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 (4)
- Murat Aygün (5)
- Antonio Plazibat (10)
- Tarik Khbabez (6)
- Levi Rigters (7)
- Nordine Mahieddine (8)
- Fabio Kwasi (9)
The heavyweight division featured a number of changes with the return of GLORY Kickboxing. Formerly 10th-ranked Antonio Plazibat moved up four spots in the rankings following his second-round knockout over Tarik Khbabez at GLORY 78. Levi Rigters returned to the win column when he stopped Tomáš Možný with leg kicks in the third round. Finally, Nordine Mahieddine beat Raul Cătinaş by unanimous decision to remain in the top 10.
- Artem Vakhitov (2)
- Luis Tavares (3)
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Pavel Zhuravlev (4)
- Sergej Maslobojev (5)
- Donegi Abena (6)
- Stéphane Susperregui (7)
- Felipe Micheletti (8)
- Ariel Machado (9)
- Zinedine Hameur-Lain (10)
Artem Vakhitov regained his top-ranking in the light heavyweight division with a majority decision victory over two-division GLORY champion Alex Pereira at GLORY 78. Vakhitov held the top spot in the division from November 2016 until February 2021 before his controversial loss to former GLORY middleweight champion Pereira in January.
Luis Tavares moved up one spot in the rankings following his fourth top-10 win over Brazil’s Felipe Micheletti. The former two-division Enfusion champion was originally scheduled to face fifth-ranked Sergej Maslobojev.
- Donovan Wisse (2)
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Yousri Belgaroui (3)
- Artem Levin (4)
- Hicham El Gaoui (5)
- Ulric Bokeme (6)
- César Almeida (7)
- Maxim Vorovski (8)
- Sher Mamazulunov (-)
- Khalid El Bakouri (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Daniel Forsberg (10)
Donovan Wisse captured the GLORY middleweight title that Alex Pereira vacated earlier this year with an impressive knockout of perennial contender Yousri Belgaroui at GLORY 78 to move into the top spot in the division. Sher Mamazulunov makes his middleweight debut after his fourth straight victory in the weight class, including his most recent win over Evgeny Volchek at Fair Fight XV.
- Cédric Doumbé (1)
- Regian Eersel (2)
- Nieky Holzken (3)
- Jamie Bates (4)
- Dmitry Menshikov (5)
- Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (8)
- Endy Semeleer (7)
- Robin Ciric (6)
- Yohan Lidon (9)
- Yuri Bessmertny (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Sher Mamazulunov (10)
Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari positioned himself to be the No. 1 contender in GLORY with a dominant victory over Vedat Hoduk at GLORY 78. He was originally scheduled to face fifth-ranked Dmitry Menshikov. Endy Semeleer scored a first-round knockout in his 77-kilogram debut against Kevin Hessling at Enfusion 102 in Alkmaar, Holland. Due to Sher Mamazulunov moving up to middleweight, Yur Bessmertny makes his debut in the rankings.
- Marat Grigorian (1)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (2)
- Superbon Banchamek (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tayfun Ozcan (5)
- Enriko Kehl (6)
- Chingiz Allazov (7)
- Tyjani Beztati (10)
- Samy Sana (8)
- Dzianis Zuev (9)
Tyjani Beztati captured the vacant GLORY lightweight title with a dominant decision victory over former title challenger Elvis Gashi at GLORY 78. Formerly top-ranked lightweight Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong was previously scheduled to face fifth-ranked Enfusion champion Tayfun Ozcan. However, the bout was scrapped due to an Ozcan injury. Instead, the promotion pitted Sitthichai against former Lumpinee stadium ‘Fighter of the Year’ Tawanchai P.K.Saenchaimuaythaigym in a Muay Thai rules bout at ONE Championship: Battleground III, which he won by decision. The bout does not affect his ranking.
- 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)
There were no fights in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (2)
- Wei Rui (3)
- Rukiya Anpo (4)
- Capitan Petchyindee (5)
- Kevin VanNostrand (6)
- Daizo Sasaki (7)
- Serhiy Adamchuk (8)
- Eddy Naït Slimani (9)
- Kosei Yamada (10)
There were no fights in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Taio Asahisa (1)
- Konnapar Weerasakreck (2)
- Kento Haraguchi (3)
- Koya Urabe (4)
- Dennis Wosik (5)
- Wei Rui (6)
- Jin Ying (7)
- Zhu Shuai (8)
- Naoki Tanaka (9)
- Shuji Kawarada (10)
There were no fights in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Takeru (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Taiju Shiratori (4)
- Ilias Ennahachi (5)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (6)
- Yuta Murakoshi (7)
- Kouzi (8)
- Zhang Lanpei (9)
- Zhao Chongyang (10)/Tatsuya Oiwa (10)
There were no fights in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (2)
- Takahito Niimi (3)
- Masahide Kudo (4)
- Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan (5)
- TOMA (6)
- Gunji Taito (7)
- Masaki Takeuchi (8)
- Kaito (9)
- Keisuke Monguchi (10)
There were no fights in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Masashi Kumura (2)
- Shiro Matsumoto (3)
- Masahiko Suzuki (4)
- Akihiro Kaneko (5)
- Rui Ebata (6)
- Junki Sasaki (7)
- Riamu (8)
- David Chibana (10)
- Yugo Kato (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Takaya Ogura (9)
Riamu picked up the biggest victory of his career when he eked out a unanimous decision over former Krush 53-kilogram champion Begin Yoshioka at Krush 128. The former K-1 amateur champ has won eight of his nine professional bouts since turning pro in 2018. Formerly ninth-ranked Takaya Ogura drops from the top 10 after an upset loss to Sho Uchida during the Krush 55-kilogram tournament quarterfinals.
- Kazuki Osaki (1)
- Shiro Matsumoto (2)
- Koudai Hirayama (3)
- Jin Mandokoro (4)
- Toma Kuroda (5)
- Kazuki Miburo (6)
- Koki Osaki (7)
- Toki Tamaru (8)
- Kazane (9)
- Ryoga Terayama (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Takeru (1)
- Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
- Cédric Doumbé (5)
- Superbon Banchamek (7)
- Wei Rui (8)
- Artem Vakhitov (-)
- Kazuki Osaki (9)
- Rico Verhoeven (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Alex Pereira (6)
Artem Vakhitov proved he was the best light heavyweight kickboxer in the world when he avenged his only loss in the past five years against Alex Pereira. Prior to his loss to Pereira, Vakhitov had lost just once in 10 years.
- Anissa Meksen (1)
- Tiffany van Soest (2)
- Iman Barlow (3)
- Hinata Terayama (4)
- Sarel de Jong (5)
- Josefine Knutsson (6)
- Kotomi (7)
- KANA (8)
- Manazo Kobayashi (9)
- Miho Takanashi (10)
The best female kickboxer in the world, Anissa Meksen, returned after a 19-month hiatus with a tremendous performance against Spain’s Cristina Morales at ONE Championship: Empower. Meksen dominated the ISKA and Enfusion champion on her way to her fifth win in her past six fights. The queen of kickboxing and 2017 Combat Press Kickboxer of the Year has been ranked as the top-ranked pound-for-pound women’s kickboxer for nearly four years.
Josefine Knutsson moved to 2-0 in MMA with a dominant performance over Elizabeth Rodrigues in Sweden. However, Knutsson will remain in the rankings until her two-year cut off is reached or unless someone overtakes her resume to break into the top 10.
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.