Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: March 2021

As kickboxing continues to grow on a global scale with promotions like GLORY, K-1, ONE Championship, and more, fighters are constantly jockeying for position in the eyes (and rankings) of the media. Every month, Combat Press will compile kickboxing rankings for each weight class from heavyweight to flyweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings for both men and women.

Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from the previous month.

1. Rico Verhoeven (1)
2. Roman Kryklia (2)
3. Jamal Ben Saddik (3)
4. Benjamin Adegbuyi (4)
5. Guto Inocente (5)
6. Zabit Samedov (6)
7. Roel Mannaart (7)
8. Murat Aygün (8)
9. Tarik Khbabez (9)
10. Levi Rigters (10)

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

1. Alex Pereira (1)
2. Artem Vakhitov (2)
3. Luis Tavares (3)
4. Pavel Zhuravlev (4)
5. Sergej Maslobojev (5)
6. Donegi Abena (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 past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

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

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

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

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

1. Marat Grigorian (1)
2. Giorgio Petrosyan (2)
3. Superbon Banchamek (3)
4. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (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)

Giorgio Petrosyan bested former GLORY world champion Davit Kiria at ONE Championship: Fists of Fury to extend his unbeaten streak to 20. Although Petrosyan earned another top-10 victory, he wasn’t able to pass Marat Grigorian for the top spot in the lightweight division. If one of the greatest to ever do it continues his run of victories against strong competition, there will be no doubt that he could claim the No. 1 ranking. Kiria remains in ninth following the decision loss.

1. Qiu Jianliang (1)
2. Jordann Pikeur (2)
3. Masaaki Noiri (3)
4. Wang Pengfei (4)
5. Liu Xiangming (5)
6. Jia Aoqi (6)
7. Petchtanong Banchamek (7)
8. Tie Yinghua (8)
9. Jomthong Chuwattana (9)
10. Ji Xiang (10)

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

1. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
2. Wei Rui (2)
3. Hideaki Yamazaki (3)
4. Rukiya Anpo (4)
5. Capitan Petchyindee (5)
6. Kaew Weerasakreck (6)
7. Kevin VanNostrand (7)
8. Serhiy Adamchuk (8)
9. Aleksei Ulianov (9)
10. Daizo Sasaki (10)

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

1. Taio Asahisa (1)
2. Gonnapar Weerasakreck (3)
3. Kento Haraguchi (7)
4. Ilias Ennahachi (2)
5. Kenta Hayashi (4)
6. Dennis Wosik (5)
7. Wei Rui (6)
8. Naoki Tanaka (8)
9. Jin Ying (9)
10. Zhu Shuai (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Taiju Shiratori (10)

One of the biggest movers in the super-bantamweight division this month was Kento Haraguchi, who improved his unbeaten streak to 18 with a huge victory over the previously top-ranked Taiju Shiratori at RISE: El Dorado 2021. Haraguchi rises to the No. 3 slot. Shiratori drops from the rankings completely after back-to-back losses. However, he could find his way back into the top 10 with a major win or a couple of solid victories. Ilias Ennahachi successfully defended his ONE kickboxing flyweight title against former two-division Lumpinee stadium champ Superlek Kiatmoo9. However, the Dutch-Moroccan kickboxer loses two positions in the rankings due to the nature of the contest. The controversial decision was even called out by ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong, who stated that the two fighters would have an immediate rematch.

1. Takeru (1)
2. Leona Pettas (2)
3. Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
4. Kosuke Komiyama (4)
5. Kouzi (5)
6. Zhao Chongyang (6)
7. Tomoya Yokoyama (7)
8. Yuma Saikyo (8)
9. Kotaro Shimano (9)
10. Tatsuya Oiwa (10)

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

1. Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
2. Tatsuya Tsubakihara (2)
3. Yuuki Egawa (3)
4. Haruma Saikyo (4)
5. Astemir Borsov (5)
6. Sam-A Gaiyanghadao (6)
7. Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan (7)
8. Aslanbek Zikreev (8)
9. Wang Junguang (9)
10. Hirotaka Urabe (10)

Top-ranked super flyweight Tenshin Nasukawa made easy work of fifth-ranked flyweight Shiro Matsumoto, who had been previously defeated by the Japanese superstar in the RISE 58-kilogram World Series in 2019.

1. Yoshiki Takei (1)
2. Masashi Kumura (2)
3. Kazuki Osaki (4)
4. Akihiro Kaneko (3)
5. Shiro Matsumoto (5)
6. Masahiko Suzuki (6)
7. Koudai Hirayama (7)
8. Gunji Taito (8)
9. Toki Tamaru (9)
10. Jin Mandokoro (10)

Shiro Matsumoto fell short in his rematch against Tenshin Nasukawa up in weight. However, he remains ranked at 55 kilograms because of his recent win over Masahiko Suzuki during the RISE Dead or Alive 55-kilogram tournament last year. Speaking of Suzuki, he returned to the win column following a “Round of the Year” candidate against Soma Tameda on the same fight card. Suzuki remains locked into the sixth position following his 20th win in 21 contests. RISE super-flyweight titleholder Kazuki Osaki defeated Ikka Ota at RISE 146. Osaki moves up one spot in the rankings following his 11th consecutive victory.

1. Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
2. Takeru (2)
3. Marat Grigorian (3)
4. Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
5. Cédric Doumbé (5)
6. Alex Pereira (6)
7. Superbon Banchamek (7)
8. Wei Rui (8)
9. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (9)
10. Rico Verhoeven (10)

Tenshin Nasukawa remains firmly in the grasp of the top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings following his 41st consecutive win to kick off his professional career. Giorgio Petrosyan keeps his place in the rankings following a top-10 victory at lightweight.

1. Anissa Meksen (1)
2. Tiffany van Soest (2)
3. Iman Barlow (3)
4. Jorina Baars (4)
5. Josefine Knutsson (5)
6. Sarel de Jong (6)
7. Hinata Terayama (7)
8. Kotomi (8)
9. KANA (9)
10. Anissa Haddaoui (10)

Seventh-ranked Hinata Terayama added a ninth win to her current streak following a dominant victory over Suzuka Tabuchi at RISE: El Dorado 2021.

---

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.