Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: March 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. Donegi Abena (4)
4. Sergej Maslobojev (3)
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)

Sergej Maslobojev and Donegi Abena faced off for the GLORY light heavyweight title at GLORY 83 on Feb. 11. After three and a half close rounds, a cut on the shin of the champ led to a doctor stoppage, handing the belt to Abena. Therefore, they flip positions in the rankings. Elsewhere, divisional king Artem Vakhitov scored a win in a Muay Thai bout in February, and Nikita Koslov picked up a kickboxing win to retain his No. 6 spot.

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

Dropped from the rankings: Mohammed Ghaedibardeh (10)

February saw some top-of-the-division shake-ups in the middleweight division as well. First, No. 1 Donovan Wisse dominated No. 3 César Almeida at GLORY 83. It was a non-title fight due to Almeida missing weight. In a huge development, Islam Murtazaev took a five-round unanimous decision over Sergey Ponomarev at REN TV Fight Club to capture the Russian Kickboxing Federation K-1 -86 kg title. Murtazaev enters the rankings at No.2, shifting everyone below him down a notch. Sergej Braun was upset by Serkan Ozcaglayan at GLORY 83, which puts the Turkish fighter into title contention. Mohammed Ghaedibardeh loses his No. 10 spot.

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 claimed the Fair Fight -77kg title at RCC Fair Fight 20 with a win over Maxim Sulgin. He holds on to his No. 6 spot in the rankings.

1. Chingiz Allazov (3)
2. Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
3. Marat Grigorian
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 (10)

On Feb. 11, Tayfun Özcan cruised to a second-round TKO victory over Ali Baniasad at Enfusion 119. Kaito Ono also picked up a TKO win against Tsukuru Midorikawa at NO KICK NO LIFE in Tokyo on that same evening. Both men hold their respective positions.

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. Kona Kato (10)
10. Han Wenbao (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Meng Gaofeng (9)

Meng Gaofeng competed in the -67 kg tournament at Wu Lin Feng 2023: Chinese New Year on Feb. 4. After winning his quarterfinal match, he lost in the semifinals to Zhou Jiaqiang. However, Zhou Jiaqiang lost a TKO by corner stoppage in the final bout to Han Wenbao. Wenbao enters the rankings at No. 10, and Kona Kato moves up to No. 9 after his victory over Koki at Krush 146.

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

Wei Rui picked up a win over Adran Maxim at Wu Lin Feng 2023: Chinese New Year to hold onto his No. 5 position.

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 (10)

Zhu Shuai picked up a win over Maksim Petkevich at Wu Lin Feng 2023: Chinese New Year to hold onto his No. 5 spot.

1. Leona Pettas (1)
2. Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
3. Ilias Ennahachi (3)
4. Chan Hyung Lee (-)
5. Hyuma Hitachi (4)
6. Yuta Murakoshi (5)
7. Yuki Kasahara (6)
8. Chihiro Nakajima (7)
9. Tomoya Yokoyama (8)
10. Huang Shuailu (9)

At ONE Friday Fights 6 on Feb. 24, Ilias Ennahachi completely flatlined Aliasghar Ghodratisaraskan with a left hook in the second round. Two weeks prior, Yuki Kasahara took a decision win over TAaaaCHAN at SHOOT BOXING 2023 act.1, and on Feb. 25, Tomoya Yokoyama dominated Petchsamui Shimura for three rounds at Krush 146.

Editor’s note: Due to Chan Hyung Lee’s victory over Hyuma Hitachi at RISE 164 in Jan. 2023, he has been added in as the No. 3 bantamweight, but will remain ranked at super bantamweight for the month as well. This will cause a downshift in the bantamweight fighters below him, dropping Tatsuya Oiwa from the rankings.

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

Dropped from the rankings: Taisei Umei (9)

At RISE 165 on Feb. 23, Taisei Umei suffered his second loss in a row, when he gave up a majority decision to Kaito Sakaguchi. Umei drops from the rankings, allowing Sakaguchi to enter at No. 10.

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

At RISE 165, Koki Osaki fought to a technical majority decision over Ryoga Terayama to hold onto his No. 6 position.

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

On Feb. 11, in a NO KICK NO LIFE bantamweight tournament quarterfinal match Ryu Hanaoka beat Sanchai TeppenGym by split decision. He will face Koki Yamada in the semifinals in May.

1. Chingiz Allazov (1)
2. Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
3. Marat Grigorian (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 (7)
8. Koyuki Miyazaki (8)
9. Sarah Moussadak (9)
10. Martine Michieletto (10)

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

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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.