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 (4)
- Benjamin Adegbuyi (5)
- Guto Inocente (6)
- Rade Opačić (7)
- Levi Rigters (8)
- Cihad Kepenek (9)
- Iraj Azizpour (10)
Top-ranked heavyweight Rico Verhoeven scored a fifth-round knockout over former foe Hesdy Gerges at the Netherland’s variety/combat sports event HIT IT. The GLORY heavyweight king extended his 16-fight winning streak with his first victory in 2022. Hopefully the GLORY athlete is more active next year with potential contenders Antonio Plazibat and Jamal Ben Saddik waiting on a title fight. Eighth-ranked Levi Rigters also earned his first victory of the year. He defeated Nigerian prospect Kevin Tariq Osaro by unanimous decision at GLORY Collision 4.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Luis Tavares (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Donegi Abena (6)
- Stéphane Susperregui (4)
- Nikita Kozlov (5)
- Felipe Micheletti (7)
- Danyo Ilunga (8)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (9)
- Lukas Achterberg (10)
Third-ranked Sergej Maslobojev won the vacant GLORY light heavyweight title with a decision nod over former heavyweight contender Tarik Khbabez at GLORY Collision 4. Despite his 12th straight victory, the Lithuanian champion remains ranked at three. At the same event, Donegi Abena moves up two spots in the rankings with an impressive return to form against Brazil’s Felipe Micheletti. The former two-time GLORY title challenger ended his long four-fight losing skid with his unanimous decision over his fellow top-10 opponent.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Sergey Ponomarev (2)
- César Almeida (-)
- Sher Mamazulunov (4)
- Khalid El Bakouri (9)
- Sergej Braun (7)
- Serkan Ozcaglayan (3)
- Ulric Bokeme (5)
- Jonatan Oliveira (6)
- Mohammed Ghaedibareh (8)
Dropped from the rankings: Anis Bouzid (10)
Brazil’s César Almeida makes his return to the middleweight rankings following his impressive unanimous nod over previously third-ranked Serkan Ozcaglayan at GLORY Collision 4. Khalid El Bakouri moves up four spots to fifth after he defeated the Netherland’s Kevin van Heeckeren at Enfusion 113. Germany’s Sergej Braun continues to move up the middleweight rankings following a hard fought comeback victory over Michael Boapeah. Braun showcased his high pace and impressive endurance after wading through the fire to get to Boapeah late in the second and third rounds.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Alim Nabiev (2)
- Dmitry Menshikov (3)
- Endy Semeleer (4)
- Mohamed “Hamicha” Mezouari (5)
- Mohamed Touchassie (6)
- Nieky Holzken (7)
- Constantin Rusu (-)
- Robin Ciric (8)
- Harut Grigorian (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Jamie Bates (9)
Top-ranked welterweight Regian Eersel became one of the few multi-sport champions in ONE following his title-winning performance over Thailand’s Sinsamut Klinmee at ONE Prime Video 3 to win the inaugural ONE lightweight Muay Thai rules title. Romanian Constantin Rusu makes his debut in the rankings following a solid victory over Russian Islam Murtazaev at ONE 162.
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
- Marat Grigorian (2)
- Chingiz Allazov (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tyjani Beztati (7)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (5)
- Tayfun Özcan (6)
- Mamuka Usubyan (8)
- Mohammed Boutasaa (9)
- Stoyan Koprivlenski (10)
GLORY lightweight champion Tyjani Beztati scored a huge victory over fellow top-10 member Stoyan Koprivlenski at GLORY Collision 4. Beztati moves into the top-five for the first time in his career with seven victories in his past eight, including two victories over Koprivlenski and Josh Jauncey. Fourth-ranked Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong put on an impressive performance against rising star Mohammed Boutasaa at ONE on Amazon Prime 3. The former GLORY and Kunlun Fight champion earned his third top-10 victory in the past year.
- Masaaki Noiri (1)
- Jia Aoqi (2)
- Wang Pengfei (3)
- Rukiya Anpo (4)
- Liu Xiangming (5)
- Tie Yinghua (6)
- Ayinta Ali (7)
- Ryota Nakano (8)
- Meng Gaofeng (9)
- Kona Kato (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hiroki Akimoto (2)
- Tetsuya Yamato (3)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Daizo Sasaki (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (6)
- Hideaki Yamazaki (7)
- Capitan Petchyindee (8)
- Aleksei Ulianov (9)
- Kosei Yamada (10)
GLORY featherweight champion Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao defended his title for the fifth time at GLORY Collision 4. The RISE and GLORY champion defeated Mexican contender Abraham Vidales to remain atop the featherweight rankings.
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (1)
- Yuki Yoza (2)
- Taio Asahisa (3)
- Jin Ying (4)
- Zhu Shuai (5)
- Koya Urabe (6)
- Zheng Jungfeng (7)
- Fumiya Osawa (8)
- Chan Hyung Lee (-)
- YA-MAN (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Kan Nakamura (10)
RISE super featherweight champion Chan Hyung Lee made his super bantamweight rankings debut following his second round stoppage victory over tenth-ranked Kan Nakamura at RISE World Series 2022. Previously ninth-ranked YA-MAN went to war in a wild brawl with formerly top-10 ranked opponent Taiju Shiratori. However, the fight took place at 65-kilograms, therefore neither fighter’s ranking will be affected by the bout unless they continue to compete at featherweight.
- Leona Pettas (1)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
- Ilias Ennahachi (3)
- Hyuma Hitachi (4)
- Yuta Murakoshi (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, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Taito Gunji (1)
- Toma Tanabe (2)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (3)
- Shuhei Kumura (4)
- Wang Junguang (5)
- Takahito Niimi (6)
- Keisuke Monguchi (7)
- Taisei Umei (8)
- Ryusei Kumagai (9)
- Taiki Sawatani (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Masahiko Suzuki (1)
- Akihiro Kaneko (2)
- Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer (3)
- Masashi Kumura (4)
- Shiro Matsumoto (5)
- Rui Ebata (6)
- Junki Sasaki (7)
- Koki Osaki (8)
- Mutsuki Ebata (9)
- Jonathan Di Bella (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Riamu Sera (10)
Fifth-ranked Shiro Matsumoto earned a massive victory over eighth-ranked Koki Osaki by extra round decision at RISE World Series 2022. Canadian Jonathan Di Bella made his rankings debut with a victory over top Chinese prospect Peimian Zhang to win the ONE strawweight kickboxing title at ONE 162 in a back-and-forth brawl capped off by a fifth-round hightlight reel head kick knockout.
- Kazuki Osaki (1)
- Kazane Nagai (2)
- Tsubasa Kaneko (-)
- Ryu Hanaoka (3)
- Jin Mandokoro (5)
- Toma Kuroda (6)
- Auto Muangpaphum (-)
- Koji Ikeda (7)
- Koudai Hirayama (4)
- Kazuki Miburo (8)
Dropped from the rankings: Ryoga Terayama (9), Shoa Arii (10)
Kazuki Osaki cemented his No.1 ranking with a majority decision victory over Kazane Nagai in their five-round title fight at RISE World Series 2022. Tsubasa Kaneko scored the biggest win of his career and a massive upset when he earned a technical decision victory when Japanese kickboxing prodigy Ryu Hanaoka was unable to continue during his RISE World Series 2022 bout. Former ranked Rajadamnern stadium competitor Auto Muangpaphum earned a hard-fought majority decision victory over formerly fourth-ranked Koudai Hirayama at Hoost Cup Kings Kyoto 10. DEEP Kick and Shooto champion Ryoga Terayama extended his six-fight winning streak with a victory over Kyosuke at RISE 162. However, he leaves the strawweight rankings due to back-to-back contests at 55-kilograms. Shoa Arii was successful in his second straight bout at 55-kilograms, which sees him exit the rankings at strawweight due to competing in a higher weight division. He defeated Hyuga Umemoto to bring his winning streak to four.
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
- Marat Grigorian (2)
- Chingiz Allazov (3)
- Kazuki Osaki (5)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (6)
- Artem Vakhitov (4)
- Wei Rui (7)
- Rico Verhoeven (8)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (9)
- Taito Gunji (10)
Kazuki Osaki and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong moved up one spot in the ranking, passing Artem Vakhitov, who has been inactive since parting ways with GLORY. Rico Verhoeven and Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao remain at eight and nine respectivelly following their victories this past month.
- 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)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (-)
- Sarah Moussadak (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Janet Todd (9)
Tiffany van Soest earned a controversial split decision victory over Sarah Moussadak at GLORY Collision 4. Despite the nature of the contentious decision, van Soest remains ranked at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings. Koyuki Miyazaki makes her rankings debut following an unanimous decision victory over Petlookaon Sarigym at RISE World Series 2022.
Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last 18 months. Any fighter that chooses to switch weight classes will be ranked in their previous weight class until they have competed twice in their new division.