![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260817043906_WP4P_08162026.JPG\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Note: Previous rankings listed in brackets. Even at 40 years old, \u201cCyborg\u201d remains inevitable. The heavy-handed Other Contenders: Rose Sherdog\u2019s divisional and pound-for-pound rankings are compiled
\nDern<\/a> is climbing the women\u2019s pound-for-pound rankings.Mackenzie Dern closes in on the Top 10 after beating Gillian
\nRobertson
\n
\nUFC
\n330<\/a> provided some answers, including the fact that Dern (17-5,
\n12-5 UFC) is the fighter to beat in the 115-pound division. With
\nformer divisional queen Weili Zhang<\/a>
\ntaking a break from competition, Dern managed to secure her first
\nchampionship defense at the expense of Gillian
\nRobertson<\/a> in the UFC 330 co-main event. Zhang kept her No. 3
\nspot in the women\u2019s pound-for-pound rankings, since she remains
\nwithin the pound-for-pound activity window, even though she\u2019s
\ndropped from her division\u2019s rankings. Dern, meanwhile, moved up a
\ncouple of spots. Sherdog\u2019s panelists agreed Dern\u2019s performance
\ndeserved to be rewarded with the No. 11 position, just outside the
\nTop 10. In the future, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace will have the
\nchance to showcase her skills and move up again.<\/p>\n
\nIn one of the most highly-anticipated women\u2019s super fights in
\nrecent memory, Shevchenko left no doubt as to who holds the No. 1
\nspot, as she dominated Weili Zhang for five rounds to earn a
\nunanimous decision in the UFC 322 co-main event. Now tied with
\nAmanda Nunes for the most title fight victories in UFC women\u2019s
\nhistory, \u201cBullet\u201d will look ahead to her next challenge at 125
\npounds. That could come against the likes of Natalia Silva or Erin
\nBlanchfield, both of whom were mentioned by the champion in her
\npost-fight interview<\/p>\n
\nBrazilian claimed vacant featherweight gold in unusual fashion (at
\nleast for her), as she submitted Sara Collins with a face crank in
\nthe third round of the PFL Lyon co-main event on Dec. 13. With the
\nsecond submission victory of her career, Justino extends her
\ncurrent winning streak to nine \u2014 a run that dates back to July
\n2019. Though retirement might be in the not-too-distant future for
\nthe Chute Boxe star, she isn\u2019t showing any sign of slowing down.
\nJustino is set to lock horns with Ketlen Vieira on Aug. 22.
\nZhang looked out of her depth against Valentina Shevchenko in the
\nUFC 322 co-main event, as she was outstruck on the feet and
\ncontrolled on the canvas in a lopsided unanimous decision defeat.
\nThat snapped a five-bout winning streak for the Chinese standout,
\nwho vacated the strawweight belt for a shot at two-division glory.
\n\u201cMagnum\u201d didn\u2019t have any answers for the size or skill of her
\nopponent, nor did she provide a clear response as to whether she
\nwill remain at flyweight or return to the division where she once
\nreigned. More clarity will likely arrive after Zhang takes some
\ntime off.
\nAfter hitting 135 pounds on the nose for the first time, Harrison
\nhandled her business at UFC 316, rolling to a second-round
\nsubmission victory over Julianna Pena to claim bantamweight gold at
\nthe Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The two-time Olympic
\ngold medalist was scheduled to face women\u2019s MMA GOAT Amanda Nunes
\nin the UFC 324 co-main event, but neck surgery forced Harrison to
\nwithdraw from the card. With a recovery that figures to require at
\nleast six months, Harrison vs. Nunes is on hold until the champ is
\nfully healthy.
\nIt wasn\u2019t necessarily her best performance, but Silva edged out
\nRose Namajunas, taking a closely contested unanimous decision in
\ntheir main card encounter at UFC 324. The Brazilian, who replaced
\nAlexa Grasso on short notice, has won eight straight contests
\nwithin the Las Vegas-based promotion. However, there still seems to
\nbe a significant gap between Silva and reigning 125-pound queen
\nValentina Shevchenko.
\nOne bout removed from a failed title bid against Valentina
\nShevchenko in May 2025, Fiorot made a statement at UFC Vancouver,
\nwhere she dispatched the streaking Jasmine Jasudavicius in just 74
\nseconds on Oct. 18. The Frenchwoman has been victorious in eight of
\nher nine promotional outings and after ending Jasudavicius\u2019
\nfive-bout winning streak, \u201cThe Beast\u201d shouldn\u2019t be too far away
\nfrom title contention once again. Fiorot will have the chance to
\nclimb the pound-for-pound rankings once again as she takes on Alexa
\nGrasso on Sept. 12.
\nAfter nearly being finished early, Izawa rallied to submit Rena
\nKubota in the second round and retain her super atomweight title at
\nRizin \u201cShiwasu no Cho Tsuwamono Matsuri\u201d on Dec. 31 in Saitama,
\nJapan. That caps off a 3-0 2025 for Izawa, who bested Kubota, Saori
\nOshima and Yu Jin Shin under the Rizin banner. During an
\nintermission at Rizin \u201cLandmark Vol. 13,\u201d Izawa announced that she
\nis pregnant and will vacate her super atomweight belt as she awaits
\nthe birth of her child. Izawa likely won\u2019t be back until sometime
\nin 2027 at the earliest.
\nGrasso ended a three-bout winless streak in emphatic fashion in the
\nUFC Seattle co-main event, as she authored a brutal club-and-sub
\nfinish of Maycee Barber. The Mexican standout knocked Barber out
\ncold with a punch, then transitioned to a (mostly unnecessary)
\nrear-naked choke with ruthless efficiency to bring their rematch to
\nan end at the 2:42 mark of Round 1. While Grasso\u2019s shocking upset
\nof Valentina Shevchenko to capture flyweight gold in 2023 remains
\nthe defining moment of her career, this might be a close second for
\nthe Lobo Gym MMA standout. Grasso faces Manon Fiorot in an
\nintriguing matchup on Sept. 12.
\nBlanchfield became the first person to finish Tracy Cortez in the
\nOctagon, as she submitted the Arizonan with a rear-naked choke 4:44
\ninto Round 2 of their preliminary encounter at UFC 322. By avenging
\na previous loss to Cortez that occurred under the Invicta FC banner
\nin 2019, Blanchfield remains one of the top contenders at 125
\npounds. \u201cCold Blooded\u201d has compiled an Octagon resume that includes
\nvictories over the likes of Cortez, Rose Namajunas, Taila Santos
\nand Jessica Andrade. Blanchfield will return to the Octagon in her
\nscheduled tilt with Jasmine Jasudavicius on Oct. 17.
\nDitcheva picked up where she left off. Returning from a year-long
\nhiatus, the unbeaten rising talent showed no signs of cage rust as
\nshe outpointed former Bellator MMA title challenger Denise
\nKielholtz over three rounds at PFL New York, taking a clean
\nunanimous decision. The performance keeps Ditcheva at No. 6 in the
\nwomen’s flyweight rankings and holds her at No. 10 pound-for-pound,
\nas she did exactly what a ranked fighter should against unranked
\nopposition. The American Top Team representative will be out for a
\nwhile as she\u2019s dealing with broken hands once again.<\/p>\n
\nNamajunas<\/a>, Julianna
\nPena<\/a>, Mackenzie
\nDern<\/a>, Virna
\nJandiroba<\/a>, Taila
\nSantos<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nby a panel of Sherdog.com staff members and contributors: Tudor
\nLeonte, Mike Fridley, Ben Duffy, Brian Knapp, Marcelo Alonso, Keith
\nShillan, Tyler Treese, Sayan Nag, Rob Sargent, Christian Stein,
\nDayne Fox, Chandrit Naik, Kunal Singh, Scottie Smith, Sean Sheehan
\nand Sourav Chakraborty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mackenzie Dern is climbing the women\u2019s pound-for-pound rankings.Mackenzie Dern closes in on the Top 10 after beating Gillian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[4225,64,63,786,785,44,85,372067],"class_list":["post-858188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-womenu2019s-mma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}