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)
At GLORY: COLLISION 6 on Nov. 4, divisional king Rico Verhoeven unified the GLORY heavyweight title when he dominated interim champ Kevin Tariq “Cookie” Osaro over five rounds. This was Verhoeven’s eleventh title defense in over nine years to once again prove he is the best heavyweight kickboxer in the world.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Donegi Abena (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Ștefan Lătescu (7)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (4)
- Felipe Micheletti (5)
- Thian de Vries (8)
- Jimmy Livinus (-)
- Lukas Achterberg (6)
- Nikita Kozlov (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Pascal Touré (10)
November proved to be a busy month for kickboxing’s light heavyweights. First, on less than one week’s notice Mohamed Touchassie stepped up to 209 pounds to face GLORY Kickboxing champ Donegi Abena at GLORY: COLLISION 6 on Nov. 4. Abena defended his title for the first time after a five-round unanimous decision, and he retains his No. 2 spot in the rankings. Earlier that evening, No. 7 Stefan Latescu extended his winning streak to 10, when he knocked down No. 4 Ibrahim El Bouni three times in the first minute of Round 2 to earn a TKO victory. Latescu jumps to No. 4, bumping those below him down.
In the biggest upset of the light heavyweight division, after going undefeated over 15 kickboxing bouts, No. 6 Lukas Achterberg suffered his first professional loss by third-round knockout to Jimmy Livinus at Senshi 19 on Nov. 25. That same evening, No. 8 Thian de Vries extended his pro record to 18-0 when he scored a first-round, flying-knee knockout of Daniel Vítovec at 8TKO #6 to win the inaugural Enfusion cruiserweight title. De Vries moves up to No. 7, Achterberg falls to No. 9, and Livinus enters the rankings at No. 8. This pushes those below him down, knocking Pascal Touré out of the rankings.
Also in action in November was No. 3 Sergej Maslobojev, who defeated Rhys Brundenell by first-round knockout at KOK 117 Mega Series.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Islam Murtazaev (2)
- Sergey Ponomarev (3)
- César Almeida (4)
- Khalid El Bakouri (6)
- Michael Boapeah (7)
- Ulric Bokeme (9)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (5)
- Sergej Braun (8)
- Mohamed Touchassie (10)
Five of the top 10 middleweights fought on the GLORY: COLLISION 6 card on Nov. 4. As mentioned above, No. 10 Mohamed Touchassie moved up to light heavyweight to face Dongei Abena for the title on short notice. He lost via unanimous decision, but this does not affect the middleweight rankings. However, he went the distance with the champ in a heavier weight class, which was an impressive accomplishment. He will be back in action at GLORY 90 in December.
Earlier in the GLORY card, No. 5 Serkan Özçağlayan lost a unanimous decision to No. 9 Ulric Bokeme. And, in the first of three title fights to headline the event, middleweight king Donovan Wisse defended his title for a fourth time when he picked up a decision over No. 7 Michael Boapeah. While Wisse holds the top spot, the bottom half of the division sees a shake-up. No. 6 Khalid El Bakouri, Boapeah, and Bokeme move up to the fifth, sixth and seventh spots, respectively. With Özçağlayan moving down to No. 8, Sergej Braun drops to No. 9.
Also in a action was No. 2 Islam Murtazaev, who defeated Sina Kazemi by first-round knockout with a spinning backfist at REN TV Fight Club to capture the vacant WKU K-1 World -86 kg title. He holds second place in the rankings.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Endy Semeleer (2)
- Alim Nabiev (3)
- Dmitry Menshikov (4)
- Mohamed Touchassie (5)
- Chico Kwasi (7)
- Jay Overmeer (6)
- Jamie Bates (8)
- Bogdan Shumarov (9)
- Constantin Rusu (10)
Two ranked welterweights battled at GLORY: COLLISION 6, as No. 7 Chico Kwasi took on No. 6 Jay Overmeer. After three rounds, Kwasi edged out Overmeer on the scorecards for a split decision victory. The two swap spots in the 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)
- Stoyan Koprivlenski (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Mohammad Siasarani (10)
Only two ranked lightweights fought in November. First, ninth-ranked Kaito Ono scored a first-round knockout with his knee over Massaro Glunder at SHOOT BOXING 2023 Series Final on Nov. 14. Four nights later, No. 10 Mohammad Siasarani suffered a unanimous decision loss to Youssef Challouki at La Nuit des Champions 30 for the organization’s -71kg title. He drops from the rankings and is replaced by Stoyan Koprivlenski, who bounced back with a win at GLORY 89 in October, after back-to-back losses to top-10 lightweights Tyjani Beztati and Kaito Ono.
- David Mejia (1)
- Jia Aoqi (2)
- Rukiya Anpo (3)
- Ryota Nakano (4)
- Jomthong Strikegym (5)
- Ayinta Ali (6)
- Han Wenbao (7)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (8)
- Meng Gaofeng (9)
- Wang Pengfei (10)
The only super featherweight in action in November was No. 9 Meng Gaofeng, who defended his Wu Lin Feng -65 kg title at the Wu Lin Feng 1000th Broadcast Celebrationon Nov. 25 with a unanimous decision win over Serhiy Adamchuk. He keeps his spot in the rankings.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (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)
- Abraham Vidales (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Ahmad Chikh Mousa (10)
At GLORY: COLLISION 6, unranked Mexican striker Abraham Vidales used his punches to score a TKO victory over tenth-ranked Ahmad Chikh Mousa in just 73 seconds. Vidales replaces his opponent in the rankings.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
- Zhu Shuai (3)
- Taio Asahisa (4)
- Jin Ying (5)
- Chadd Collins (6)
- Kento Ito (7)
- Yuzuki Satomi (8)
- Fumiya Osawa (9)
- Kan Nakamura (10)
At the Wu Lin Feng 1000th Broadcast Celebration on Nov. 25, No. 3 Zhu Shuai and No. 5 Jin Ying both won their bouts over Matthew Daalman and Hirotaka Asahisa, respectively, by unanimous decision to keep their spots in the rankings.
- Takeru Segawa (1)
- Leona Pettas (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Chan Hyung Lee (4)
- Taiga Kawabe (5)
- Hyuma Hitachi (6)
- Yuki Kasahara (7)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (8)
- Naoki Takahashi (9)
- Chihiro Nakajima (10)
At SHOOT BOXING 2023 Series Final on Nov. 14, No. 7 bantamweight Yuki Kasahara defeated Sunay Miftar with a third-round TKO to extend his winning streak to five. Also in action was No. 3 Hirotaka Asahisa, who moved up to 62 kg to face Jin Ying at Wu Lin Feng 1000th Broadcast Anniversary. While he lost by unanimous decision, this does not affect his bantamweight ranking.
- 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)
- Tatsuki Shinotsuka (10)
The only super flyweight in action in November was No. 3 Haruto Yasumoto, who faced Taiki Sawatani at RISE 173 on Nov. 18. After a decision win, he keeps his spot in the rankings.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Masahiko Suzuki (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Masashi Kumura (4)
- Kompetch Sitsarawatsuer (5)
- Koki Osaki (6)
- Jonathan Di Bella (7)
- Rui Ebata (8)
- Junki Sasaki (9)
- Mutsuki Ebata (10)
No ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
No. 10 Kazuki Miburo was the only strawweight in action in November. At KRUSH 155, he scored a second-round knockout win over Shinta in the second round to keep his spot in the rankings.
- 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 Kiatmoo9 (10)
Rico Verhoeven was the only pound-for-pound ranked fighter who had a bout in November, when he successfully unified the GLORY heavyweight title against Kevin Tariq Osaro at GLORY: COLLISION 6. 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 (8)
- Sarah Moussaddak (9)
- Kira Matsutani (10)
Two of the top 10 women’s pound-for-pound kickboxers were in action in November, and both were for titles on Nov. 25. First, at KRUSH 155, tenth-ranked Kira Matsutani won a unanimous decision over Nana Okuwaki to pick up the for vacant KRUSH women’s atomweight championship. Later that evening, at Enfusion 130, third-ranked Jorina Baars won a unanimous decision over Lea Zufle to defend her Enfusion featherweight title. The rankings remain unchange
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.