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 ONE 165 on Jan. 28, fifth-ranked Rade Opačić picked up a unanimous decision win over No. 8 Iraj Azizpour. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Artem Vakhitov (1)
- Donegi Abena (2)
- Sergej Maslobojev (3)
- Ștefan Lătescu (4)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (5)
- Felipe Micheletti (6)
- Thian de Vries (7)
- Jimmy Livinus (8)
- Lukas Achterberg (9)
- Nikita Kozlov (10)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Islam Murtazaev (2)
- Sergey Ponomarev (3)
- César Almeida (4)
- Khalid El Bakouri (5)
- Michael Boapeah (6)
- Ulric Bokeme (7)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (8)
- Sergej Braun (9)
- Mohamed Touchassie (10)
No top-10 ranked 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)
- Chico Kwasi (6)
- Jay Overmeer (7)
- Jamie Bates (8)
- Bogdan Shumarov (9)
- “Hamicha” Mohamed Mezouari (10)
No top-10 ranked 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)
- Stoyan Koprivlenski (10)
Third-ranked Marat Grigorian took on the legend in fourth-ranked Sitthichai at ONE 165 on Jan. 28. In the third round, Grigorian scored a knockout with a kick and punch to the body. Both men hold their spots in the rankings.
- Jia Aoqi (2)
- David Mejia (1)
- Rukiya Anpo (3)
- Ayinta Ali (4)
- Riki Matsuoka (5)
- Han Wenbao (6)
- Petru Morari (7)
- Ryota Nakano (8)
- Jomthong Strikegym (9)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (10)
On Jan. 27, the Wu Lin Feng 2024: 12th Global Kung Fu Festival offered up a rematch seven months in the making as top-ranked David Mejia took on No. 2 Jia Aoqi. After three rounds the judges unanimously scored the bout for Aoqi, as he captured the vacant Wu Lin Feng -67kg title. The two swap spots in the rankings.
Also in action that night was No. 10 Zhou Jiaqiang, who picked up a unanimous decision win of his own over Kirill Khomutov to keep his spot.
- Chadd Collins (1)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (2)
- Hiroki Akimoto (3)
- Tetsuya Yamato (4)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (6)
- Chihiro Suzuki (7)
- Kiamran Nabati (8)
- Taiju Shiratori (9)
- Daizo Sasaki (10)
No top-10 ranked 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 (7)
- Yuzuki Satomi (8)
- Kan Nakamura (9)
- Hideki Sasaki (9)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (-)
- Takeru Segawa (1)
- Rémi Parra (2)
- Leona Pettas (3)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (4)
- Taiga Kawabe (6)
- Chan Hyung Lee (5)
- Hyuma Hitachi (7)
- Yuki Kasahara (8)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Naoki Takahashi (10)
At ONE 165, top-ranked Takeru Segawa made is highly anticipated ONE Championship debut, as he challenged Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the flyweight kickboxing title. After five rounds of outclassing his opponent, Superlek picked up the unanimous decision to defend his title for the second time, since winning it in Jan. 2023. This brings his overall winning streak to 11. He enters the rankings in the No. 1 spot.
The night before ONE 165, two ranked fighters were in action. Second-ranked Rémi Parra won a split decision over Bryan Lang at Emperor Chok Dee 2024 to retain the WAKO Pro K-1 World super lightweight (-62.2kg) title. At Wu Lin Feng 2024: 12th Global Kung Fu Festival, No. 4 Hirotaka Asahisa defeated Wei Weiyang by unanimous decision.
Earlier in the month, at RISE 175, No. 5 Chan Hyung Lee attempted the third title defense of his RISE super bantamweight title, which he had held for over five years, when he took on No. 6 Taiga Kawabe. However, after five rounds, the judges awarded the decision to Taiga, and there was a changing of the guard. The two swap spots in the rankings, but, as a result of Superlek entering at No. 1, everyone shifts down, and Naoki Takahashi falls out of the rankings.
- Taito Gunji (1)
- Kaito Sakaguchi (2)
- Haruto Yasumoto (3)
- Shoki Kaneda (4)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (5)
- Wang Junguang (6)
- Keisuke Monguchi (7)
- Ryusei Kumagai (8)
- Tatsuki Shinotsuka (9)
- Kotaro Yamada (10)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Koki Osaki (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Masashi Kumura (4)
- Masahiko Suzuki (5)
- Kompetch Fairtex (6)
- Jonathan Di Bella (7)
- Rui Ebata (8)
- Akram Hamidi (-)
- Yugo Kato (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Junki Sasaki (9), Mutsuki Ebata (10)
The only ranked flyweight in action was Kompetch at ONE Friday Fights 47 on Jan. 12, as he took on Daren Rolland in a Muay Thai bout. While it does not affect kickboxing rankings, Kompetch won a TKO by three knockdowns in the third round.
Due to inactivity, No. 9 Junki Sasaki and No. 10 Mutsuki Ebata were removed from the rankings. Entering at No. 9 is Akram Hamidi, who went 4-1 in 2023. His most recent win was a first-round knockout of Amornchai in Nov. 2023 for the vacant WKN K-1 World flyweight -54.9 kg title. In the tenth spot lands Yugo Kato, who went 3-1 in 2023. His last fight resulted in a majority decision win over Shoa Arii at RISE 174 in Dec. 2023.
- Toki Tamaru (1)
- Kazuki Osaki (2)
- Kumandoi Petchyindee (3)
- Jin Mandokoro (4)
- Ryu Hanaoka (5)
- Kazane Nagai (6)
- Toma Kuroda (7)
- Issei Ishii (8)
- Koji Ikeda (9)
- Kazuki Miburo (10)
At TOP BRIGHTS 1 on Jan. 21, No. 8 Issei Ishii took out Nampetch Chor.Champion with first-round spinning back kick to get back in the win column after back-to-back losses. Also in action was Kumandoi in a Muay Thai bout as the Rajadamnern World Series on Jan. 20. He picked up the he vacant Rajadamnern Stadium bantamweight (118 lbs.) title with a unanimous decision victory over Pangtor Por.Lakboon. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (9)
- Artem Vakhitov (4)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Rico Verhoeven (6)
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (-)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (-)
With Marat Grigorian taking out Sitthichai at ONE 165, No. 8 Grigorian moves up to the third spot in the pound-for-pound rankings, and, with three losses in his last five fights, Sitthichai drops out of the rankings. This shift makes room for Superlek Kiatmoo9, who beat Takeru that same night, and he enters at No. 7.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Phetjeeja Or.Meekun (2)
- Jorina Baars (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Miyuu Sugawara (5)
- Li Mingrui (6)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (7)
- Martine Michieletto (8)
- Antonia Prifti (-)
- Arina Kobayashi (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Kana Morimoto (9), Kira Matsutani (10)
While no female pound-for-pound ranked fighters were in action during the month, there was some movement in the rankings. First, after losing a unanimous decision to Antonia Prifti at K-1 ReBIRTH 2 in Dec. 2023 for the K-1 women’s flyweight title No. 9 Kana Moritmoto is replaced by Prifti in the rankings. And, No. 10 Kira Matsutani loses her spot to Arina Kobayashi. Kobayashi, the winner of the Combat Press 2023 Kickboxing Award for Female Fighter of the Year, is currently 9-1 in her last 20 fights. She is riding a six-fight winning streak. Her last two fights both ended in second-round knockouts, as she took out Erika Gibo for the RISE mini flyweight title at RISE 173 in December, followed by a body-punch TKO of Wang Chin Long at RISE 175 on Jan. 14.
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.