Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: January 2023

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)

There were no fighters in action during the month, 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. Nikita Kozlov (6)
7. Ibrahim El Bouni (7)
8. Felipe Micheletti (8)
9. Danyo Ilunga (9)
10. Lukas Achterberg (10)

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

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)

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

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

Mohamed Touchassie earned a second round knockout win over Abdallah Al Jabareen at Enfusion 117 in Dubai to hold onto his number six spot in the rankings.

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. Kaito Ono (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Stoyan Koprivlenski

Kaito Ono moves into the number ten spot in the rankings, taking the place of Stoyan Koprivlenski whom he bested by majority decision at RISE World Series/GLORY Rivals 4.

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

Kento Haraguchi moves up to sixth after defeating former GLORY champ Serhii Adamchuk by unanimous decision at RISE World Series/GLORY Rivals 4. Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao defeated Kosei Yamada by unanimous decision at RISE World Series/GLORY Rivals 4 so both men keep their places in the rankings.

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. Chadd Collins (-)

Dropped from the rankings: YA-MAN (10)

Chadd Collins enters the rankings by defeating Hiroki Kasahara by unanimous decision at RISE World Series/GLORY Rivals 4. Yuki Yoza stays in the second spot by defeating Aikpikart Mor.Krungthepthonburi by decision at K1 World Grand Prix.

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)

Yuki Kasahara defeated Yusaku Ishizuki by unanimous decision at RISE World Series/ GLORY Rivals 4 and Chihiro Nakajima defeated Narufumi Nishimoto by unanimous decision at Krush 144. Both men keep their spot in the rankings.

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

Dropped from the rankings: Taiki Sawatani (10)

Shoki Kaneda vaults into the rankings at the number three spot after defeating Tatsuya Tsubakihara, who moves down to fourth. Toma Tanabe remains at second after beating Shuhei Kumura, who falls down a spot to fifth. Gunji Taito holds onto his top spot as he defeated Wang Junguang, who drops into the sixth spot. Keisuke Monguchi holds onto the number seven spot with a win over Kotaro Yamada by UD. Takahito Niimi defeated Yuta Kunieda by majority decision but with all the shuffling he falls to the eighth spot. Taiki Sawatani falls out of the rankings after being beaten by Ryoga Hirano.

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

Shiro Matsumoto jumps into the number one spot with his win over Masahiko Suzuki, who subsequently drops into the second slot. Koki Osaki moves up two spots to sixth with a win over Seiki Ueyama. Akihiro Kaneko defeated Kiriluang Chor Hapayak but still falls a spot to third with the division’s shake up. Masahi Kumura stays put in the number nine slot with a victory over Ismail Al Kadhi.

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

Dropped from the rankings: Tsubasa Kaneko (3)

Toma Kuroda defeated Yodsila Chor Hapayak, former Krush champ Kazuki Miburo, and Issei Ishii by decision to win the inaugural K-1 53 kilogram title. That moves him up to the third position in the rankings. Kazuki Miburo moves from tenth to ninth with a win over Samvel Babayan. Issei Isshi enters the rankings this month after defeating Koji Ikeda and Oscar Bohorquez and sits in the sixth position.
Koji Ikeda retains his eighth position with a quarterfinal win over Ambi Nsue Avomo. Outside of the K-1 Grand Prix, Jin Mandokoro defeated Kodai Hirayama and stays in the fifth position. Shuto Sato defeated Tsubasa Kaneko by TKO, dropping Tsubasa Kaneko out of 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. Gunji Taito (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. Phayahong Ayothaya Gym (8)
8. Koyuki Miyazaki (9)
9. Tessa De Kom (-)
10. Sarah Moussadak (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Manazo Kobayashi (7)

Sarel de Jong defeated Laura Pileri by decision to hold onto her fourth spot in the rankings. Tessa De Kom defeated Manazo Kobayashi to jump into the rankings at number nine. Kana Morimoto beat Aurore Dos Santos and stays put at number three overall.

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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.