As kickboxing looks to establish itself from both boxing and MMA with promotions like GLORY, K-1, Lion Fight and Kunlun Fighting Championship, fighters are constantly jockeying for position in the eyes (and rankings) of the media.
Every month, Combat Press will rank each weight class from heavyweight to featherweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings.
The numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last month.
- Rico Verhoeven (1)
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (2)
- Ismael Londt (3)
- Jahfarr Wilnis (4)
- Errol Zimmerman (5)
- Zabit Samedov (6)
- Hesdy Gerges (7)
- Andrey Gerasimchuk (8)
- Jamal Ben Saddik (9)
- Badr Hari (10)
Sixth-ranked Zabit Samedov was the lone top-10 heavyweight in the ring in August. He squared off with Romania’s Cătălin Moroșanu under the Akhmat Fight Show in Russia and scored a first-round knockout with a right knee. Samedov has not tasted defeat since 2013 and remains firmly planted inside the top 10.
- Gokhan Saki (1)
- Artem Vakhitov (2)
- Saulo Cavalari (3)
- Zack Mwekassa (4)
- Mourad Bouzidi (5)
- Zinedine Hameur-Lain (6)
- Ariel Machado (7)
- Pavel Zhuravlev (8)
- Danyo Ilunga (9)
- Michael Duut (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Simon Marcus (1)
- Artem Levin (2)
- Jason Wilnis (3)
- Alex Pereira (4)
- Joe Schilling (5)
- Israel Adesanya (7)
- Dustin Jacoby (6)
- Sahak Parparyan (8)
- Fang Bian (9)
- Bogdan Stoica (10)
New Zealand’s Israel Adesanya moved up a spot in the rankings after handing Yousri Belgaroui his first career defeat at WLF Glory of Heroes 4 in China. Adesanya was the lone fighter in the top 10 to see the ring in August, but his victory helped him jump over recent GLORY title challenger Dustin Jacoby.
- Nieky Holzken (1)
- Artur Kyshenko (2)
- Murthel Groenhart (3)
- Cedric Doumbe (4)
- Karim Ghajji (5)
- Raymond Daniels (6)
- Yoann Kongolo (7)
- Yohan Lidon (9)
- Hicham El Gaoui (8)
- Paul Daley (10)
Multiple welterweights were in action in August. Third-ranked Murthel Groenhart scored a second-round stoppage of Brazil’s Jonatan Oliveira in the quarterfinals of the Kulun Fight 80-kilogram tournament. Meanwhile, fourth-ranked Cedric Doumbe continued his success in 2016 by stopping Chen Yawei in the first round at WLF Glory of Heroes 4. Finally, Frenchman Yohan Lidon vaulted into the No. 8 spot in our rankings with a decision win over Danijel Solaja at Fight Night Saint Tropez.
- Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (1)
- Robin van Roosmalen (2)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (3)
- Andy Ristie (4)
- Yodsanklai Fairtex (5)
- Marat Grigorian (6)
- Buakaw Banchamek (7)
- Anatoly Moiseev (8)
- Enriko Gogokhia (9)
- Josh Jauncey (10)
The world’s best kickboxer, Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, was in action at Kunlun Fight 50. He dominated late-replacement opponent Diogo Neves. Sittichai was originally slated to face Romania’s Claudiu Badoi to kick off the round of 16 in the promotion’s annual 70-kilogram tournament, but the change of foe had no impact on the Thai fighter. He moved on to the round of eight and will look to repeat as tournament winner.
- Kaew Weerasakreck (Fairtex) (1)
- Ilias Bulaid (2)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (3)
- Masaaki Noiri (4)
- Gabriel Varga (5)
- Minoru Kimura (6)
- Serhiy Adamchuk (7)
- Mosab Amrani (8)
- Yasuomi Soda (9)
- Qiu Jianliang (10)
The featherweight king was in the ring in August, but only for an exhibition contest. No. 1-ranked Kaew Weerasakreck took on the world’s best 55-kilogram fighter, Takeru, at KRUSH.68 in Tokyo. He wasn’t the only ranked fighter in action at the event, however. Fourth-ranked Masaaki Noiri knocked out Pengfei Wang in the first round to hold onto his spot in the rankings. There was also an upset this month, but it was controversial. No. 10-ranked Qiu Jianliang suffered a questionable decision loss to Aziz Hlali at WLF vs. The Fight League in Morocco. Despite the loss, Jianliang remains in the top 10 based on his body of work.
- Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (1)
- Nieky Holzken (2)
- Robin van Roosmalen (3)
- Kaew Weerasakreck (Fairtex) (4)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (5)
- Simon Marcus (6)
- Artem Levin (7)
- Rico Verhoeven (8)
- Takeru (9)
- Artur Kyshenko (10)
After he finished 2015 with a record of 10-2, it should come as no surprise that Sittichai Sitsongpeenong has gone a perfect 8-0 thus far in 2016. With each victory, the GLORY champion’s claim to the No. 1 ranking strengthens further.
Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last 18 months. Any fighter that chooses to switch weight classes will be ranked in their previous weight class until they have competed twice in their new division.