Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

This may not be a massive update, but it is certainly notable for the women and Invicta Fighting Championships 22 is the focal point.

With no Ultimate Fighting Championship card and no Bellator MMA bill, the weekend past may not seem formative for these lists, but for several women in the official Sherdog.com rankings, Invicta's most recent outing in Kansas City, Missouri, was a critical event, not just to gain a victory but to right a past wrong.

In her second official Invicta bantamweight title defense in November, Tonya Evinger was temporarily robbed by referee Mike England, who essentially handed the bout to Evinger's challenger Yana Kunitskaya courtesy of negligent officiating. After securing a no-contest in the bout and getting her belt back, the 35-year-old veteran got the chance to correct the errors of history at Invicta 22 and did just that, choking out Kunitskaya in the second round to retain her strap and overwrite the inopportune fluke four months past.

With her win, “Triple Threat” climbs to the eighth spot in our women's bantamweight rankings.

Former Invicta strawweight champ and ninth-ranked 115-pounder Livia Renata Souza may not have risen in our rankings, but she did earn a nifty win of some pound-for-pound significance on the same bill, blasting current Invicta atomweight titleholder Ayaka Hamasaki in mere minutes and handing the Japanese fighter the second loss of her career.

Courtesy of the Invicta 22 undercard, the 105-pound division welcomes a new entrant in our No. 9 spot: In her official atomweight debut, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 23 veteran Ashley Cummins looked great in overcoming previously ranked Amber Brown, taking her opponent's spot on our list with a tidy -- and bloody -- unanimous decision while snapping the losing streak that encircled her at 115 pounds.

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