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.
- Rico Verhoeven (1)
- Roman Kryklia (2)
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (3)
- Zabit Samedov (5)
- Murat Aygün (6)
- Tarik Khbabez (7)
- Levi Rigters (8)
- Nordine Mahieddine (9)
- Fabio Kwasi (10)
- Antonio Plazibat (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Guto Inocente (4)
Former GLORY title challenger Guto Inocente drops from the heavyweight rankings. The UFC veteran has compiled a record of 3-2 since returning to mixed martial arts in late 2019. His future in kickboxing remains up in the air despite fulfilling his four-year WAKO suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. In his place enters former K-1 heavyweight champion Antonio Plazibat. He has victories in four of his past five fights with wins over former Enfusion champion Jahfarr Wilnis and GLORY veterans Nordine Mahieddine, Tomáš Možný and Michal Turynski.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Artem Vakhitov (2)
- Luis Tavares (3)
- Pavel Zhuravlev (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 past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Donovan Wisse (2)
- Yousri Belgaroui (3)
- Artem Levin (4)
- Hicham El Gaoui (5)
- Ulric Bokeme (6)
- César Almeida (7)
- Maxim Vorovski (8)
- Khalid El Bakouri (9)
- Daniel Forsberg (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Cédric Doumbé (1)
- Regian Eersel (2)
- Nieky Holzken (3)
- Jamie Bates (4)
- Dmitry Menshikov (5)
- Robin Ciric (6)
- Endy Semeleer (7)
- Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (8)
- Yohan Lidon (9)
- Sher Mamazulunov (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Marat Grigorian (1)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (2)
- Superbon Banchamek (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tayfun Ozcan (5)
- Enriko Kehl (6)
- Chingiz Allazov (7)
- Samy Sana (8)
- Dzianis Zuev (9)
- Tyjani Beztati (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Qiu Jianliang (1)
- Jordann Pikeur (2)
- Masaaki Noiri (3)
- Wang Pengfei (4)
- Liu Xiangming (5)
- Jia Aoqi (6)
- Petchtanong Banchamek (7)
- Tie Yinghua (8)
- Tawanchai P.K.Saenchaimuaythaigym (9)
- Ji Xiang (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (3)
- Wei Rui (2)
- Rukiya Anpo (4)
- Capitan Petchyindee (5)
- Kevin VanNostrand (6)
- Daizo Sasaki (7)
- Serhiy Adamchuk (8)
- Eddy Naït Slimani (9)
- Kosei Yamada (10)
Fourth-ranked Rukiya Anpo bounced back from losing his K-1 65-kilogram world title with a dominant victory over Koki at 67.5-kilograms in under one minute of action at K-1 World GP 2021: Fukouka. Despite the fight taking place up in weight, Rukiya will remain ranked at featherweight until he fights a second time in K-1’s welterweight division.
- Taio Asahisa (1)
- Konnapar Weerasakreck (2)
- Kento Haraguchi (3)
- Koya Urabe (9)
- Dennis Wosik (6)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Jin Ying (7)
- Zhu Shuai (8)
- Naoki Tanaka (10)
- Shuji Kawarada (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Ilias Ennahachi (4)
The division features two major changes during the month of July. The biggest movement comes from ONE Championship titleholder Ilias Ennahachi dropping to the bantamweight division after realigning the weight classes at the bottom of the rankings. With the addition of the strawweight division, the rest of the divisions were changed to tie in every promotion around the world.
Taio Asahisa cemented his place as the best super bantamweight in the world with an extension-round split decision over champion Konnapar Weerasakreck at K-1 World GP 2021 Japan: Fukouka. Former K-1 champion Koya Urabe earned his third straight win with a unanimous-decision victory over former two-time Krush title challenger Fumiya Osawa to slowly creep up the rankings where he was once the top-ranked competitor. Finally, Shuji Kawarada makes his debut in the top-10 following an unanimous-decision victory over former Big Bang super lightweight champion Shoya at Krush 127.
- Takeru (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Taiju Shiratori (4)
- Ilias Ennahachi (-)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (5)
- Yuta Murakoshi (6)
- Kouzi (7)
- Zhang Lanpei (8)
- Zhao Chongyang (9)/Tatsuya Oiwa (10)
The addition of the strawweight division opened the door to change some of the divisions upper weight limits to accommodate the fighters on a larger scale across the globe. The bantamweight division changed from 61-kilograms to 61.2-kilograms to reflect the ONE Championship flyweight division. The change sees Ilias Ennahachi debut in the bantamweight rankings at fifth in the rankings. No fighters were in action during the month of July, so the only change in the ranking is that Zhao Chongyang drops into a tie for 10th with Tatsuya Oiwa.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (2)
- Takahito Niimi (3)
- Masahide Kudo (8)
- Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan (4)
- TOMA (7)
- Gunji Taito (9)
- Masaki Takeuchi (5)
- Kaito (-)
- Keisuke Monguchi (6)
Dropped from the rankings: Tatsuki Shinotsuka (10)
The super flyweight division featured a number of changes with multiple top-10 fighters in action during the month of July. RISE featherweight champion Masahide Kudo moved up four spots following his title defense against Big Bang titleholder Masaki Takeuchi at RISE 151. Kudo scored three knockdowns in the first round to earn his third consecutive victory and push formerly fifth-ranked Takeuchi down three spots in the rankings.
Ninteen-year-old prospect Kaito earned a hard-fought, split-decision victory over formerly sixth-ranked Keisuke Monguchi at RISE World Series Osaka. Kaito makes his debut in the top 10 on the back of three wins in four bouts with his lone loss coming against DEEP Kick champ Taiki Sawatani. Monguchi drops down to 10th in the rankings following his second career loss in 12 pro bouts.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (-)
- Masashi Kumura (-)
- Shiro Matsumoto (-)
- Masahiko Suzuki (-)
- Akihiro Kaneko (-)
- Rui Ebata (-)
- Junki Sasaki (-)
- Riamu (-)
- Takaya Ogura (-)
- David Chibana (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Kazuki Osaki (2), Koudai Hirayama (6), Toma Kuroda (7), Toki Tamaru (8), Jin Mandokoro (9), Kazuki Miburo (10)
The flyweight division featured a number of major changes following the split into two different weight divisions, 56.7 kilograms and 54 kilograms. The flyweight division was formerly the 55-kilogram and under division. However, to accommodate more promotions globally, the upper weight limit for the division has been moved to 56.7-kilograms. This includes ONE Championship’s strawweight division and frequent 56-kilogram bouts held in Rizin. The newly-formed strawweight division has an upper weight limit of 54-kilograms to include the Shooto kickboxing weight class and the 53-kilogram division in multiple promotions throughout the world.
The top five of the newly formed flyweight division features four fighters from the former division, all of which were ranked inside of the top five previously. RISE bantamweight titleholder Masahiko Suzuki earned a unanimous-decision victory over Tepparith JoeGym up a weight division at RISE World Series Osaka. The new additions to the division are former KNOCK OUT super bantamweight champion Rui Ebata, former pro boxer-turned-undefeated kickboxer and former Krush 53-kilogram champ Junki Sasaki, 20-year-old prospect Riamu, Scramble’s Takaya Ogura and RISE contender David Chibana.
- Kazuki Osaki (-)
- Shiro Matsumoto (-)
- Koudai Hirayama (-)
- Jin Mandokoro (-)
- Toma Kuroda (-)
- Kazuki Miburo (-)
- Koki Osaki (-)
- Toki Tamaru (-)
- Kazane (-)
- Ryoga Terayama (-)
The newly formed strawweight division features a number of familiar names and a few newcomers to the rankings. Top-ranked strawweight Kazuki Osaki cemented his place at the top of the division in July. Osaki won an incredible fight with decorated Muay Thai belt holder Issei Ishii in the main event of RISE World Series 2021: Osaka during the opening round of the RISE 53-kilogram eight-man tournament. Osaki extended his winning streak to 12 following the hard-fought victory and holds wins over four of the nine fighters that comprise the rest of the top 10.
Second-ranked Shiro Matsumoto scored a huge win over the previously consensus second-ranked 53-kilogram competitor Kodai Hirayama in the opening round of the tournament following an extension round. Shiro is set to face Osaki in the next round of the tournament, which will certainly decide the true top-ranked strawweight in the world.
Fourth-ranked Jin Mandokoro continued his four-fight winning streak with an unanimous-decision victory over former RISE titleholder Toki Tamaru to move onto the semifinals of the tournament. In at fifth place is the recent K-1 53-kilogram tournamanet champion Toma Kuroda, who scored three victories in one night. Sixth-ranked Kazuki Miburo came up short in the tournament. However, the 19-year-old has won 11 of his 12 pro fights and holds victories over former Krush champions Begin Yoshioka (albiet due to a failed weight cut) and Koki.
BOM bantamweight champion Koki Osaki has won eight of his past nine bouts and debuts at seventh following a decision victory over Azusa Kaneko. Former RISE champ Toki Tamaru makes his debut at eighth following his opening-round loss against Jin Mandokoro. Team TEPPEN’s Kazane makes his debut in the rankings at ninth despite a controversial decision victory over Mutsuki Ebata in the opening round of the RISE world series. Finally, Shooto 54-kilogram tournament champion Ryoga Terayama makes his debut at No. 10.
- Takeru (1)
- Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
- Cédric Doumbé (5)
- Alex Pereira (6)
- Superbon Banchamek (7)
- Wei Rui (8)
- Kazuki Osaki (-)
- Rico Verhoeven (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Masashi Kumura (10)
Following his victory over Issei Ishii, RISE 53-kilogram titleholder Kazuki Osaki makes his debut in the pound-for-pound rankings on the back of his tremendous resume.
- Anissa Meksen (1)
- Tiffany van Soest (2)
- Iman Barlow (3)
- Hinata Terayama (4)
- Sarel de Jong (6)
- Josefine Knutsson (5)
- Kotomi (7)
- KANA (8)
- Manazo Kobayashi (9)
- Miho Takanashi (10)
Krush 45-kilogram champion Miho “Knuckle” Takanashi earned a unanimous-decision victory over MARI in her new weight class at K-1 World GP 2021 in Japan: Fukuoka
Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last 24 months. Any fighter that chooses to switch weight classes will be ranked in their previous weight class until they have competed once in their new division.