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)
- Kevin Tariq Osaro (8)
- Antonio Plazibat (2)
- Roman Kryklia (3)
- Rade Opačić (5)
- Guto Inocente (4)
- Levi Rigters (6)
- Iraj Azizpour (7)
- Sofian Laidouni (9)
- Françesko Xhaja (10)
The heavyweight division saw a big shake-up in June, as the surging Kevin Tariq Osaro scored a fifth-round knockout of Antonio Plazibat at GLORY: Collision 5 to secure the GLORY heavyweight strap. At ONE Fight Night 11, No. 4 Guto Inocente locked horns with No. 5 Rade Opačić. After three rounds, Opačić picked up the unanimous decision, and the two swap spots in the rankings, but move down a notch.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Donegi Abena (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Nikita Kozlov (4)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (6)
- Felipe Micheletti (5)
- Lukas Achterberg (7)
- Valery Bizyaev (8)
- Ștefan Lătescu (9)
- Pascal Touré (10)
The light heavyweight division saw a shake-up in June, when No. 6 Ibrahim El Bouni defeated No. 5 Felipe Micheletti at GLORY: Collision 5. The fighters exchange positions in the rankings. Also in action was Russia’s Valery Bizyaev, who face fellow countryman Ian Petrovich at RCC Fair Fight XXI on Jun. 10. Bizyaev won the fight by unanimous decision to keep his No. 8 spot in the rankings.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Islam Murtazaev (2)
- Sergey Ponomarev (3)
- César Almeida (4)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (5)
- Khalid El Bakouri (6)
- Sergej Braun (7)
- Michael Boapeah (8)
- Ulric Bokeme (9)
- Eduard Aleksanyan (10)
June saw quite a bit of action for the middleweight division with five of the 10 ranked athletes fighting in the month. Divisional leader Donovan Wisse took on fifth-ranked Serkan Özçağlayan at GLORY: Collision 5 on Jun. 17. Wisse won the fight via unanimous decision. No. 3 middleweight Sergey Ponomarev picked up a first-round TKO over Khasan Acinik at Naiza FC 52. Lastly, also at GLORY: Collision 5, No. 8 Michael Boapeah scored a first-round TKO due to retirement over No. 9 Ulric Bokeme. Despite the action in June, the rankings remain unchanged, but there could be some movement after some middleweights will be facing off in August.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Endy Semeleer (2)
- Alim Nabiev (3)
- Dmitry Menshikov (4)
- Mohamed Touchassie (5)
- Jay Overmeer (6)
- Constantin Rusu (7)
- Chico Kwasi (8)
- Jamie Bates (9)
- Harut Grigorian (10)
At ONE Fight Night 11 on Jun. 10, welterweight king Regian Eersel defended his Muay Thai crown with a first-round knockout of No. 4 Dmitry Menshikov only 46 seconds into their fight. Since this was a Muay Thai bout, this will not affect the rankings. Also in action for June was GLORY Kickboxing welterweight champion Endy Semeleer when he faced Jay Overmeer at GLORY: Collision 5. After five rounds, Semeleer defended his title with a unanimous decision. Semeleer and Overmeer retain their No. 2 and No. 6 respective rankings.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tyjani Beztati (5)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
- Tayfun Özcan (7)
- Jamal Yusupov (-)
- Kaito Ono (9)
- Mohammed Siasarani (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Mamuka Usubyan (8)
Former divisional leader Superbon Singha Mawynn was finally back in the ring after losing his ONE kickboxing title to Chingiz Allazov when he faced Tayfun Özcan at ONE Fight Night 11. In the second round, Superbon scored a knockout with a head kick in Round 2 to solidify his No. 2 spot in the rankings.
No. 9 Kaito Ono was also in action when he beat Samo Petje by unanimous decision at SHOOT BOXING 2023 act.3 on Jun. 25. Although, it should be noted that SHOOT BOXING uses a modified rule set, which includes standing submissions.
Lastly, Mamuka Usubyan attempted to defend his Fair Fight lightweight title against Jamal Yusupov at RCC Fair Fight 21. After three rounds, the two went into overtime, and Yusupov ended up winning the decision, and, therefore, the belt. The loss drops Usubyan from the rankings, making way for Yusupov to enter at No. 8.
- David Mejia (-)
- Jia Aoqi (1)
- Rukiya Anpo (2)
- Ayinta Ali (3)
- Ryota Nakano (4)
- Han Wenbao (5)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (6)
- Meng Gaofeng (7)
- Wang Pengfei (8)
- Kona Kato (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Riki Matsuoka (10)
A big shake-up happened in the super featherweight division in June, after top-ranked Jia Aoqi had his six-fight unbeaten streak snapped by Colombia native David Mejia at Wu Lin Feng 539. The win puts Mejia at the top of the rankings. Also in action was Meng Gaofeng, who moved down a division to challenge Russia’s Kiamran Nabati for his featherweight at RCC Fair Fight 21. While Gaofeng lost the bout, it does not affect his position in the super featherweight rankings. With Mejia entering at No. 1, everyone else shifts down, and Riki Matsuoka falls out of the rankings.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Petchtanong Petchfergus (2)
- Hiroki Akimoto (3)
- Tetsuya Yamato (4)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (6)
- Chihiro Suzuki (7)
- Kiamran Nabati (-)
- Taiju Shiratori (8)
- Daizo Sasaki (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Hideaki Yamazaki (10)
The featherweight rankings were a bit quiet at the top of the funnel in June. However, No. 8 Taiju Shiratori suffered a controversial knockout loss at MTGP Impact in Paris, but the result was later overturned to a no-contest when it was confirmed the knockout happened after the time expired at the end of Round 2. Regardless, it was a Muay Thai bout and does not affect the kickboxing rankings.
No. 9 Daizo Sasaki was also in action at K-1 World GP 2023 in Yokohama, where he dropped a split decision to Pakorn P.K. Saenchai Muaythaigym. With Kiamran Nabati defending his Fair Fight title against Meng Gaofeng, he enters the rankings at No. 8 with Hideaki Yamazaki falling out. Yamazaki has not competed in over a year at this point.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
- Zhu Shuai (4)
- Taio Asahisa (3)
- Jin Ying (5)
- Chadd Collins (6)
- Yuzuki Satomi (-)
- Fumiya Osawa (7)
- Chan Hyung Lee (8)
- Kan Nakamura (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Hiroki Kasahara (10)
In June, divisional super bantamweight king Yuki Yoza won a unanimous decision over Ireland’s Aaron Clarke at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2023 event in Yokohama to keep his top spot. No. 4 Zhu Shuai took out Adrian Maxim at Wu Lin Feng 539 in the third, scoring a TKO with leg kicks. Lastly, Fumiya Osawa lost his title at Krush 150 to Yuzuki Satomi by majority decision.
With Taio Asahisa having not won in a fight in a year, Shuai jumps him in the rankings to No. 3, Osawa falls to No. 8 with Satomi entering at his No. 7 spot, and Hiroki Kasahara falls out of the rankings.
- Leona Pettas (1)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
- Ilias Ennahachi (3)
- Chan Hyung Lee (4)
- Hyuma Hitachi (5)
- Yuta Murakoshi (6)
- Yuki Kasahara (7)
- Chihiro Nakajima (8)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
- Huang Shuailu (10)
Two ranked bantamweights were in action at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2023 event in Yokohama on Jun. 3. Chihiro Nakajima scored a second-round knockout with a body punch over Han Kyungmin, while Tomoya Yokoyama won a unanimous decision over Tatsuya Oiwa. Nakajima and Yokoyama retain their respective spots in the rankings.
- Taito Gunji (1)
- Haruto Yasumoto (2)
- Toma Tanabe (3)
- Shoki Kaneda (4)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (5)
- Wang Junguang (6)
- Keisuke Monguchi (7)
- Ryusei Kumagai (10)
- Riku Morisaka (8)
- Shuhei Kumura (9)
The bottom half of the super flyweight rankings were busy in July. At K-1 World Grand Prix 2023, No. 5 Tatsuya Tsubakihara picked up a unanimous decision over No. 8 Riku Morisaka. At Wu Lin Feng 539, Wang Junguang got back in the win column with a decision win against Georgian Temur Tchezhia to keep his No. 6 spot. Lastly, Ryusei Kumagai defeated Qumuxifu at KNOCK OUT 2023 vol. 2. This puts Kumagai at 15-0 as a professional. He moves up to No. 8, with Morisaka and Shuhei Kumura each moving down a notch.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Masashi Kumura (2)
- Masahiko Suzuki (3)
- Akihiro Kaneko (4)
- Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer (5)
- Koki Osaki (6)
- Rui Ebata (7)
- Junki Sasaki (8)
- Mutsuki Ebata (9)
- Jonathan Di Bella (10)
June saw one ranked flyweight compete at the beginning of the month, and one at the end of the month. Both came out victorious. On Jun. 3, fourth-ranked Akihiro Kaneko picked up a KO of Emre Karaca after three knockdowns in the first round of their bout at K-1 World Grand Prix 2023 in Yokohama. Four weeks later, on Jun. 30, No. 3 flyweight Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer picked up a unanimous decision win over Huo Xiaolong at ONE Friday Fights 23. Both men keep their spots in the rankings.
- Kazuki Osaki (1)
- Toki Tamaru (2)
- Kazane Nagai (3)
- Toma Kuroda (4)
- Ryu Hanaoka (5)
- Jin Mandokoro (6)
- Issei Ishii (7)
- Koji Ikeda (8)
- Kazuki Miburo (9)
- Ryuki Matsuda (10)
The only strawweight in action in June was Toma Kuroda, who won a unanimous decision over Ramadan Ondash at K-1 World Grand Prix in Yokohama. He keeps his fourth spot in the rankings.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Kazuki Osaki (4)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (5)
- Artem Vakhitov (6)
- Wei Rui (7)
- Rico Verhoeven (8)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (9)
- Taito Gunji (10)
Superbon Singha Mawynn was the only pound-for-pound-ranked fighter who competed in June, and his win over Tayfun Özcan keeps him at No. 2.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Kana Morimoto (2)
- Jorina Baars (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Miyuu Sugawara (5)
- Li Mingrui (6)
- Phayahong Ayothaya Gym (7)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (8)
- Sarah Moussadak (9)
- Martine Michieletto (10)
The women’s pound-for-pound rankings saw little action in June. At ONE Fight Night 11, Martine Michieletto was able to pick up a unanimous decision over Amber Kitchen in her promotional debut. However, that was a Muay Thai bout and does not have an affect on the kickboxing rankings.
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.