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)
- Levi Rigters (7)
- Bahram Rajabzadeh (-)
- Kevin Tariq Osaro (2)
- Antonio Plazibat (3)
- Roman Kryklia (4)
- Rade Opačić (5)
- Guto Inocente (6)
- Iraj Azizpour (8)
- Sofian Laidouni (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Françesko Xhaja (10)
It only took one night to make the first big shake-up in the heavyweight kickboxing rankings in a long time, courtesy of the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix. In the quarterfinal round, top-ranked Rico Verhoeven won a unanimous decision over No. 9 Sofian Laidouni, while his last opponent, second-ranked Kevin Tariq “Cookie” Osaro, lost a unanimous decision to Bahram Rajabzadeh, who extended his winning streak to 10. Unranked Nabil Khachab also won a decision over Benjamin Adegbuyi, while No. 7 Levi Rigters knocked out Uku Jürjendal in the second round of their quarterfinal affair. Later in the evening, the semifinal bouts both ended in unanimous decisions with Rigters besting Rajabzadeh, and Verhoeven ending Khachab’s bid. In the final, as expected, Verhoeven was victorious over Rigters, by TKO due to knockdowns, to keep his spot at the top of the world’s best heavyweights.
Rigters jumps to No. 2 in the rankings, Rajabzadeh enters at No. 3, and Osaro falls to No. 4, pushing everyone below him down. This leaves Françesko Xhaja, who hasn’t fought since Feb. 2023, as the odd man out.
It should be noted that it was taken into consideration to keep Roman Kryklia in the No. 4 spot, but he hasn’t had a kickboxing bout since Nov. 2022, so he was shifted down along with the other ranked heavyweights.
- Tarik Khbabez (-)
- Donegi Abena (1)
- Sergej Maslobojev (2)
- Ștefan Lătescu (3)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (4)
- Felipe Micheletti (5)
- Thian de Vries (6)
- Jimmy Livinus (7)
- Lukas Achterberg (8)
- Nikita Kozlov (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Pascal Touré (10))
The GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix saw one big upset that was not in the heavyweight division. Light heavyweight champion and top-ranked Donegi Abena lost a split decision to interim champ Tarik Khbabez in the co-main event. This puts Khbabez in the No. 1 spot. A week later, No. 2 Sergej Maslobojev picked up a second-round TKO victory over Leandro Dikmoet at KOK 120 Mega Series. However, with everyone shifting down after the Khbabez win, he falls to No. 3, and Pascal Touré, who just re-entered the rankings last month, falls back out.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Islam Murtazaev (2)
- Sergey Ponomarev (3)
- Michael Boapeah (4)
- Ulric Bokeme (5)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (6)
- Sergej Braun (7)
- Mohamed Touchassie (8)
- Eduard Aleksanyan (9)
- Ertugrul Bayrak (10)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Endy Semeleer (2)
- Dmitry Menshikov (3)
- Mohamed Touchassie (4)
- Chico Kwasi (5)
- Jay Overmeer (6)
- Jamie Bates (7)
- Bogdan Shumarov (8)
- “Hamicha” Mohamed Mezouari (9)
- Constatin Rusu (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)
- Aleksei Ulianov (8)
- Jamal Yusupov (9)
- Petchmorakot Petchyindee (10)
At the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix, fifth-ranked Tyjani Beztati won a unanimous decision over Enriko Kehl to keep his spot in the lightweight rankings.
- Jia Aoqi (1)
- David Mejia (2)
- Rukiya Anpo (3)
- Ayinta Ali (4)
- Riki Matsuoka (5)
- Han Wenbao (6)
- Petru Morari (7)
- Ryota Nakano (8)
- Jomthong Strikegym (9)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Miguel Trinidade (-)
- Chadd Collins (1)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (2)
- Hiroki Akimoto (3)
- Tetsuya Yamato (4)
- Wei Rui (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (6)
- Chihiro Suzuki (7)
- Kiamran Nabati (8)
- Lee Sung-Hyun (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Taiju Shiratori (9), Daizo Sasaki (10)
At RISE Eldorado 2024 on Mar. 16, top-ranked Chadd Collins had his two-year, 11-fight winning streak snapped when he was knocked down three times in the first round by 23-year-old Miguel Trinidade. This was not a title fight, but he did lose his spot in the rankings, making way for the young Trinidade to enter at No. 1. That same evening No. 9 Taiju Shiratori lost a unanimous decision to South Korea’s Lee Sung-Hyun. The night before, at ONE Friday Fights 55, Kiamran Nabati defeated Avatar PK.Saenchai in a Muay Thai bout, but that does not affect the kickboxing rankings.
With Trinidade entering at the top spot, and Lee entering at No. 10, Shiratori and Daizo Sasaki fall off 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)
- Kan Nakamura (9)
- Hideki Sasaki (10)
The super bantamweights were busy this month, starting at RISE Eldorado 2024. Top-ranked Yuki Yoza was originally awarded a third-round TKO victory over ninth-ranked Kan Nakamura due to a spinning back leg kick. However, less than a week later, it was overturned to a technical majority decision when the review showed it to be an illegal strike. Later that evening, No. 6 Chadd Collins suffered a TKO loss to Miguel Trinidade, but that was up a weight class and does not affect the super bantamweight rankings.
Two weeks later, at Wu Lin Feng 20th Year Anniversary, No, 3 Zhu Shuai picked up a unanimous decision over Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (1)
- Takeru Segawa (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (5)
- Rémi Parra (3)
- Leona Pettas (4)
- Taiga Kawabe (6)
- Chan Hyung Lee (7)
- Yuki Kasahara (9)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (10)
- Yuki Egawa (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Hyuma Hitachi (8)
The bantamweight division saw a shake-up in the aftermath of K-1 World MAX 2024 on Mar. 20. No. 3 Rémi Parra lost a unanimous decision to fifth-ranked Hirotaka Asahisa. This causes Asahisa to jump to No. 3, pushing down Parra and No. 4 Leona Pettas. That same evening, eighth-ranked Hyuma Hitachi suffered a split decision loss to Yuki Egawa. With that, Hitachi, who has lost three of his last four fights, falls out of the rankings, Egawa enters at No. 10, and Yuki Kasahara and Tomoya Yokoyama both move up from their No. 9 and No. 10 respective positions
- 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)
March saw four of the top seven super flyweights in action. On Mar. 10, at HOOST CUP KINGS KYOTO 13 second-ranked Kaito Sakaguchi picked up a majority decision over Takahito Niimi in the extra round. 10 days later, top-ranked Taito Gunji edged No. 7 Keisuke Monguchi by split decision in the extra round at K-1 World MAX 2024. That same evening, fourth-ranked Shoki Kaneda won a second-round TKO with punches against Daiki Toita. 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 (9)
- Jaroensuk BoonlannaMuaythai (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Yugo Kato (10)
Over half of the top-10 flyweights were in action in March. First, on Mar. 9, ninth-ranked Akram Hamidi picked up a unanimous decision over Duk Jae Yoon at BFS Event 4 in the first defense of his WKN K-1 world flyweight (-54.9 kg) title. A week later, at RISE Eldorado 2024, third-ranked Akihiro Kaneko won a unanimous decision over No. 5 Masahiko Suzuki. That same evening, top-ranked flyweight Shiro took on No. 1 strawweight Toki Tamaru for Shiro’s RISE -55 kg world title. However, an accidental clash of heads ruled the bout a no contest after the first round. In another development that night, tenth-ranked Yugo Kato lost a unanimous decision to Jaroensuk BoonlannaMuaythai, who replaces Kato in the rankings.
Three days after that, at K-1 World MAX 2024, fourth-ranked Masashi Kumura won a majority decision against Italy’s Luca Cecchetti. Other than Kato being replaced in the tenth spot by Jaroensuk, the rest of the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
- Rui Okubo (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Kazuki Miburo (10)
The strawweight division also saw an action-packed March. At Rajadamnern World Series on Mar. 9, eighth-ranked Issei Ishii scored a first-round knockout of Kongpayak Por.Lakboon in a Muay Thai bout, which does not affect kickboxing rankings. As previously mentioned, top-ranked strawweight Toki Tamaru moved up a weight class to challenge Shiro for his title at RISE Eldorado 2024, but that bout ended in a no contest. That same evening, No. 2 Kazuki Osaki defended his ISKA Oriental rules world flyweight (-53.5 kg) title against Djillali Kharroubi. Also at RISE, fifth-ranked Ryu Hanaoka picked up a unanimous decision win over No, 9 Koji Ikeda. Lastly, at K-1 World MAX 2024 on Mar. 20, tenth-ranked Kazuki Miburo lost a unanimous decision to 19-year-old Rui Okubo, who has gone 6-1 in just over two years. Miburo is replaced in the rankings by Okubo.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Rico Verhoeven (5)
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (6)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (9)
- Taito Gunji (10)
Despite a few fighters being in action, there were no changes to the men’s pound-for-pound rankings this month.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Phetjeeja Or.Meekun (2)
- Jorina Baars (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (7)
- Miyuu Sugawara (5)
- Li Mingrui (6)
- Martine Michieletto (8)
- Arina Kobayashi (10)
- Saho Yoshino (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Antonia Prifti (9)
At ONE Fight Night 20 on Mar. 9, we saw a couple of the top female kickboxers in action. Earlier in the evening, No. 8 Martine Michieletto suffered a unanimous decision loss to Jackie Buntan. However, that was a Muay Thai fight and does not affect the kickboxing rankings. In the main event, ONE interim atomweight champion Phetjeeja dominated champ Janet Todd through five rounds to unify the ONE atomweight kickboxing title. Then, on Mar. 9, No. 7 Koyuki Miyazaki faced fifth-ranked Miyuu Sugawara at K-1 World MAX 2024. After a fourth round, Miyazaki emerged victorious and replaced Sugawara at the fifth spot, shifting her and Li Mingrui down one spot each.
Also, on Mar. 20, at K-1 World MAX 2024, Antonia Prifti lost her K-1 flyweight title to Saho Yoshino by unanimous decision. That win put Yoshino on a five-fight winning streak. With that, Prifti falls out of the rankings, Yoshino enters at No. 10, and Arina Kobayashi moves up to No. 9.
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.