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 flyweight, 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)
- Yousri Belgaroui (4)
- Artem Levin (5)
- Igor Bugaenko (6)
- Hicham El Gaoui (7)
- Ulrik Bokeme (8)
- Jason Wilnis (9)
- Ertugrul Bayrak (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)
Ninth-ranked Endy Semeleer captured the vacant 72.5-kilogram title following a unanimous-decision victory against Nordin van Roosmalen at Enfusion #98.
- Marat Grigorian (1)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (2)
- Superbon Banchamek (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tayfun Ozcan (5)
- Chingiz Allazov (6)
- Samy Sana (7)
- Jonay Risco (8)
- Davit Kiria (9)
- Buakaw Banchamek (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Qiu Jianliang (1)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (2)
- Jordann Pikeur (3)
- Masaaki Noiri (4)
- Wei Rui (6)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (5)
- Rukiya Anpo (7)
- Kaew Weerasakreck (8)
- Liu Xiangming (9)
- Jia Aoqi (10)
Former K-1 65-kilogram champion Masaaki Noiri extended his four-fight winning streak following a dominant display of technique against Brazil’s Vitor Toffanelli at K-1 World GP 2020 in Fukuoka. The formerly top-ranked featherweight pushes his overall record to 42-10 with wins in eight of his past nine bouts, but he stays put at No. 4 in the rankings. Former K-1 62.5-kilogram and current Wu Lin Feng 63-kilogram titleholder Wei Rui extended his 13-fight winning streak against top-10 super bantamweight Jin Ying in the finals of the WLF King’s Super Cup tournament. The 29-year-old champion moves up one spot in the rankings following his 61st victory in 65 career contests. Rui has not lost a kickboxing-rules bout since 2014.
- Taio Asahisa (3)
- Ilias Ennahachi (2)
- Kenta Hayashi (4)
- Dennis Wosik (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (-)
- Naoki Tanaka (-)
- Taiju Shiratori (1)
- Wang Wenfeng (6)
- Koya Urabe (9)
- Jin Ying (7)
Dropped from the rankings: Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang (8) and Gonnapar Weerasakreck (10)
There are a number of changes in the rankings following Naoki Tanaka’s massive upset of Taiju Shiratori during the four-man, one-night 63-kilogram tournament at RISE DEAD OR ALIVE 2020 Yokohama. With the victory in the semifinals of the tournament field, Tanaka catapults into the top 10 at sixth while earning his ninth win in his last 10 fights. Tanaka also ended Shiratori’s 12-fight winning streak, causing the former top-ranked fighter to tumble to seventh in our poll. Tanaka went on to lose in the finals, though, to another fighter who makes his debut in the top 10, RISE 63-kilogram champion Kento Haraguchi. The 22-year-old prospect pushed his overall record to 18-1 following his defeats of former Shoot Boxing champion Renta Nishioka and the aforementioned Naoki. Haraguchi lands at sixth. Due to all of the movement in the division, the fighters’ resumes throughout the field were re-evaluated. Jin Ying went up in weight to challenge top-10 featherweight Wei Rui in the finals of the Wu Lin Feng King’s Super Cup tournament. However, he fell to 37-21-1 following a failed bid to win the round-robin tournament. Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang drops from the rankings due to inactivity under kickboxing rules. The Rajadmanern Stadium lightweight champion only has one win under kickboxing rules since November 2017. In addition, Gonnapar Weerasakreck drops outside of the top 10.
- Takeru (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (5)
- Kosuke Komiyama (3)
- Kouzi (4)
- Kotaro Shimano (6)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (7)
- Yuma Saikyo (8)
- Tatsuya Oiwa (9)
- Djany Fiorenti (10)
Wu Lin Feng 60-kilogram champion Hirotaka Asahisa returned to the ring for the first time in nine months and went up against former Krush title challenger Tatsuya Oiwa at K-1 World GP 2020 in Fukuoka. Asahisa earned every round on the judges’ scorecards to return to the win column for his 21st career victory in 28 bouts. Despite back-to-back losses, Oiwa remains in the top 10 due to his overall resume. Asahisa, meanwhile, climbs into the No. 3 spot.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (2)
- Yuuki Egawa (3)
- Haruma Saikyo (4)
- Astemir Borsov (5)
- Sam-A Gaiyanghadao (6)
- Wang Junguang (7)
- Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan (8)
- Hirotaka Urabe (9)
- Jorge Varela (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Shiro (10)
Tenshin Nasukawa demolished former RISE two-division champion “Mr.RISE” Yuki in the veteran’s retirement fight at RISE DEAD OR ALIVE 2020 Osaka. Tenshin scored three knockdowns and a beautiful flying knee in the second round to score his 30th knockout in 39 fights. Sam-A Gaiyanghadao earned his 370th career victory with a second-round stoppage over K-1 veteran Josh Tonna to defend his ONE Muay Thai strawweight title at ONE: Reign of Dynasties. The dual-sport champion has not competed under kickboxing rules since last December when he defeated Wang Junguang. However, his standing in the rankings remains unchanged. Shiro drops from the top 10 here after competing at 55-kilograms in a one-night, four-man tournament at RISE DEAD OR ALIVE 2020 Osaka.
- Yoshiki Takei (1)
- Masashi Kumura (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Kazuki Osaki (5)
- Shiro Matsumoto (-)
- Masahiko Suzuki (4)
- Koudai Hirayama (8)
- Gunji Taito (6)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Jin Mandokoro (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Begin Yoshioka (10)
Former top-10 super-flyweight Shiro Matsumoto debuts in the flyweight rankings following wins over Seiki Ueyama and Masahiko Suzuki during a one-night tournament. He lands in the fifth spot after winning eight of his past nine fights to move his overall record to 45-13-4. Matsumoto’s arrival causes Begin Yoshioka to fall out of the top 10. Masahiko Suzuki earned a big win against 2019 KNOCK OUT super-bantamweight champ Rui Ebata in the semifinals of the tournament. However his 19-fight winning streak came to an end in the finals against Matsumoto. Suzuki ultimately slides down to sixth following his performance in the tourney. Koudai Hirayama defended his HOOST Cup 53-kilogram title to improve to 14-1-2. He scoots up to seventh in victory.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
- Takeru (1)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
- Superbon Banchamek (5)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (6)
- Alex Pereira (7)
- Yoshiki Takei (8)
- Qiu Jianliang (9)
- Cédric Doumbé (10)/Rico Verhoeven (10)
Tenshin takes hold of the top spot in the rankings following his 39th professional win to remain undefeated.
- Anissa Meksen (1)
- Tiffany van Soest (2)
- Iman Barlow (3)
- Jorina Baars (4)
- Josefine Knutsson (6)
- Sarel de Jong (9)
- Hinata Terayama (-)
- Kotomi (-)
- KANA (5)
- Anissa Haddaoui (7)
Dropped from the rankings: Anke Van Gestel (8), Sofia Olofsson (10), Christina Breuer (10)
Sarel de Jong earned her fifth consecutive victory following a decision nod over Marika Pagliaroli at Enfusion #99 in Wuppertal, Germany. She climbs to sixth in the rankings with the win. Kotomi handed K-1 champion KANA only her second loss in 12 fights at K-1 World GP 2020 in Fukuoka. Kotomi’s massive upset moved her record to 10-4-2. She claims the No. 8 spot in our poll, while KANA tumbles from fifth to ninth. RISE 49-kilogram titleholder Hinata Terayama won the RISE GIRL POWER QUEENS of QUEENS eight-woman tournament with two victories in one night. She advanced past Hitomi Nagai and met RISE 46-kilogram champ Momi Furata in the finals. The two wins for Terayama are enough to allow her to snag the No. 7 spot in the rankings. Due to the new additions in the top 10, Anke Van Gestel, Sofia Olofsson and Christina Breuer drop out of the rankings.
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.