Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: May 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. Guto Inocente (4)
5. Benjamin Adegbuyi (5)
6. Rade Opačić (6)
7. Levi Rigters (7)
8. Iraj Azizpour (8)
9. Kevin Tariq Osaro (-)
10. Françesko Xhaja (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Nordine Mahieddine (9)

At GLORY 85, 27-year-old Nigerian Kevin Tariq Osaro picked up two victories to win the one-night GLORY heavyweight tournament, which served as an interim title eliminator. His wins over Jahfarr Wilnis and Murat Aygun put him in line to face Antonio Plazibat in June for interim belt. This puts him into the rankings at No. 9, as Nordine Mahieddine fell back out. The Frenchman has only won one of his last four fights, and that victory was back in Sep. 2021.

1. Artem Vakhitov (1)
2. Donegi Abena (2)
3. Sergej Maslobojev (3)
4. Nikita Kozlov (4)
5. Felipe Micheletti (5)
6. Ibrahim El Bouni (6)
7. Lukas Achterberg (7)
8. Valery Bizyaev (8)
9. Ștefan Lătescu (9)
10. Pascal Touré (10)

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

1. Donovan Wisse (1)
2. Islam Murtazaev (2)
3. Sergey Ponomarev (3)
4. César Almeida (4)
5. Serkan Özçağlayan (5)
6. Khalid El Bakouri (6)
7. Sergej Braun (7)
8. Michael Boapeah (8)
9. Ulric Bokeme (9)
10. Eduard Aleksanyan (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 Touchassie (5)
6. Jay Overmeer (6)
7. Constantin Rusu (7)
8. Chico Kwasi (8)
9. Jamie Bates (9)
10. Harut Grigorian (10)

At GLORY 85, Endy Semeleer defended his GLORY welterweight tile with a dominant decision victory over Murthel Groenhart. He will once again attempt to defend his title when he faces Jay Overmeer in June at GLORY: Collision 5. Also in June, Regian Eersel will attempt to defend his title against fourth-ranked Dmitry Menshikov at ONE Fight Night 11.

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

The only lightweight who fought in April was Giorgio Petrosyan. He picked up a win over Faith Aydin at PetrosyanMania GOLD EDITION in Milan, Italy. However, many of the top-ten fighters are scheduled to fight in the coming months, including top-ranked Chingiz Allazov, who will attempt to defend his ONE Championship 155-pound title against third-ranked Marat Grigorian in August.

1. Jia Aoqi (1)
2. Rukiya Anpo (2)
3. Ayinta Ali (3)
4. Ryota Nakano (4)
5. Han Wenbao (5)
6. Zhou Jiaqiang (6)
7. Meng Gaofeng (7)
8. Wang Pengfei (8)
9. Kona Kato (9)
10. Riki Matsuoka (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 (6)
7. Chihiro Suzuki (7)
8. Taiju Shiratori (8)
9. Daizo Sasaki (9)
10. Hideaki Yamazaki (10)

In April, Wei Rui extended his unbeaten streak to 20, when he picked up a unanimous decision over Hisaki Higashimoto at Wu Lin Feng 536. The Chinese fighter has not lost in over five years. He keeps his spot at No. 5.

1. Yuki Yoza (1)
2. Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
3. Taio Asahisa (3)
4. Zhu Shuai (4)
5. Jin Ying (5)
6. Chadd Collins (6)
7. Fumiya Osawa (7)
8. Chan Hyung Lee (8)
9. Kan Nakamura (10)
10. Hiroki Kasahara (9)

April saw a slight shift in the rankings, after Kan Nakamura defeated Naoki Tanaka to pick up the RISE lightweight title at RISE 167. While Hiroki Kasahara also picked up a win that month, it was under the shootboxing ruleset. Therefore, Nakamura jumps him in the rankings to the No. 9 spot.

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

The only ranked bantamweight in action during April was Yuki Kasahara, who defeated Pomrob Looksuan at SHOOT BOXING 2023 act.2. However, due to the different ruleset used for shootboxing, that win does not affect the rankings.

1. Taito Gunji (1)
2. Haruto Yasumoto (2)
3. Toma Tanabe (3)
4. Shoki Kaneda (4)
5. Tatsuya Tsubakihara (5)
6. Wang Junguang (6)
7. Keisuke Monguchi (7)
8. Riku Morisaka (8)
9. Shuhei Kumura (9)
10. Ryusei Kumagai (10)

At Wu Lin Feng 536 on Apr. 22, Shoki Kaneda scored a decision win over Liu Zhipeng to keep his No. 4 spot in the rankings.

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

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

1. Kazuki Osaki (1)
2. Toki Tamaru (2)
3. Kazane Nagai (3)
4. Toma Kuroda (4)
5. Ryu Hanaoka (5)
6. Jin Mandokoro (6)
7. Issei Ishii (7)
8. Koji Ikeda (8)
9. Kazuki Miburo (9)
10. Ryuki Matsuda (10)

Kazuki Osaki keeps his top spot in the rankings after defeating Nicolas Rivas at RISE 167 in April. This fight was at -57 kg, so it would not affect the strawweight rankings, but he will stay there for the time being.

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. Taito Gunji (10)

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

1. Tiffany van Soest (1)
2. Kana Morimoto (2)
3. Jorina Baars (3)
4. Sarel de Jong (4)
5. Miyuu Sugawara (5)
6. Li Mingrui (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.