Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: May 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. Regian Eersel (2)
3. Alim Nabiyev (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)

Former GLORY welterweight champion Nieky Holzken continued his winning streak with a second-round head-kick knockout of John Wayne Parr at ONE on TNT 3. Holzken remains in the seventh spot in the rankings.

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

Dropped from the rankings: Buakaw Banchamek (10)

Former 2014 K-1 World MAX champ Enriko Kehl makes his debut in the lightweight rankings following the biggest win of his career. Kehl took a split decision over former K-1 super welterweight champion Chingiz Allazov at ONE on TNT 1. Kehl’s entry bumps Buakaw Banchamek outside of the top 10 for the first time since the creation of the rankings in September 2014.

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)

Fourth-ranked Wang Pengfei extended his winning streak to four with a unanimous-decision victory over Er Kang at Wu Lin Feng 2021: World Contender League 2nd Stage.

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 (2)
3. Kento Haraguchi (3)
4. Ilias Ennahachi (4)
5. Wei Rui (5)
6. Kenta Hayashi (6)
7. Dennis Wosik (7)
8. Jin Ying (8)
9. Zhu Shuai (9)
10. Naoki Tanaka (10)/Koya Urabe (10)

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

Bantamweight (60 kilograms)

Takeru (1)

Leona Pettas (2)

Hirotaka Asahisa (3)

Kosuke Komiyama (4)

Kouzi (5)

Zhao Chongyang (6)

Tomoya Yokoyama (7)

Yuta Murakoshi (8)

Kotaro Shimano (9)

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)

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

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

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

1. Takeru (1)
2. Tenshin Nasukawa (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)

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

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. Manazo Kobayashi (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Anissa Haddaoui (10)

Eighth-ranked Kotomi earned a unanimous nod over Mahiro to capture the Krush flyweight title following two wins during the inaugural Krush 50-kilogram four-woman tournament at Krush 124. RISE 52-kilogram champ Manazo Kobayashi earned a hard-fought unanimous-decision victory at RISE 148 to avenge her loss to Suzuka Tabuchi. Kobayashi earns a place in the rankings and knocks Anissa Haddaoui from the top 10.

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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.