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 strawweight, 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)
- Antonio Plazibat (2)
- Roman Kryklia (3)
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (4)
- Zabit Samedov (5)
- Murat Aygün (6)
- Tarik Khbabez (7)
- Levi Rigters (8)
- Nordine Mahieddine (9)
- Fabio Kwasi (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of November, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Luis Tavares (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Donegi Abena (4)
- Stéphane Susperregui (5)
- Felipe Micheletti (6)
- Ariel Machado (7)
- Zinedine Hameur-Lain (8)
- Danyo Ilunga (9)
- Michael Duut (10)
Third-ranked Sergej Maslobojev extended his ten-fight winning streak with an unanimous decision victory over Canada’s Olivier Langlois-Ross at KOK 96: Mega Battle in Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Yousri Belgaroui (2)
- Artem Levin (3)
- Hicham El Gaoui (4)
- Ulric Bokeme (5)
- César Almeida (6)
- Sher Mamazulunov (7)
- Maxim Vorovski (8)
- Mohammed Ghaedibareh (9)
- Khalid El Bakouri (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of November, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Cédric Doumbé (1)
- Regian Eersel (2)
- Alim Nabiev (3)
- Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (4)
- Nieky Holzken (5)
- Dmitry Menshikov (6)
- Endy Semeleer (7)
- Jamie Bates (8)
- Robin Ciric (9)
- Yohan Lidon (10)
Second-ranked Regian Eersel took the last three rounds against Russia’s Islam Murtazaev to defend his ONE lightweight title at ONE Championship: Winter Warriors to extend his winning streak to 18 straight victories.
- Superbon Banchamek (1)
- Marat Grigorian (2)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (3)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (4)
- Davit Kiria (5)
- Chingiz Allazov (6)
- Tayfun Özcan (7)
- Tyjani Beztati (8)
- Enriko Kehl (9)
- Samy Sana (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of November, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Masaaki Noiri (1)
- Jia Aoqi (4)
- Jordann Pikeur (3)
- Wang Pengfei (5)
- Qiu Jianliang (2)
- Liu Xiangming (6)
- Tie Yinghua (7)
- Rukiya Anpo (10)
- Tawanchai P.K.Saenchaimuaythaigym (8)
- Ji Xiang (9)
Second-ranked Qiu Jianliang drops multiple spots in the super featherweight rankings following his upset loss to Japanese Karateka Hiroki Akimoto in his ONE Championship debut. Jia Aoqi passes over Jordann Pikeur for second in the rankings following his fourth straight victory, which came against former top-10 featherweight Wei Ninghui at Wu Lin Feng 525. Wang Pengfei earned his place in the WLF contender tournament final with a decision win over Zhou Jiaqiang. Former K-1 champion Rukiya Anpo moves up two spots in the rankings following a dominant first-round knockout victory over Kaito at K-1 World GP 2021 in Osaka.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (2)
- Wei Rui (3)
- Hiroki Akimoto (-)
- Capitan Petchyindee (4)
- Daizo Sasaki (5)
- Aleksei Ulianov (6)
- Petchtanong Petchfergus (7)
- Kevin VanNostrand (8)
- Serhiy Adamchuk (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Kosei Yamada (9)
Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao earned a decisive three-round victory over top-ranked super bantamweight Kento Haraguchi in his return to the kickboxing ring at RISE World Series 2021 Osaka 2. The GLORY featherweight champion halted Haraguchi’s 16-fight unbeaten streak as the young Japanese prospect was on the verge of stardom in the Japanese market. Japan’s Hiroki Akimoto earned the biggest victory of his kickboxing career with a decision nod against formerly top-ranked super featherweight and pound-for-pound ranked fighter Qiu Jianliang at ONE Championship: Winter Warriors.
- Taio Asahisa (1)
- Konnapar Weerasakreck (2)
- Kento Haraguchi (3)
- Koya Urabe (4)
- Naoki Tanaka (5)
- Dennis Wosik (6)
- Zheng Jungfeng (8)
- Jin Ying (9)
- Zhu Shuai (7)
- Shuji Kawarada (10)
Third-ranked Kento Haraguchi dropped a pivotal bout against GLORY titleholder Petchpanomrung to end his 16-fight unbeaten stretch. However, Haraguchi remains ranked at super bantamweight for now, due to his ability and ranking in both weight classes. Former K-1 champion Konnapar Weerasakreck returned to the win column with a majority decision win over former top-10 bantamweight Yuma Saikyo K-1 World GP 2021 in Osaka to remain second among super bantamweights. Jin Ying bested Zhu Shuai for the second-time in 2021 during the last Wu Lin Feng event of the year.
- Takeru (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Ilias Ennahachi (4)
- Yuta Murakoshi (5)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (6)
- Kouzi (7)
- Zhao Boshi (8)
- Zhang Lanpei (9)
- Zhao Chongyang (10)
Second-ranked bantamweight and Krush champion Leona Pettas earned a decision victory over Thailand’s Maki Chachai at K-1 World GP 2021 in Osaka in a catchweight bout contested at 61.5-kilograms. Leona’s victory put him back in the win column following his devastating loss to top-ranked bantamweight Takeru after amassing a nine-fight winning streak prior to one of the most anticipated bouts of the year. Seventh-ranked Kouzi earned his first victory under the RIZIN banner against mixed martial arts veteran Kazuma Sone at Rizin 32
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Gunji Taito (3)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (2)
- Takahito Niimi (4)
- TOMA (6)
- Masahide Kudo (5)
- Masaki Takeuchi (7)
- Kaito (8)
- Keisuke Monguchi (9)
- Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan (10)
Former top-10 ranked flyweight Gunji Taito took control of the second spot in the super flyweight rankings with his title-winning performance against Tatsuya Tsubakihara, who had previously beaten former K-1 champion Yuki Egawa in back-to-back bouts. The 22-year-old champion has won six of his past seven bouts, while defeating Tsubakihara in two different weight divisions. Sixth-ranked TOMA continued his run of success under the K-1 and Krush banners with his ninth win in ten bouts. The 19-year-old won his third straight, after besting former Krush title challenger Riku Morisaka at K-1 World GP 2021 in Osaka. Eighth-ranked Kaito earned his fourth victory in five bouts, when he defeated Takuya Taira to claim the Hoost Cup 57-kilogram title at Hoost Cup Kings Kyoto 8 in October.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Masashi Kumura (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Shiro Matsumoto (4)
- Masahiko Suzuki (5)
- Rui Ebata (6)
- Junki Sasaki (7)
- Riamu (8)
- Yugo Kato (10)
- Yuki Kyotani (-)
Dropped from the rankings: David Chibana (9)
RISE bantamweight champion Masahiko Suzuki scored a fantastic first-round knockout over sixth-ranked Rui Ebata at RISE World Series 2021 Osaka 2 to earn his third win in his past four fights following a 2020 loss to Shiro which ended his 19-fight winning streak. Yuki Kyotani earned his place in the top-10 rankings after Kengo edged out David Chibana at the same event. The 33-year-old scored a technical decision nod over Seiki Ueyama to make his debut in the rankings. Also, he holds the only victory over three-division K-1 champion Takeru, which took place all the way back in 2012.
- Kazuki Osaki (1)
- Kazane (2)
- Shiro Matsumoto (3)
- Kodai Hirayama (4)
- Jin Mandokoro (5)
- Toma Kuroda (6)
- Kazuki Miburo (7)
- Koki Osaki (8)
- Ryoga Terayama (9)
- Toki Tamaru (10)
K-1 bantamweight tournament champion Toma Kuroda earned his second straight victory over Krush titleholder Kazuki Miburo at K-1 World GP 2021 in Osaka. Fifth-ranked Jin Mandokoro scored one of the best knockouts of the year when he landed one devastating punch against Yu Hiramatsu at Rizin Trigger 1. DEEP and Shooto kickboxing champ Ryoga Terayama kept his six-fight unbeaten streak intact when he defeated Hiroki at Rizin 32.
- Superbon Banchamek (1)
- Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
- Takeru (3)
- Marat Grigorian (4)
- Artem Vakhitov (5)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (-)
- Wei Rui (7)
- Rico Verhoeven (9)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)/ Taio Asahisa (10)
GLORY featherweight champion Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao debuts in the pound-for-pound rankings following his decision victory over one of Japan’s best, Kento Haraguchi. Due to the addition of the top-ranked featherweight, Kazuki Osaki falls into a tie for tenth with K-1 champion Taio Asahisa.
- Anissa Meksen (1)
- Tiffany van Soest (2)
- Hinata Terayama (3)
- Iman Barlow (4)
- Sarel de Jong (5)
- Josefine Knutsson (6)
- Kotomi (7)
- KANA (8)
- Manazo Kobayashi (9)
- Miho Takanashi (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of November, so the rankings remain unchanged.
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.