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)
- Jamal Ben Saddik (-)
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (4)
- Guto Inocente (5)
- Zabit Samedov (6)
- Murat Aygün (7)
- Tarik Khbabez (8)
- Levi Rigters (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Nordine Mahieddine (10)
Former top-10 heavyweight Jamal Ben Saddik returned to the rankings following his impressive first-round knockout over
GLORY 81. The former two-time GLORY title challenger is already scheduled for his next bout. This time against second-ranked Antonio Plazibat to determine the number one contender in GLORY’s heavyweight division. Formerly tenth-ranked Nordine Mahieddine, dropped out of the rankings following his first-round knockout loss against Cihad Kepenek at GLORY 81.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Luis Tavares (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Donegi Abena (4)
- Stéphane Susperregui (5)
- Felipe Micheletti (6)
- Gökhan Saki (7)
- Danyo Ilunga (8)
- Anthony Leroy (9)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Sergey Ponomarev (2)
- Serkan Ozcaglayan (3)
- Sher Mamazulunov (4)
- Jonatan Oliveira (5)
- Maxim Vorovski (6)
- Nikos Tzotzos Echetlaios (7)
- Mohammed Ghaedibareh (8)
- Khalid El Bakouri (9)
- Anis Bouzid (10)
Top-ranked middleweight Donovan Wisse defended his GLORY world title for the first time in a five round affair against Portugal’s Juri De Sousa at GLORY 81.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Dmitry Menshikov (2)
- Alim Nabiev (3)
- Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (4)
- Endy Semeleer (5)
- Mohamed Touchassie (6)
- Nieky Holzken (7)
- Robin Ciric (8)
- Jamie Bates (9)
- Harut Grigorian (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
- Marat Grigorian (2)
- Chingiz Allazov (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (5)
- Tayfun Özcan (6)
- Tyjani Beztati (7)
- Mamuka Usubyan (10)
- Mohammed Boutasaa (8)
- Stoyan Koprivlenski (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Davit Kiria (9)
Mamuka Usubyan earned his 14th straight victory following his decision victory over Ivan Kondratiev at RCC 12. He moves up two spots in the rankings following the exit of Davit Kiria. Bulgaria’s Stoyan Koprivlenski made his debut in the top-10 rankings with his fifth straight victory. The former GLORY contender tournament winner defeated former ISKA world champion Guerric Billet at GLORY 81.
- Kaito Ono (1)
- Masaaki Noiri (2)
- Jia Aoqi (3)
- Wang Pengfei (4)
- Rukiya Anpo (5)
- Liu Xiangming (6)
- Tie Yinghua (8)
- Ayinta Ali (9)
- Ryota Nakano (7)
- Kona Kato (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Kaisei Kondo (10)
Top-ranked super featherweight Kaito Ono extended his 13 fight winning streak with an extra round decision victory over Samo Petje at RISE World Series 2022: Osaka. Seventh-ranked Ryota Nakano dropped down to 65-kilograms against Chadd Collins, who made a successful return to kickboxing with a first-round knockout victory. However, he remains ranked at super featherweight. Ninth-ranked Ayinta Ali defended his Krush welterweight title with a second-round knockout win against Kota Nakano at Krush 140. Formerly tenth-ranked Kaisei Kondo dropped out of the top-10 following his step down in weight, which included a loss to Hayato Suzuki at K-1 World GP 2022 in Fukuoka.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hiroki Akimoto (2)
- Wei Rui (3)
- Daizo Sasaki (4)
- Kento Haraguchi (5)
- Tetsuya Yamato (6)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (7)
- Capitan Petchyindee (8)
- Aleksei Ulianov (9)
- Meng Gaofeng (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (1)
- Yuki Yoza (2)
- Taio Asahisa (3)
- Koya Urabe (4)
- Zheng Jungfeng (5)
- Jin Ying (6)
- Zhu Shuai (7)
- Fumiya Osawa (9)
- Kan Nakamura (10)
- Yuzuki Satomi (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Yuma Saikyo (8)
Top-ranked super bantamweight Kongnapa Weerasakreck continued his four fight winning streak for his ninth victory in his past ten fights. He stopped Hiroto Iwasaki in the first round at K-1 World GP 2022 in Fukuoka. K-1 champion Yuki Yoza was impressive in his second round stoppage of former top-10 kickboxer Yuto Shinohara to remain second in the super bantamweight rankings. Fumiya Osama moves up one spot in the rankings following his unanimous decision victory over Dansiam Ayothayafightgym. Yuzuki Satomi makes his rankings debut with a unanimous decision nod against formerly eighth-ranked Yuma Saikyo.
- Takeru (1)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
- Ilias Ennahachi (3)
- Yuta Murakoshi (4)
- YA-MAN (5)
- Yuki Kasahara (6)
- Chihiro Nakajima (7)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (8)
- Huang Shuailu (9)
- Tatsuya Oiwa (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Gunji Taito (1)
- Toma Tanabe (5)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (2)
- Shuhei Kumura (3)
- Wang Junguang (-)
- Takahito Niimi (4)
- Keisuke Monguchi (8)
- Taisei Umei (6)
- Taiki Sawatani (9)
- Takumi Terada (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Ryoga Hirano (7), Ryusei Kumagai (10)
Top-ranked Gunji Taito cemented his place as the top super flyweight with three victories in the K-1 World GP 2022 in Fukuoka against Facu Suarez and top-10 opponents Toma Tanabe and Shuhei Kumura, both of which he stopped in the first round. Speaking of Toma Tanabe, he jumped up three spots in the rankings following his victories over former Enfusion titleholder Wang Junguang and former K-1 champion Tatsuya Tsubakihara. The former ONE and K-1 title challenger Junguang re-entered the top-10 following his tournament performance that featured him defeating Krush champion Takihito Niimi. Shuhei Kumura remains ranked in the top-five following his second-round stoppage of former top-10 kickboxer Jawsuayai Sor.Dechaphan, who made his return to K-1 after a two year hiatus. Keisuke Monguchi captured the RISE featherweight world title with an unanimous decision win over formerly sixth-ranked Taisei Umei at RISE 161. 2021 K-1 Rookie of the Year Takumi Terada makes his debut in the rankings following his sixth professional win against Ginji at K-1 World GP 2022 in Fukuoka.
- Masashi Kumura (1)
- Masahiko Suzuki (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Shiro Matsumoto (4)
- Rui Ebata (5)
- Junki Sasaki (6)
- Koki Osaki (7)
- Mutsuki Ebata (8)
- Riamu Sera (9)
- Yugo Kato (10)
Masahiko Suzuki continues to impress with a hard-fought decision victory over top flight competitor Seiki Ueyama at RISE World Series 2022: Osaka. Yugo Kato remains in the flyweight rankings with a return to form following only his second loss in his past 15 contests. He defeated Shoma by unanimous decision at the same event.
- Kazuki Osaki (1)
- Kazane (2)
- Ryu Hanaoka (3)
- Koudai Hirayama (4)
- Jin Mandokoro (5)
- Toma Kuroda (6)
- Koji Ikeda (7)
- Kazuki Miburo (8)
- Ryoga Terayama (9)
- Shoa Arii (10)/Ryunsokue Omori (-)
Kazuki Osaki cemented his place atop the strawweight rankings with a third-round knockout over Sanchai TEPPEN GYM at RISE World Series 2022: Osaka. 18-year-old kickboxing phenom Ryu Hanaoka continued his incredible run to the top of the division with his eleventh win in a row. He stopped fifth-ranked Jin Mandokoro by cut stoppage in the third round of their RISE 161 bout. Kazuki Miburo made his return to the win column with a unanimous decision nod against Daiki Mine at K-1 World GP 2022 in Fukuoka. Ryunsoke Omori makes his debut in the top-10 with a knockout victory over Yuki Kyotani, the only man to stop Takeru. Due to the contention at the bottom of the division, Omori joins the rankings based on his recent resume. However, Arii remains ranked because he holds a win over the 22-year-old prospect.
- Tenshin Nasukawa (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Takeru (3)
- Marat Grigorian (4)
- Artem Vakhitov (5)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
- Wei Rui (7)
- Rico Verhoeven (8)
- Masashi Kumura (9)
- Kazuki Osaki (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Anissa Meksen (2)
- Kana Morimoto (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Jorina Baars (5)
- Kotomi (6)
- Manazo Kobayashi (7)
- Phayahong Ayothaya Gym (8)
- Janet Todd (9)
- Sarah Moussadak (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month of August, so the rankings remain unchanged.
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.