Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: August 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. Guto Inocente (5)
6. Zabit Samedov (6)
7. Murat Aygün (7)
8. Tarik Khbabez (8)
9. Levi Rigters (9)
10. Nordine Mahieddine (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, 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. Gökhan Saki (7)
8. Danyo Ilunga (8)
9. Anthony Leroy (9)
10. Ibrahim El Bouni (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Donovan Wisse (1)
2. Sergey Ponomarev (2)
3. Serkan Ozcaglayan (3)
4. Sher Mamazulunov (4)
5. Jonatan Oliveira (5)
6. Maxim Vorovski (6)
7. Nikos Tzotzos Echetlaios (7)
8. Mohammed Ghaedibareh (8)
9. Khalid El Bakouri (9)
10. Anis Bouzid (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, so the rankings remain unchanged.

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

Dmitry Menshikov defeated Fair Fight welterweight champion Maksim Sulgin by unanimous decision at Fair Fight 18, his second win over his talented Russian opponent in less than two years. The 24-year-old jumps over former two-time GLORY title challenger Alim Nabiev to move into the second spot in the welterweight top-10.

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

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, so the rankings remain unchanged.

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

Third-ranked Jia Aoqi bested tenth-ranked featherweight Meng Gaofeng at Wu Lin Feng x Huya Kung Fu Carnival 6. The 2019 WLF World Cup champion stays put at third in the super featherweight rankings.

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

Meng Gaofeng fell short in his attempt to knock off top-10 ranked Jia Aoqi by jumping up a weight class to challenge him. His ranking at featherweight remains the same.

1. Kongnapa Weerasakreck (1)
2. Yuki Yoza (2)
3. Taio Asahisa (3)
4. Koya Urabe (4)
5. Zheng Jungfeng (5)
6. Jin Ying (6)
7. Zhu Shuai (7)
8. Yuma Saikyo (8)
9. Fumiya Osawa (9)
10. Kan Nakamura (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Takeru (1)
2. Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
3. Ilias Ennahachi (3)
4. Yuta Murakoshi (4)
5. YA-MAN (5)
6. Yuki Kasahara (6)
7. Chihiro Nakajima (7)
8. Tomoya Yokoyama (8)
9. Huang Shuailu (9)
10. Tatsuya Oiwa (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Gunji Taito (2)
2. Tatsuya Tsubakihara (3)
3. Shuhei Kumura (4)
4. Takahito Niimi (5)
5. TOMA (6)
6. Taisei Umei (7)
7. Ryoga Hirano (8)
8. Keisuke Monguchi (9)
9. Taiki Sawatani (10)
10. Ryusei Kumagai (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Tenshin Nasukawa (1)

Taiki Sawatani defeated three opponents in one night to push his winning streak to 6 straight at Shooto 2022 Vol.4 in Osaka. The DEEP kick 60-kilogram champion bested Taiki Matsui, Kakeru and Kazuhiro Matsuyama to win the one-night, eight-man tournament. The top-ranked flyweight in the world Tenshin Nasukawa has dropped out of the rankings following his final kickboxing bout against Takeru. Knock Out champion Ryusei Kumagai cracks the top-10 following his victory at Rizin 37 over Kaiji, which pushed his undefeated record to 11-0 for the 21-year-old.

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

Koki Osaki continued his impressive run in his new division with three knockdowns in the first round against Josei Izumi at RISE 160.

1. Kazuki Osaki (1)
2. Kazane (2)
3. Ryu Hanaoka (3)
4. Kodai Hirayama (4)
5. Jin Mandokoro (5)
6. Toma Kuroda (6)
7. Koji Ikeda (8)
8. Kazuki Miburo (9)
9. Ryoga Terayama (10)
10. Shoa Arii (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Koki Osaki (7)

Koji Ikeda made the first defense of his 53-kilogram title with a second round knockout over Noda Aoi at Krush 139. Following Koki Osaki’s move up a weight division, Shoa Arii makes his debut in the top-10, who previously defeated top talents Ryoga Terayama and Ryunosuke Omori.

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

There were no fighters in action during the month of July, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Tiffany van Soest (1)
2. Anissa Meksen (2)
3. Kana Morimoto (3)
4. Sarel de Jong (4)
5. Jorina Baars (5)
6. Kotomi (6)
7. Manazo Kobayashi (7)
8. Phayahong Ayothaya Gym (8)
9. Janet Todd (9)
10. Sarah Moussadak (10)

Manazo Kobayashi gets back in the win column after back-to-back losses against top-ranked Tiffany van Soest and former Top-5 pound-for-pound fighter Hinata Terayama, who recently retired due to injuries. She bested South Korea’s Do Kyung Lee by unanimous decision at RISE 160.

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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.