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 (2)
- Antonio Plazibat (3)
- Roman Kryklia (4)
- Rade Opačić (5)
- Guto Inocente (6)
- Levi Rigters (7)
- Iraj Azizpour (8)
- Sofian Laidouni (9)
- Françesko Xhaja (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Donegi Abena (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Nikita Kozlov (4)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (5)
- Felipe Micheletti (6)
- Lukas Achterberg (7)
- Ștefan Lătescu (8)
- Pascal Touré (9)
- Tarik Khababez (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Islam Murtazaev (2)
- Sergey Ponomarev (3)
- César Almeida (4)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (5)
- Khalid El Bakouri (6)
- Michael Boapeah (8)
- Sergej Braun (7)
- Ulric Bokeme (9)
- Eduard Aleksanyan (10)
At GLORY 87, No. 7 Sergej Braun took on No. 8 Michael Boapeah. After three rounds, Boapeah picked up the unanimous decision, setting up a future title clash with GLORY middleweight champion Donovan Wisse. Braun and Boapeah swap spots in the rankings.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Endy Semeleer (2)
- Alim Nabiev (3)
- Dmitry Menshikov (4)
- Mohamed Touchassie (5)
- Jay Overmeer (6)
- Chico Kwasi (7)
- Jamie Bates (8)
- Bogdan Shumarov (9)
- Constantin Rusu (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tyjani Beztati (5)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
- Tayfun Özcan (7)
- Jamal Yusupov (8)
- Kaito Ono (9)
- Mohammed Siasarani (10)
The 71 kg division saw two title fights in August. At ONE Fight Night 13, No. 1 Chingiz Allazov defended his ONE kickboxing title when he scored a clear decision victory over No. 3 Marat Grigorian. Two weeks later, at GLORY 87, Tyjani Beztati defended his GLORY lightweight title with a decision win over No. 9 Kaito Ono.
Also in action was No. 10 Mohammad Siasarani, who lost a Muay Thai battle to Kongthailand Kiatnavy at Rebellion Muaythai XXIX in Melbourne, Australia, but that does not affect the kickboxing rankings. All of the fighters maintain their respective positions.
- David Mejia (1)
- Jia Aoqi (2)
- Rukiya Anpo (3)
- Ryota Nakano (4)
- Jpmthong Strikegym (5)
- Ayinta Ali (6)
- Han Wenbao (7)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (8)
- Meng Gaofeng (9)
- Wang Pengfei (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hiroki Akimoto (3)
- Tetsuya Yamato (4)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (6)
- Chihiro Suzuki (7)
- Kiamran Nabati (8)
- Taiju Shiratori (9)
- Daizo Sasaki (10)
- Ahmad Chikh Mousa (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Petchtanong Petchfergus (2)
While no featherweights were in action in August, it was announced at the end of July that No. 2 Petchtanong Petchfergus tested positive for two anabolic steroids in an out-of-competition test in June. ONE Championship suspended him for one year, so he has been removed from the rankings. With the No. 3 through No. 10 spots all moving up one spot, Ahmad Chikh Mousa enters the rankings at No. 10.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
- Zhu Shuai (3)
- Taio Asahisa (4)
- Jin Ying (5)
- Chadd Collins (6)
- Yuzuki Satomi (7)
- Fumiya Osawa (8)
- Kan Nakamura (10)
- Hideki Sasaki (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Chan Hyung Lee (9)
Australia’s Chadd Collins, the No. 6 super bantamweight, extended his overall winning streak to eight when he scored a first-round, head-kick knockout over Cho Kyeong Jae at RISE World Series 2023 – 2nd Round in Tokyo on Aug. 26. This was a stacked card with many implications on the lower weight rankings. On the flipside, No. 9 Chan Hyung Lee was not as lucky at the same event, snapping a four-fight winning streak. He lost to Hideki Sasaki by unanimous decision and has been dropped from the super bantamweight rankings.
No. 10 Kan Nakamura, who was also on the same card, had his fight ended with a no contest, as he was rendered unable to continue after a groin shot. Nakamura moves up to No. 9, making way for Sasaki to enter the rankings at No. 10.
- Takeru Segawa (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Chan Hyung Lee (4)
- Taiga Kawabe (-)
- Hyuma Hitachi (5)
- Yuki Kasahara (7)
- Chihiro Nakajima (8)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
- Huang Shuailu (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Yuta Murakoshi (6)
At RISE World Series 2023 – 2nd Round, previously unranked Taiga Kawabe scored a big win when he beat No. 5 Hyuma Hitachi by unanimous decision. Since No. 6 Yuta Murakoshi has not been active since his knockout loss to Hirotaka Asahisa in Apr. 2022, he will be removed for the rankings for now. Kawabe enters the rankings at No. 5, pushing Hitachi down to No. 6.
- Taito Gunji (1)
- Kaito Sakaguchi (-)
- Haruto Yasumoto (2)
- Toma Tanabe (3)
- Shoki Kaneda (4)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (5)
- Wang Junguang (6)
- Keisuke Monguchi (7)
- Ryusei Kumagai (8)
- Riku Morisaka (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Shuhei Kumura (10)
At RISE World Series 2023 – 2nd Round, No. 2 Haruto Yasumoto lost a unanimous decision to unranked Kaito Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi enters at No. 2, pushing down the other ranked fighters, with Shuhei Kumura exiting the rankings on a three-fight losing streak.
- 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)
In the semifinals of the RISE World Series 2023 strawweight tournament, Shiro Matsumoto, who went down a weight class to join the bracket, lost to Kuamndoi Petchyindee by unanimous decision. This will not affect his No. 1 spot at flyweight for now, but, if he continues to compete at the lower division, the rankings will be adjusted accordingly.
Also in action were No. 3 Masahiko Suzuki and No. 6 Koki Osaki, who were successful at RISE 171 and RISE World Series 2023 – 2nd Round, respectively. Suzuki scored a second-round knockout, and Osaki won a unanimous decision. With that, the flyweight rankings remain unchanged.
- Toki Tamaru (2)
- Kazuki Osaki (1)
- Kumandoi Petchyindee (-)
- Ryu Hanaoka (3)
- Jin Mandokoro (4)
- Kazane Nagai (5)
- Toma Kuroda (6)
- Issei Ishii (7)
- Koji Ikeda (8)
- Kazuki Miburo (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Ryuki Matsuda (10)
Strawweight was, for the second month in a row, one of the the busier divisions for the month with a stacked card, featuring the semifinals of the RISE World Series 2023 -54kg tournament. At the top of the division, No. 1 Kazuki Osaki lost a close majority decision to Toki Tamaru, and the two swapped positions in the rankings. In the other semifinal, Kumandoi Petchyindee bested Shiro Matsumoto to move onto the finals. With that, he moves into the No. 3 spot in the rankings.
Also at RISE World Series 2023, No. 3 Ryu Hanaoka defeated Nicolas Rivas by unanimous decision, and No. 4 Jin Mandokoro scored a TKO victory by three knockdowns over Ruben Seonae. While both were successful, they are bumped down a spot by the entrance of Kumandoi.
Lastly, at Krush 152, No. 9 strawweight Kazuki Miburo knocked out Park Hyungwoo with a body punch. However, due to the addition of Kumandoi, he drops to No. 10 and Ryuki Matsuda falls out of the rankings.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (5)
- Artem Vakhitov (6)
- Wei Rui (7)
- Rico Verhoeven (8)
- Toki Tamaru (-)
- Kazuki Osaki (4)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Taito Gunji (10)
After pound-for-pound unranked Toki Tamaru picked up a win over No. 4 Kazuki Osaki, and No. 3 Marat Grigorian lost to Chingiz Allazov, there were some shifts in the pound-for-pound rankings. Tamaru enters at No. 7, Osaki drops to No. 8 and Grigorian falls to No. 9. Petchpanomrung moves to No. 10, and Taito Gunji falls out of the pound-for-pound rankings.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Kana Morimoto (2)
- Jorina Baars (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Miyuu Sugawara (5)
- Li Mingrui (6)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (7)
- Sarah Moussadak (8)
- Martine Michieletto (9)
- Kira Matsutani (10)
The only pound-for-pound ranked woman who fought in August was Koyuki Miyazaki. She picked up a knockout win with a body punch over Jumliat SuratThaniRajanhat at RISE World Series 2023 – 2nd Round. The rankings remain unchanged.
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.