Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: May 2022

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.

1. Rico Verhoeven (1)
2. Antonio Plazibat (2)
3. Roman Kryklia (3)
4. Benjamin Adegbuyi (4)
5. Zabit Samedov (5)
6. Murat Aygün (6)
7. Tarik Khbabez (7)
8. Levi Rigters (8)
9. Nordine Mahieddine (9)
10. Rade Opačić (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Artem Vakhitov (1)
2. Luis Tavares (2)
3. Sergej Maslobojev (3)
4. Donegi Abena (4)
5. Stéphane Susperregui (5)
6. Felipe Micheletti (6)
7. Ariel Machado (7)
8. Zinedine Hameur-Lain (8)
9. Danyo Ilunga (9)
10. Michael Duut (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Donovan Wisse (1)
2. Sergey Ponomarev (2)
3. Serkan Ozcaglayan (3)
4. Sher Mamazulunov (4)
5. Mohammed Ghaedibareh (5)
6. Maxim Vorovski (6)
7. Andrei Chekhonin (7)
8. Khalid El Bakouri (8)
9. Jonatan Oliveira (9)
10. Sergey Veselkin (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Regian Eersel (1)
2. Alim Nabiev (2)
3. Dmitry Menshikov (3)
4. Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (4)
5. Endy Semeleer (5)
6. Nieky Holzken (6)
7. Robin Ciric (7)
8. Mohamed Touchassie (-)
9. Jamie Bates (8)
10. Harut Grigorian (9)

Dropped from the rankings: Yohan Lidon (10)

Top-ranked welterweight Regian Eersel earned a hard fought five-round decision victory to defend his ONE lightweight title against Germany’s Arian Sadikovic, who actually knocked down the champion early in the title fight at ONE Championship 156. Eersel remains at the top of the welterweight rankings following his 19th consecutive win. Former WKN and WMC Muay Thai world titleholder Yohan Lidon drops out of the welterweight rankings due to his recent win at middleweight over Italy’s Flavio Fugamalli at Fight Night One 10 in Saint-Étienne, France. In his place enters Morocco’s Mohamed Touchassie, who knocked out current WMC European beltholder Bilal Bakhouche-Chareuf at Enfusion 105 in Alkmaara, The Netherlands.

1. Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
2. Marat Grigorian (2)
3. Chingiz Allazov (3)
4. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
5. Giorgio Petrosyan (5)
6. Davit Kiria (6)
7. Tayfun Özcan (7)
8. Tyjani Beztati (8)
9. Enriko Kehl (9)
10. Mamuka Usubyan (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Samy Sana (10)

Fifth-ranked Giorgio Petrosyan returned to the win column following his shocking knockout loss against top-ranked lightweight Superbon in 2021. The former ONE featherweight champion scored a second-round stoppage over Turkey’s Fatih Aydun at his self-named kickboxing event, Petrosyan Mania: Gold Edition. He remains firmly in the top-10 in the lightweight division with a professional record of 105-3-2-2. Tenth-ranked Samy Sana drops out of the rankings due to inactivity and recent performances. Debuting in his place is Fair Fight lightweight champion Mamuka Usubyan.

1. Masaaki Noiri (1)
2. Jia Aoqi (2)
3. Wang Pengfei (3)
4. Qiu Jianliang (4)
5. Rukiya Anpo (5)
6. Liu Xiangming (6)
7. Tie Yinghua (7)
8. Ayinta Ali (8)
9. Kaisei Kondo (9)
10. Ryoto Nakano (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
2. Hiroki Akimoto (2)
3. Wei Rui (3)
4. Tetsuya Yamato (4)
5. Hideaki Yamazaki (5)
6. Daizo Sasaki (6)
7. Capitan Petchyindee (7)
8. Aleksei Ulianov (8)
9. Meng Gaofeng (9)
10. Kosei Yamada (10)

Third-ranked Wei Rui extended his 18 fight winning streak with a decision victory over long-time Kun Khmer veteran Phal Sophorn at Wu Lin Feng 529: Cambodia.

1. Kongnapa Weerasakreck (1)
2. Yuki Yoza (2)
3. Taio Asahisa (3)
4. Koya Urabe (5)
5. Zheng Jungfeng (7)
6. Jin Ying (8)
7. Zhu Shuai (9)
8. Yuto Shinohara (10)
9. Taiju Shiratori (-)
10. Shuji Kawarada (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Kento Haraguchi (4), Naoki Tanaka (6)

Fourth-ranked Kento Haraguchi returned to the win column against Lompetch Y’zdgym at RISE El Dorado 2022. However, the former RISE 63-kilogram titleholder drops out of the super bantamweight rankings due to his moved to the featherweight division. Sixth-ranked Naoki Tanaka suffers the same fate after back-to-back bouts at 65-kilograms, most recently a knockout loss against Kosei Yamada. Former RISE lightweight champ Taiju Shiratori returns to the rankings following his most recent win over Hideaki Sasaki at RISE El Dorado 2022. Krush lightweight champion Shuji Kawarada re-enters the super bantamweight top-10.

1. Takeru (1)
2. Leona Pettas (2)
3. Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
4. Ilias Ennahachi (4)
5. Yuta Murakoshi (5)
6. Chihiro Nakajima (6)
7. Tomoya Yokoyama (7)
8. Huang Shuailu (8)
9. Tatsuya Oiwa (9)
10. Ryusei Ashizawa (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
2. Gunji Taito (2)
3. Tatsuya Tsubakihara (3)
4. Takahito Niimi (4)
5. TOMA (5)
6. Taisei Umei (7)
7. Ryoga Hirano (8)
8. Masaki Takeuchi (9)
9. Keisuke Monguchi (10)
10. Taiki Sawatani (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Masahide Kudo (6)

Formerly sixth-ranked Masahide Kudo drops out of the super flyweight rankings following his retirement from the sport. DEEP KICK 60-kilogram titleholder Taiki Sawatani enters the rankings at tenth.

1. Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
2. Akihiro Kaneko (2)
3. Masashi Kumura (3)
4. Shiro Matsumoto (4)
5. Masahiko Suzuki (5)
6. Rui Ebata (6)
7. Yugo Kato (7)
8. Junki Sasaki (8)
9. Riamu Sera (9)
10. Yuki Kyotani (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Kazuki Osaki (1)
2. Kazane (2)
3. Shiro Matsumoto (3)
4. Kodai Hirayama (4)
5. Jin Mandokoro (5)
6. Toma Kuroda (6)
7. Koki Osaki (7)
8. Koji Ikeda (8)
9. Kazuki Miburo (9)
10. Ryoga Terayama (10)

There were no fighters in action, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
2. Tenshin Nasukawa (2)
3. Takeru (3)
4. Marat Grigorian (4)
5. Artem Vakhitov (5)
6. Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
7. Wei Rui (7)
8. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (8)
9. Rico Verhoeven (9)
10. Kazuki Osaki (10)

There were two fighters in action during the month, both sixth-ranked Giorgio Petrosyan and seventh-ranked Wei Rui were victorious in their respective contests.

1. Tiffany van Soest (1)
2. Anissa Meksen (2)
3. Hinata Terayama (3)
4. Sarel de Jong (4)
5. Kotomi (5)
6. KANA (6)
7. Miho Takanashi (7)
8. Manazo Kobayashi (8)
9. Maurine Atef (9)
10. Janet Todd (10)

The only fighter in action during the month of April was second-ranked Anissa Meksen, who defeated Estonian Marie Ruumet in a Muay Thai rules contest at ONE Championship 156.

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Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last two years. 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.