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)
At GLORY 88 on Sep. 9, No. 8 Ștefan Lătescu locked horns with No. 9 Pascal Touré. After three rounds, Lătescu picked up the unanimous decision, so the rankings remain unchanged. The Romanian victor will next face No. 5 Ibrahim El Bouni at GLORY: Collision 6 in November.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Islam Murtazaev (2)
- Sergey Ponomarev (3)
- César Almeida (4)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (5)
- Khalid El Bakouri (6)
- Michael Boapeah (7)
- Sergej Braun (8)
- Ulric Bokeme (9)
- Eduard Aleksanyan (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
While no welterweights were in action in September under the kickboxing ruleset, Dmitry Menshikov took on Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong at ONE Fight Night 14 in a Muay Thai bout. At the 2:41 mark of the first round, Menshikov scored a third knockdown for the TKO victory. This does not affect the kickboxing 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 (8)
- Kaito Ono (9)
- Mohammad Siasarani (10)
At RCC Intro 28 on Sep. 23 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, No. 8 Jamal Yusupov picked up his second win in a row, when he picked up a unanimous decision over Saifullah Khambakadov. This win keeps his spot in the rankings.
In Muay Thai action, which does not affect kickboxing rankings, No. 4 Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong took on No. 10 Mohammad Siasarani at ONE Friday Fights 32. After three rounds, Siasarani scored a unanimous decision win, which is arguably the biggest win of his career.
- 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)
At RIZIN 44 on Sep. 24, No. 3 Rukiya Anpo earned a decision win over Sho Patrick Usami to keep his spot in the rankings.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (1)
- Hiroki Akimoto (2)
- Tetsuya Yamato (3)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Kento Haraguchi (5)
- Chihiro Suzuki (6)
- Kiamran Nabati (7)
- Taiju Shiratori (8)
- Daizo Sasaki (9)
- Ahmad Chikh Mousa (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
- Zhu Shuai (3)
- Taio Asahisa (4)
- Jin Ying (5)
- Chadd Collins (6)
- Kento Ito (-)
- Yuzuki Satomi (7)
- Fumiya Osawa (8)
- Kan Nakamura (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Hideki Sasaki (10)
The bottom of the super bantamweight rankings saw a shift after No. 7 Yuzuki Satomi suffered a second-round knockout due to a right cross from Kento Ito at K-1 World GP 2023: ReBOOT～K-1 ReBIRTH～. As he extended his current winning streak to four, Ito enters the ranking at No. 7, pushing everyone below him down. This causes No. 10 Hideki Sasaki to fall out of the top 10.
- Takeru Segawa (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Chan Hyung Lee (4)
- Taiga Kawabe (5)
- Hyuma Hitachi (6)
- Yuki Kasahara (7)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
- Naoki Takahashi (-)
- Chihiro Nakajima (8)
Dropped from the rankings: Huang Shuailu (10)
To kick of off the month for the bantamweights, No. 9 Tomoya Yokoyama scored a unanimous decision win over Yuki Egawa at K-1 World GP 2023: ReBOOT～K-1 ReBIRTH～ on Sep. 10. Two weeks later, No. 7 Yuki Kasahara earned a first-round knockout victory with a body punch he landed on Singdam SunriseGym at SHOOT BOXING 2023 act.4. The following week, an upset occurred when No. 8 Chihiro Nakajima lost a majority decision in a 60kg title fight against unranked Naoki Takahashi at Krush 153.
With the loss, Nakajima drops to No. 10, and Takahashi enters at No. 9. Yokoyama moves up to No. 8, Kasahara stays at No. 7, and Huang Shuailu falls out of the top 10.
- Taito Gunji (1)
- Kaito Sakaguchi (2)
- Haruto Yasumoto (3)
- Toma Tanabe (4)
- Shoki Kaneda (5)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (6)
- Wang Junguang (7)
- Keisuke Monguchi (8)
- Ryusei Kumagai (9)
- Riku Morisaka (10)
Super flyweight king Taito Gunji extended his winning streak to 12 at K-1 World GP 2023: ReBOOT～K-1 ReBIRTH～ when he scored a majority decision win over Angelos Martinos. Then, on Sep. 28 at Glory of Heroes 48, No. 7 Wang Junguang, whose last loss was to Gunji last December, strung together a second win in a row when he picked up a unanimous decision over Vitali Ramanouski. Both men keep their spots in the rankings.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Masahiko Suzuki (3)
- Akihiro Kaneko (4)
- Masashi Kumura (2)
- Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer (5)
- Koki Osaki (6)
- Rui Ebata (7)
- Junki Sasaki (8)
- Mutsuki Ebata (9)
- Jonathan Di Bella (10)
September saw a shake-up at the top of the flyweight rankings when No. 2 Masashi Kumura had a trilogy bout with No. 4 Akihiro Kaneko at K-1 World GP 2023: ReBOOT～K-1 ReBIRTH～. After each man had won one of their first two meetings by majority decision, Kaneko emerged victorious by unanimous decision after an extra round. With No. 3 Masahiko Suzuki beating Kaneko at THE MATCH 2022 last year, and not losing since, he now moves into the No. 2 spot, as Kumura drops to No. 4, and Kaneko moves up one to No. 3.
No. 5 Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer was also in action at ONE Friday Fights 32, when he won a unanimous decision over Kongchai Chanaidonmuang in a Muay Thai bout. This win does not affect the rankings.
- Toki Tamaru (1)
- Kazuki Osaki (2)
- Kumandoi Petchyindee (3)
- Ryu Hanaoka (4)
- Jin Mandokoro (5)
- Kazane Nagai (6)
- Toma Kuroda (7)
- Issei Ishii (8)
- Koji Ikeda (9)
- Kazuki Miburo (10)
On Sep. 10 at K-1 World GP 2023: ReBOOT～K-1 ReBIRTH～, No. 9 Koji Ikeda scored a second-round knockout win with a knee to the body of Shinta. He keeps his spot in the rankings. The day before, No. 8 Issei Ishii knocked out JJ Or.Pimonsri with a right cross at RWS Muay Thai. This win does not affect the rankings, as it was a Muay Thai bout.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (3)
- Artem Vakhitov (4)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Rico Verhoeven (6)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)
- Marat Grigorian (9)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (10)
No top-10 fighters were in kickboxing action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Kana Morimoto (2)
- Jorina Baars (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Miyuu Sugawara (5)
- Li Mingrui (6)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (7)
- Martine Michieletto (9)
- Sarah Moussaddak (8)
- Kira Matsutani (10)
September saw the end of an era in women’s kickboxing when No. 1 Tiffany von Soest knocked out No. 8 Sarah Moussaddak with a head kick in the pair’s rematch at GLORY 88 to retain her GLORY super bantamweight title. As previously announced, this served as van Soest’s final fight of her career, as she retired after the bout. Although she retired, she maintains her position as the top pound-for-pound woman kickboxer, and she remains eligible for rankings for 18 months. Moussaddak swaps spots in the rankings with No. 9 Martine Michieletto
Also in action was No. 5 Miyuu Sugawara who beat Maria Nella at K-1 World GP 2023: ReBOOT～K-1 ReBIRTH～ by unanimous decision. She keeps her spot in the 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.