Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: December 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. Jamal Ben Saddik (4)
5. Benjamin Adegbuyi (5)
6. Guto Inocente (6)
7. Rade Opačić (7)
8. Levi Rigters (8)
9. Cihad Kepenek (9)
10. Iraj Azizpour (10)

Second-ranked heavyweight Antonio Plazibat extended his winning streak to four, when he scored a first-round knockout over Raul Cătinaș at GLORY 82 on Nov. 19. This win puts him one step closer to a title clash with current GLORY champ Rico Verhoeven. Also on Nov. 19, Roman Kryklia came back from a rough first round against Iraj Azizpour at ONE 163 to pick up a second-round TKO win, further securing his No. 3 spot in the rankings.

1. Artem Vakhitov (1)
2. Luis Tavares (2)
3. Sergej Maslobojev (3)
4. Donegi Abena (4)
5. Nikita Kozlov (6)
6. Stéphane Susperregui (5)
7. Ibrahim El Bouni (9)
8. Felipe Micheletti (7)
9. Danyo Ilunga (8)
10. Lukas Achterberg (10)

Sixth-ranked Nikita Kozlov knocked out Zinedine Hameur-Lain with a second-round flying knee at RCC Fair Fight 19 on Nov. 26 to move up one spot in the rankings. Ibrahim El Bouni kept his winning streak alive when he knocked out Turkey’s Muhammed Balliat only 2:12 of Round 1 in their clash at GLORY Rivals 3. This win was enough to bump El Bouni to No.7, ahead of Felipe Micheletti, who is on a three-fight losing streak, and Danyo Ilunga, who hasn’t fought since Oct. 2021.

1. Donovan Wisse (1)
2. Sergey Ponomarev (2)
3. César Almeida (3)
4. Sher Mamazulunov (4)
5. Khalid El Bakouri (5)
6. Sergej Braun (6)
7. Serkan Ozcaglayan (7)
8. Ulric Bokeme (8)
9. Jonatan Oliveira (9)
10. Mohammed Ghaedibareh (10)

Serkan Ozcaglayan scored a four-knockdown TKO win over Portugal’s Juri De Sousa in the the third round of their battle at GLORY 82. This win keeps him at the No. 7 spot in the middleweight rankings.

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

Dropped from the rankings: Robin Ciric (9)

Second-ranked Alim Nabiev lost a tough split decision to fourth-ranked Endy Semeleer. The win puts Semeleer in the No. 2 spot, and pushes Nabiev and Dmitry Menshikov down one spot each. Elsewhere in the welterweight rankings, Mohamed Touchassie picked up a third-round knockout of Bulgaria’s Dominik Bereczki with a knee to the body at Enfusion 114. He will have a quick turnaround when he faces Abdallah Al Jabareen in December at Enfusion 117. At GLORY Rivals 3, Robin Ciric lost his second fight in a row, when he was dominated by Jay Overmeer. This win puts Overmeer into the rankings at No. 10, and drops Ciric out of the top 10.

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

Mamuka Usubyan kept his five-and-a-half-year unbeaten streak alive with a split-decision win over Aleksei Ulianov at RCC Fair Fight 19. He was the only ranked lightweight to fight in November.

1. Masaaki Noiri (1)
2. Jia Aoqi (2)
3. Wang Pengfei (3)
4. Rukiya Anpo (4)
5. Liu Xiangming (5)
6. Tie Yinghua (6)
7. Ayinta Ali (7)
8. Ryota Nakano (8)
9. Meng Gaofeng (9)
10. Kona Kato (10)

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

1. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
2. Petchtanong Petchfergus (-)
3. Hiroki Akimoto (2)
4. Tetsuya Yamato (3)
5. Wei Rui (4)
6. Daizo Sasaki (5)
7. Kento Haraguchi (6)
8. Hideaki Yamazaki (7)
9. Capitan Petchyindee (8)
10. Kosei Yamada (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Aleksei Ulianov (9)

The featherweight rankings saw a big shake-up in November when Petchtanong Petchfergus picked up a decision win over Hiroki Akimoto at ONE 163. This handed Petchtanong the ONE bantamweight (-66 kg) kickboxing strap, and elevated him up to No. 2 in the rankings. Aleksei Ulianov’s loss to Mamuka Usubyan bumps him out of the top 10. In December, tenth-ranked Kosei Yamada will face divisional king Petchpanomrung at GLORY Rivals 4 in Tokyo.

1. Kongnapa Weerasakreck (1)
2. Yuki Yoza (2)
3. Taio Asahisa (3)
4. Jin Ying (4)
5. Zhu Shuai (5)
6. Koya Urabe (6)
7. Zheng Jungfeng (7)
8. Fumiya Osawa (8)
9. Chan Hyung Lee (9)
10. YA-MAN (10)

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

1. Leona Pettas (1)
2. Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
3. Ilias Ennahachi (3)
4. Hyuma Hitachi (4)
5. Yuta Murakoshi (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, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Taito Gunji (1)
2. Toma Tanabe (2)
3. Tatsuya Tsubakihara (3)
4. Shuhei Kumura (4)
5. Wang Junguang (5)
6. Takahito Niimi (6)
7. Keisuke Monguchi (7)
8. Taisei Umei (8)
9. Ryusei Kumagai (9)
10. Taiki Sawatani (10)

Ryusei Kumagai knocked out Gu Taewon in the second round of their bout at KNOCK OUT 2022 vol. 7 with a high kick to keep his No. 9 spot in the rankings. Several super flyweights are competing in December, so we could see some shake-ups in the rankings.

1. Masahiko Suzuki (1)
2. Akihiro Kaneko (2)
3. Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer (3)
4. Masashi Kumura (4)
5. Shiro Matsumoto (5)
6. Rui Ebata (6)
7. Junki Sasaki (7)
8. Koki Osaki (8)
9. Mutsuki Ebata (9)
10. Jonathan Di Bella (10)

On Nov. 5, Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer picked up a decision win over Comeback TK.Yuttana to keep his third spot in the rankings.

1. Kazuki Osaki (1)
2. Kazane Nagai (2)
3. Tsubasa Kaneko (3)
4. Ryu Hanaoka (4)
5. Jin Mandokoro (5)
6. Toma Kuroda (6)
7. Auto Muangpaphum (7)
8. Koji Ikeda (8)
9. Koudai Hirayama (9)
10. Kazuki Miburo (10)

Auto Muangpaphum picked up a decision over Concom at the Suk Wan Kingthong 2022 Final to keep his No. 7 spot in the rankings.

1. Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
2. Marat Grigorian (2)
3. Chingiz Allazov (3)
4. Kazuki Osaki (4)
5. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (5)
6. Artem Vakhitov (6)
7. Wei Rui (7)
8. Rico Verhoeven (8)
9. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (9)
10. Taito Gunji (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month, 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. Koyuki Miyazaki (9)
10. Sarah Moussadak (10)

Sarel de Jong once again defended her Enfusion bantamweight title at Enfusion 116. She will fight again at Enfusion Dubai in December. Jorina Baars also kept her winning streak alive at Enfusion 116, while Phayahong Ayothaya Gym extended her streak to four with a win over Margaret Wanek at Legends Fighting Championship in Phuket.

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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.