Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Cristiane Justino keeps knocking them down as fast as Bellator MMA can set them up.

In the co-main event of Bellator 300 on Saturday in San Diego, “Cyborg” made short work of another featherweight challenger, this time fellow Ultimate Fighting Championship expat Cat Zingano. Justino no-sold Zingano’s takedown attempts and punished her on the feet en route to a first-round TKO victory. The dominant performance leaves Justino in second place in our current women’s featherweight poll—though with growing support for her to take back the No. 1 spot from Amanda Nunes, who knocked her out nearly five years ago at UFC 232. Zingano, who remains on the short list of most accomplished women never to win a major title, holds steady at No. 6.

“Cyborg” was not the only female featherweight to pick up a big win at Bellator 300, as earlier on the card, Leah McCourt bullied Sara McMann for four minutes and change before stopping her with ground strikes. “The Curse” jumps from 10th to seventh, where she remains stuck due to her recent head-to-head loss to Zingano.

The main event of Bellator 300 featured undefeated phenom Usman Nurmagomedov defending his lightweight title against former champ Brent Primus. The 25-year-old Dagestani proved too long, too fast and too diverse on the feet for Primus, running his career record to 17-0 in a one-sided drubbing. Nurmagomedov holds on at No. 15 in the lightweight poll, and while he could undoubtedly beat some of the fighters ahead of him, the onus will fall on Bellator to find suitable challengers to allow him to prove it.

The first of the three title fights atop Bellator 300 was the most mystifying, as flyweight champ Liz Carmouche once again staked her belt against a woman who missed weight and was ineligible to win the title. Carmouche faced off with Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, a friend, former training partner and predecessor as flyweight champion, in a frustratingly slow-paced affair. "Girl-Rilla" turned up the jets late, taking advantage of a worsening injury to Macfarlane's left leg to earn a TKO stoppage early in the fifth round. The win is good enough to reaffirm Carmouche's dominance of her division, and her grip on the No. 3 spot in our women's flyweight poll.

Finally, the UFC was not idle on Saturday either, as UFC Fight Night 229 quietly served up a compelling lightweight matchup of its own in the form of Bobby Green vs. Grant Dawson. The talented but mercurial Green decided to remind everyone of just how dangerous he is, flooring Dawson with a single punch and pounding him out in just 33 seconds. “King” returns to the lightweight poll at No. 10.

Note: Previous rankings listed in brackets.

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