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.
- Rico Verhoeven (1)
- Roman Kryklia (2)
- Jamal Ben Saddik (3)
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (4)
- Guto Inocente (5)
- Mladen Brestovac (6)
- Zabit Samedov (7)
- Roel Mannaart (8)
- D’Angelo Marshall (9)
- Ismael Londt (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Pavel Zhuravlev (2)
- Luis Tavares (3)
- Alex Pereira (4)
- Sergej Maslobojev (5)
- Donegi Abena (6)
- Stéphane Susperregui (7)
- Felipe Micheletti (8)
- Ariel Machado (9)
- Zinedine Hameur-Lain (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Donovan Wisse (2)
- Simon Marcus (3)
- Loren Javier Jorge (4)
- Yousri Belgaroui (5)
- Artem Levin (6)
- Igor Bugaenko (7)
- Hicham El Gaoui (8)
- Ulrik Bokeme (9)
- Jason Wilnis (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Cédric Doumbé (1)
- Alim Nabiyev (2)
- Regian Eersel (3)
- Murthel Groenhart (4)
- Jamie Bates (5)
- Harut Grigorian (6)
- Nieky Holzken (7)
- Dmitry Menshikov (8)
- Endy Semeleer (9)
- Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Marat Grigorian (1)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (3)
- Superbon Banchamek (4)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (2)
- Tayfun Ozcan (5)
- Chingiz Allazov (6)
- Samy Sana (7)
- Jonay Risco (8)
- Davit Kiria (9)
- Buakaw Banchamek (10)
The lightweight division featured a change at the top following a clash of two of the sport’s best at ONE Championship: No Surrender in Bangkok, Thailand. Superbon Banchamek moved up one spot in the rankings following his second win over perennial pound-for-pound great Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong. Superbon’s victory came via unanimous decision. The 2016 Combat Press Breakout Fighter of the Year has won 10 consecutive fights since his loss to top-ranked lightweight Marat Grigorian.
- Qiu Jianliang (1)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (2)
- Jordann Pikeur (3)
- Masaaki Noiri (4)
- Petchtanong Banchamek (5)
- Rukiya Anpo (6)
- Kaew Weerasakreck (7)
- Wei Rui (8)
- Liu Xiangming (9)
- Jia Aoqi (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Taiju Shiratori (1)
- Ilias Ennahachi (2)
- Taio Asahisa (3)
- Kenta Hayashi (4)
- Dennis Wosik (5)
- Wang Wenfeng (6)
- Jin Ying (7)
- Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang (8)
- Koya Urabe (9)
- Gonnapar Weerasakreck (10)
Top-ranked Taiju Shiratori was the only top-10 fighter in action during the month of July. The RISE Lightweight champion remained at the top of the division following an extra-round decision victory over Sho Ogawa at RISE on Abema for his 12th straight win.
- Takeru (1)
- Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
- Leona Pettas (3)
- Kosuke Komiyama (4)
- Kouzi (5)
- Asahisa Hirotaka (6)
- Yuma Saikyo (7)
- Suarek Rukkukamui (8)
- Kotaro Shimano (9)
- Djany Fiorenti (10)
Second-ranked Tenshin Nasukawa extended his undefeated professional run to 36-0 with three knockdowns in a dominant 90-second knockout victory over Shootboxing prospect Yuki Kasahara. Krush super featherweight champion Leona Pettas extended his nine-fight winning streak with a victory against Tatsuya Oiwa at Krush.115. Following the fight, Pettas called out three-division K-1 champion and current pound-for-pound king Takeru.
- Yoshiki Takei (1)
- Yuuki Egawa (2)
- Masashi Kumura (3)
- Akihiro Kaneko (4)
- Astemir Borsov (5)
- Sam-A Gaiyanghadao (6)
- Wang Junguang (7)
- Masahiko Suzuki (8)
- Haruma Saikyo (9)
- Jawsuayai Ayothaya Fight Gym (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Takeru (1)
- Marat Grigorian (2)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
- Superbon Banchamek (-)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (3)
- Tenshin Nasukawa (5)
- Alex Pereira (6)
- Yoshiki Takei (7)
- Qiu Jianliang (8)
- Cédric Doumbé (9)/Rico Verhoeven (10)
Superbon Banchamek re-enters the pound-for-pound rankings for the first time since July 2019. The formerly second-ranked pound-for-pound kickboxer scored a huge victory over the most accomplished kickboxer in the past five years, Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong. Sitthichai drops down to his lowest ranking since he debuted in July 2015. The longtime top-ranked fighter in the sport held the top spot for 26 months, defeated all of the opponents that had defeated him, and won 26 of his 31 fights in that time frame. Due to his immense resume, which is still regarded as the best in the sport, Sitthichai only drops two spots in the pound-for-pound rankings. The former GLORY and Kunlun Fight champion was on a 10-fight winning streak prior to losses in two of his last three fights. Those setbacks came against two of the elite fighters in kickboxing, though. Tenshin, who scored another dominant win, remains outside of the top-five due to the strength and depth of talent at the 70-kilogram weight class.
- Anissa Meksen (1)
- Tiffany van Soest (2)
- Iman Barlow (3)
- Jorina Baars (4)
- KANA (5)
- Josefine Knutsson (6)
- Anissa Haddaoui (7)
- Anke Van Gestel (8)
- Sarel de Jong (9)
- Sofia Olofsson (10)/Christina Breuer (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
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.