Luana Santos comes to grips with rise in women's bantamweight rankings

          Luana Santos spent half of her 15-minute fight with Yana Santos in control on the canvas, resulting in a victory that boosted her in the women's bantamweight top 10. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
          • Brett OkamotoNov 3, 2026, 02:00 PM
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              Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.
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          Luana Santos stuck with her strongest fighting skill -- grappling -- in Saturday's UFC fight with fellow top-10 women's bantamweight Yana Santos. Her perseverance paid off. After all nine of her takedown attempts were fended off in the first round, Santos went right back to leaning on her judo background in the two rounds that followed, landing five takedowns and amassing 7½ minutes of control time and winning her fourth fight in a row.

          As a result, Luana Santos climbs two spots to No. 5 in the ESPN women's bantamweight rankings, while previously fifth-ranked Yana Santos drops one position to No. 6.

          That is the only change in the latest divisional rankings. Women's bantamweight does have change on the horizon, though, as UFC champion Kayla Harrison, unranked because she has not fought in over a year and is ineligible, takes on former two-division champion Amanda Nunes on Nov. 14 at UFC 334. Nunes is coming off a retirement of nearly 3½ years.

          Here are the ESPN pound-for-pound MMA rankings and a list of current UFC champions in all weight classes.

          Results are current; rankings as of Nov. 3. To be eligible for the rankings, a fighter must have competed over the past 12 months or must have an upcoming fight booked. Fighters who have been dropped for inactivity can be reinstated only after they compete.

          HEAVYWEIGHT (up to 265 pounds)

          LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (up to 205 pounds)

          MIDDLEWEIGHT (up to 185 pounds)

          WELTERWEIGHT (up to 170 pounds)

          LIGHTWEIGHT (up to 155 pounds)

          FEATHERWEIGHT (up to 145 pounds)

          MEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT (up to 135 pounds)

          MEN'S FLYWEIGHT (up to 125 pounds)

          WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT (up to 135 pounds)

          WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT (up to 125 pounds)

          STRAWWEIGHT (up to 115 pounds)