lost to Katlyn Chookagian by TKO in rd. 1 of a five round title fight. Pamela Boveda Aguirre's next fight is at Sugar Creek Showdown 33 in the States against Sarah Alpar (6-4) who is a middling fighter. Depending on how that fight goes it will be worth watching whether Aguirre will start getting attention for bigger shows in the US.

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Currently in the UFC at Flyweight but hasn't debuted yet:

Priscila Cachoeira (8-0-0) BR 5'2 Currently signed to fight at 125lbs in the UFC. She will debut in the UFC at TUF 26 against Lauren Murphy. She had some several fights at bantamweight but I think she is better off at flyweight.

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Early in their careers:

Duda Cowboyzinha (2-0-0) BR Pro debut at featherweight.

Norma Dumont (3-0-0) BR 5'7 Last fight at catchweight of 141lbs. Only fought one semi-decent opponent so far.

I've left out a good number of semi-decent looking prospects and other semi-questionable decent fighters with mixed records. Most of these fighters, much like the "questionable" ones or potential prospects really need 1 to 3+ more wins against decent opponents to really get anyone really following them.

I figured I would elaborate on a number of decent people to help give a sense of some of the talent out there for Women's Bantamweight as of the past year. There isn't really an(y) "order" to the listings. Several fighters who are vets with beaten up records would likely drub some of the other fighters with clean looking records.

And there will probably be some jumping around between divisions over the coming year or so as fighters figure out where they belong as time and bouts go by.
 
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What do you was going to happen when 50-60 fighters are split between 3 divisions?
 
Seriously, with the opening of the flyweight (125 lbs) and featherweight (145) divisions UFC won't have enough girls to make a competitive top 15 BW, even a top 10.

Some girls are going to this 125 so they can get a shot at the winner of this TUF (filled with bums to some extent) and Holly/Zingano appears to be interested in fighting Cyborg. Furthermore, Ronda is retired and Penna just got pregnant.

Wtf man, at early 2016 BW had Nunes, Holm, Rousey, Tate, Shevchenko, Zingano and now Raquel Pennington will probably fight for the belt, with Ketlen Vieira being next (3-0 UFC).

UFC Women Bantamweight Rankings right now:

1) Valentina Shevchenko – going to 125
2) Holly Holm – going to 145
3) Julianna Pena – inactive
4) Raquel Pennington
5) Ronda Rousey – inactive
6) Cat Zingano – inactive
7) Sara McMann
8) Germaine de Randamie
9) Ketlen Vieira
10) Alexis Davis – going to 125
11) Liz Carmouche – going to 125
12) Marion Reneau
13) Katlyn Chookagian – going to 125
14) Bethe Correia
15) Leslie Smith

This will be the future of WBW:

1) Raquel Pennington
2) Sara McMann
3) Germaine de Randamie
4) Ketlen Vieira (why the fuck she is behind Sara if they just fought and Vieira finished her?)
5) Marion Reneau
6) Bethe Correia
7) Leslie Smith
Vieira is ranked behind Mcmann in your make-believe ranking because Vieira has only beaten one ranked fighter in her 9 fight career.
 
Seriously, with the opening of the flyweight (125 lbs) and featherweight (145) divisions UFC won't have enough girls to make a competitive top 15 BW, even a top 10.

Some girls are going to this 125 so they can get a shot at the winner of this TUF (filled with bums to some extent) and Holly/Zingano appears to be interested in fighting Cyborg. Furthermore, Ronda is retired and Penna just got pregnant.

Wtf man, at early 2016 BW had Nunes, Holm, Rousey, Tate, Shevchenko, Zingano and now Raquel Pennington will probably fight for the belt, with Ketlen Vieira being next (3-0 UFC).

UFC Women Bantamweight Rankings right now:

1) Valentina Shevchenko – going to 125
2) Holly Holm – going to 145
3) Julianna Pena – inactive
4) Raquel Pennington
5) Ronda Rousey – inactive
6) Cat Zingano – inactive
7) Sara McMann
8) Germaine de Randamie
9) Ketlen Vieira
10) Alexis Davis – going to 125
11) Liz Carmouche – going to 125
12) Marion Reneau
13) Katlyn Chookagian – going to 125
14) Bethe Correia
15) Leslie Smith

This will be the future of WBW:

1) Raquel Pennington
2) Sara McMann
3) Germaine de Randamie
4) Ketlen Vieira (why the fuck she is behind Sara if they just fought and Vieira finished her?)
5) Marion Reneau
6) Bethe Correia
7) Leslie Smith
And I STILL think they should cut Jessica Eye. I don't even think she can redeem herself at 125.
 
WMMA divisions have always sucked. It's more about the actual fighters that make it interesting, to me anyway.
 
@Thirdpres thank you for that list bro! I think Taila Santos is pregnant, she is really good and one of the best prospects, let's see how she comebacks in some months/years.. She still young enough to improve a lot.

Vieira is ranked behind Mcmann in your make-believe ranking because Vieira has only beaten one ranked fighter in her 9 fight career.
No, Evans-Smith is/was ranked too. And ok Sara has more good wins, but she also has 4 loses at UFC! It should matter man lol

And I STILL think they should cut Jessica Eye. I don't even think she can redeem herself at 125.
Well they certainly won't cut her without giving her a last chance at her weight class (she is a natural FLW) since at some point, she was the top FLW on the world. Also Dana seems to really like Eye.
 
Duda Cowboyzinha (2-0-0) BR Pro debut at featherweight.

Cowboyzinha? You're making it up.

OK, you're not, it's a nickname

Real name is Duda Duda ........ ok the internet is making ìt up.

Great post btw.
 
@Thirdpres thank you for that list bro! I think Taila Santos is pregnant, she is really good and one of the best prospects, let's see how she comebacks in some months/years.. She still young enough to improve a lot.

You're welcome.

It wouldn't surprise me if Santos were pregnant. I was looking up some info on her a while ago after she dropped out of fighting Rosy Duarte. Not much info at that time. I'm looking forward to seeing her improve and I like the fact that she has been taking tougher fights and trying to get them.
 
Cowboyzinha? You're making it up.

OK, you're not, it's a nickname

Real name is Duda Duda ........ ok the internet is making ìt up.

Great post btw.

Haha.

Thanks.

I'm tempted to post one of her fights.

--
I had no luck finding one of her fights I know I've seen. Probably non YouTube. I don't always pay attention to where I'm watching a fight.

Pic. Yellow and black for Duda Cowboyzinha. I remember when I first came across her name I was taken aback and spent time looking for more information on her. Etc.

20170808093008_Duda_Cowboyzinha_TAPE_GLOVER_BLUE_1.JPG



--
When I was creating the list above of bantamweight I was tempted to mention a few other potential prospects. I still think I did the right thing in not mentioning many of them but I have been going back to this upcoming bout.

Caitlin McEwen (3-0-0) AU vs. Claire Todd (2-0-0) AU Brace Bantamweight Title fight.

Whoever wins this fight, particularly if in style, would be worth keeping more of an eye on. It would be the first decent win of either of their careers.


20246223_10154878661576243_4323326114211657494_n.jpg
 
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You're welcome.

It wouldn't surprise me if Santos were pregnant. I was looking up some info on her a while ago after she dropped out of fighting Rosy Duarte. Not much info at that time. I'm looking forward to seeing her improve and I like the fact that she has been taking tougher fights and trying to get them.
Yeah she is, i confirmed it now. Idk if there's any site reporting it in english but in portuguese there's some.

http://maismma.com/atleta-descobre-...o-noxii-evento-em-que-kinberly-lutou-gravida/
 
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