Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: February 2020

As kickboxing continues to grow on a global scale with promotions like GLORY, K-1, Kunlun Fight and more, 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 strawweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings for both men and women.

The numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last month.

1. Rico Verhoeven (1)
2. Roman Kryklia (2)
3. Jamal Ben Saddik (3)
4. Benjamin Adegbuyi (4)
5. Guto Inocente (5)
6. Mladen Brestovac (6)
7. Zabit Samedov (7)
8. Roel Mannaart (8)
9. D’Angelo Marshall (9)
10. Ismael Londt (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Artem Vakhitov (1)
2. Pavel Zhuravlev (2)
3. Luis Tavares (3)
4. Alex Pereira (4)
5. Donegi Abena (5)
6. Sergej Maslobojev (6)
7. Stéphane Susperregui (7)
8. Felipe Micheletti (8)
9. Ariel Machado (9)
10. Zinedine Hameur-Lain (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Alex Pereira (1)
2. Donovan Wisse (2)
3. Simon Marcus (3)
4. Loren Javier Jorge (4)
5. Yousri Belgaroui (5)
6. Artem Levin (6)
7. Igor Bugaenko (7)
8. Hicham El Gaoui (8)
9. Ulrik Bokeme (9)
10. Jason Wilnis (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Cédric Doumbé (2)
2. Harut Grigorian (3)
3. Alim Nabiyev (4)
4. Regian Eersel (5)
5. Murthel Groenhart (6)
6. Nieky Holzken (7)
7. Dmitry Menshikov (8)
8. Endy Semeleer (9)
9. Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (10)
10. Yoann Kongolo (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Artur Kyshenko (1)

Artur Kyshenko drops out of the top 10 due to his boxing commitments with Matchroom Boxing. Former top-10 welterweight and GLORY title challenger Yoann Kongolo returns to the rankings to fill the hole left by Kyshenko’s departure.

1. Marat Grigorian (1)
2. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (2)
3. Giorgio Petrosyan (3)
4. Superbon Banchamek (4)
5. Tayfun Ozcan (5)
6. Chingiz Allazov (6)
7. Samy Sana (7)
8. Jonay Risco (8)
9. Davit Kiria (9)
10. Buakaw Banchamek (10)

Third-ranked Giorgio Petrosyan earned a comfortable unanimous-decision victory against Gaetan Tambo to defend his ISKA 70-kilogram world title at Petrosyanmania: Gold Edition in Milan, Italy.

1. Qiu Jianliang (1)
2. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (2)
3. Jordann Pikeur (3)
4. Masaaki Noiri (4)
5. Jia Aoqi (9)
6. Petchtanong Banchamek (5)
7. Ren Hiramoto (6)
8. Rukiya Anpo (7)
9. Kaew Weerasakreck (8)
10. Zakaria Zouggary (10)

Jia Aoqi, formerly our No. 9 featherweight, moves up four spots in the rankings following his impressive tournament run to win the Wu Lin Feng 67-kilogram World Cup. Aoqi earned his sixth and seventh consecutive victories when he defeated 2018 Lumpinee stadium “Fighter of the Year” Tawanchai PK Saenchaimuaythaigym and 2018 WLF World Cup victory Petchtanong Banchamek. Aoqi stopped Tawanchai with a barrage of punches in the second round of the semifinal bout before becoming the first person to hand Petchtanong a loss in 13 fights. Aoqi defeated the likes of former top-10 kickboxers Ilias Bulaid and Wei Ninghui, as well as top contender Hamza Essalih, during his five wins to take the tournament title.

1. Kenta Hayashi (1)
2. Taiju Shiratori (2)
3. Wei Rui (3)
4. Ilias Ennahachi (4)
5. Zhu Shuai (10)
6. Koya Urabe (5)
7. Wang Wenfeng (6)
8. Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang (7)
9. Yuto Shinohara (8)
10. Gonnapar Weerasakreck (9)

Zhu Shuai moves up to fifth in our rankings following a strong victory over sixth-ranked flyweight and current Wu Lin Feng 60-kilogram champion Hirotaka Asahisa at the Wu Lin Feng year-end show. Krush lightweight kingpin Gonnapar Weerasakreck defended his 62.5-kilogram title against Japan’s Takumi Yokoyama at Krush.110 in Tokyo. However, Gonnapar drops one spot in the rankings due to Shuai’s ascent.

1. Takeru (1)
2. Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
3. Leona Pettas (3)
4. Kosuke Komiyama (4)
5. Kouzi (5)
6. Asahisa Hirotaka (6)
7. Yuma Saikyo (7)
8. Zhao Chongyang (8)
9. Suarek Rukkukamui (9)
10. Kotaro Shimano (10)

Hirotaka Asahisa made an appearance in January, but it did not come in the flyweight division. Therefore, his loss to Zhu Shuai has no impact on his standing in our rankings.

1. Yoshiki Takei (1)
2. Yuuki Egawa (2)
3. Akihiro Kaneko (3)
4. Yuta Murakoshi (4)
5. Masashi Kumura (5)
6. Astemir Borsov (6)
7. Sam-A Gaiyanghadao (7)
8. Wang Junguang (8)
9. Masahiko Suzuki (9)
10. Haruma Saikyo (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Takeru (1)
2. Marat Grigorian (2)
3. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (3)
4. Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
5. Tenshin Nasukawa (5)
6. Alex Pereira (6)
7. Yoshiki Takei (7)
8. Qiu Jianliang (8)
9. Cédric Doumbé (10 – tie)
10. Rico Verhoeven (10 – tie)

Dropped from the rankings: Artur Kyshenko (9)

Giorgio Petrosyan earned a dominant decision victory in Italy to remain at fourth in the rankings. Cédric Doumbé moves to ninth following Artur Kyshenko’s removal due to his boxing commitment.

1. Anissa Meksen (1)
2. Tiffany van Soest (2)
3. Iman Barlow (3)
4. Jorina Baars (4)
5. Wang Kehan (5)
6. Gong Yanli (6)
7. Wang Cong (7)
8. Sarel de Jong (8)
9. Anissa Haddaoui (9)
10. Sofia Olofsson (10)/Christina Breuer (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

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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.