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)
The heavyweights were fairly quiet in June. Only two of the top 10 were in the ring. Third-ranked Ismael Londt put the GLORY title shot he earned earlier in the year on the line to take on seventh-ranked Hesdy Gerges at GLORY 31 in Amsterdam. Gerges really took it to Londt early in the fight, but faded as the bout progressed. That allowed Londt to eke out a decision win and keep his future title shot.
- Gokhan Saki (1)
- Artem Vakhitov (2)
- Saulo Cavalari (3)
- Zack Mwekassa (6)
- Mourad Bouzidi (4)
- Pavel Zhuravlev (7)
- Danyo Ilunga (5)
- Michael Duut (8)
- Mladen Kujundžić (9)
- Luis Tavares (10)
There’s a new interim titleholder in GLORY after Zack Mwekassa ran through Mourad Bouzidi at GLORY 31. With champion Artem Vakhitov on the sidelines with an injury, Mwekassa capitalized on his opportunity and knocked down Bouzidi three times inside the first round. As such, he jumps up to fourth in the rankings, while Bouzidi slips to fifth. Also in action, Pavel Zhuravlev climbs to sixth in the rankings following a first-round TKO over Benjamin Fuimaono at FFC 25.
- Simon Marcus (1)
- Artem Levin (2)
- Jason Wilnis (3)
- Alex Pereira (5)
- Joe Schilling (4)
- Dustin Jacoby (6)
- Israel Adesanya (7)
- Bogdan Stoica (8)
- Sahak Parparyan (9)
- Fang Bian (10)
Joe Schilling was very vocal about his displeasure with his time in GLORY, but his first outing with Bellator Kickboxing was hardly what anyone expected. Most expected Schilling, who lost to Jason Wilnis at GLORY 30, to rebound against Hisaki Kato, who had never competed in professional kickboxing. However, just like when Kato and Schilling met in the MMA cage, Schilling once again found himself staring up at the lights courtesy of a massive spinning back fist from Kato. The second straight loss for the Californian causes him to slip to fifth in the rankings.
- Nieky Holzken (1)
- Artur Kyshenko (2)
- Murthel Groenhart (3)
- Cedric Doumbe (4)
- Karim Ghajji (5)
- Raymond Daniels (6)
- Yoann Kongolo (7)
- Hicham El Gaoui (8)
- Yohan Lidon (9)
- Paul Daley (10)
June was a very busy month for the welterweight division. Second-ranked Artur Kyshenko fought at Kunlun Fight 45, where he topped Brazil’s Jonatan Oliveira by decision. GLORY 31’s welterweight contender tournament featured both of Nieky Holzken’s last two challengers, Murthel Groenhart and Yoann Kongolo. The Mike’s Gym teammates squared off in the tournament final. Groenhart emerged victorious and earned another crack at Holzken. Fourth-ranked Cédric Doumbe battled Ljubo Jalovi for the WAKO K-1 Middleweight title at Monte Carlo Fighting Masters and took the win by decision. Sixth-ranked Raymond Daniels returned to the Bellator Kickboxing ring and needed less than a round to put away Italian Stefano Bruno by spinning heel kick to the liver. No. 8-ranked Hicham El Gaoui scored a fourth-round TKO over Rafael Pimentel at Enfusion Live 40. Finally, ninth-ranked Yohan Lidon fought Datsi Datsiev for the WAKO K-1 Super Middleweight title at Monte Carlo Fighting Masters and earned a decision victory.
- Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (1)
- Robin van Roosmalen (2)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (3)
- Andy Ristie (4)
- Yodsanklai Fairtex (5)
- Marat Grigorian (6)
- Buakaw Banchamek (7)
- Anatoly Moiseev (-)
- Enriko Gogokhia (9)
- Josh Jauncey (8)
Dropped from the rankings: Dzhabar Askerov (10)
Justice was served in Amsterdam at GLORY 31 when Thailand’s Sittichai Sitsongpeenong captured gold by besting Robin van Roosmalen via decision. The fight was actually closer than the pair’s first meeting at GLORY 25, but this time the judges rewarded Sittichai for his efforts. Sixth-ranked Marat Grigorian was also in action. He scored a first-round finish of Steve Moxon at Chengdu Emei Legends in China. Legend Buakaw Banchamek earned a TKO win over Wang Weihao at Kunlun Fight 45. Finally, Dzhabar Askerov now lands outside the top 10 courtesy of fellow Russian Anatoly Moiseev. Moiseev earned a hard-fought decision win over Canada’s Josh Jauncey at GLORY 31. Jauncey drops to 10th in the rankings, while Moiseev takes his place at No. 8.
- Kaew Weerasakreck (Fairtex) (1)
- Serhiy Adamchuk (4)
- Ilias Bulaid (-)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (2)
- Masaaki Noiri (3)
- Minoru Kimura (5)
- Gabriel Varga (6)
- Mosab Amrani (7)
- Yasuomi Soda (8)
- Qiu Jianliang (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Yuta Kubo (9)
If welterweight was busy, then featherweight was chaos in June. K-1 held its 65-kilogram tournament and nearly the entire top 10 was involved. There was no surprise in who came out on top. No. 1-ranked Kaew Weerasakreck knocked out HIROYA, took a decision over Masaaki Noiri, and knocked out Ilias Bulaid in the finals. The biggest surprise, however, was the strong showing from Bulaid, who catapults into the No. 3 spot in the rankings after reaching the finals. His decision win over Hideaki Yamazaki in the semifinals helped cement his place in the rankings. Yamazaki’s and Noiri’s semifinal defeats cause them drop to fourth and fifth, respectively. Sixth-ranked Minoru Kimura was also in action. He topped NOMAN by decision in the tournament reserve bout.
- Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (1)
- Nieky Holzken (2)
- Robin van Roosmalen (3)
- Kaew Weerasakreck (Fairtex) (8)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
- Simon Marcus (5)
- Artem Levin (6)
- Rico Verhoeven (7)
- Takeru (9)
- Gokhan Saki (10)
Sittichai Sitsongpeenong has sat atop our rankings for months, but now there’s little argument against him as the world’s top kickboxer. Former champion Robin van Roosmalen hangs onto his third spot despite the loss to Sittichai. Kaew Weerasakreck climbs all the way up to fourth with his dominant tournament win in Japan. Finally, ninth-ranked Takeru moved up in weight to top KRUSH 58-kilogram champion Kaito Ozawa by decision.
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.