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 (2)
- Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
- Kevin Tariq Osaro (4)
- Antonio Plazibat (5)
- Roman Kryklia (6)
- Rade Opačić (7)
- Guto Inocente (8)
- Iraj Azizpour (9)
- Sofian Laidouni (10)
Second-ranked Levi Rigters was the only ranked heavyweight competing in May. He picked up a unanimous decision over Nico Pereira Horta at GLORY 92 on May 18 to keep his spot in the rankings.
- Tarik Khbabez (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 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
on May 18, GLORY 92 saw a lot of action in the middleweight rankings, and one victor fought, and won, again only a week later. Seventh-ranked Sergej Braun first picked up a unanimous decision over eighth-ranked Mohamed Touchassie in the GLORY ring. Then, on May 25, he scored another decision win over Bilal Bakhouche-Chareuf at Battle of Barock III. Later at GLORY 92, No. 4 Michael Boapeah defeted No. 6 Serkan Özçağlayan by unanimous decision, and the evening’s headliner saw divisional leader Donovan Wisse defending his middleweight crown with a split decision over No. 5 Ulric Bokeme. Even with over half of the ranked fighters on stage, the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alexis Nicolas (1)
- Regian Eersel (2)
- Chico Kwasi (3)
- Endy Semeleer (4)
- Dmitry Menshikov (5)
- Teodor Hristov (-)
- Jay Overmeer (7)
- Jamie Bates (8)
- “Hamicha” Mohamed Mezouari (10)
- Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Mohamed Touchassie (6), Bogdan Shumarov (9)
To start the month, sixth-ranked Mohamed Touchassie was dropped from the welterweight rankings. He has fought at higher weights for his last four fights, going back to Mar. 2023. The rest of the month saw some shake-up in the bottom half of the rankings. At ONE Fight Night 22 on May 4, No. 5 Dmitry Menshikov scored a body-shot knockout of Sinsamut Klinmee, but that was a Muay Thai bout and does not affect the rankings.
Also at ONE Fight Night 22, No. 9 Bogdan Shumarov lost a split decision to unranked Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong. Two weeks later, at GLORY 92, No. 7 Jay Overmeer lost a unanimous decision to Teodor Hristov. Hristov is now on a 14-fight winning streak over the last four-and-a-half years with three wins in GLORY in his last three fights.
When the smoke cleared, Hristov entered the rankings at No. 6, Shumarov was removed, No. 10 Hamicha moved up to No. 9, and Rungrawee entered the rankings at No. 10.
- 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)
- Kaito Ono (10)
The only lightweight in action in May was the legend Giorgio Petrosyan. On May 18, at PetrosyanMania GOLD EDITION, he won a unanimous decision over Sergio Sanchez to capture the WAKO Pro K-1 super welterweight 69.1 kg title. He holds his No. 6 spot in the rankings.
- Jia Aoqi (1)
- Bobo Sacko (2)
- David Mejia (3)
- Rukiya Anpo (4)
- Ayinta Ali (5)
- Riki Matsuoka (6)
- Han Wenbao (7)
- Petru Morari (8)
- Ryota Nakano (9)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (10)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Miguel Trinidade (1)
- Chadd Collins (2)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (3)
- Wei Rui (6)
- Hiroki Akimoto (4)
- Tetsuya Yamato (5)
- Kento Haraguchi (7)
- Chihiro Suzuki (8)
- Kiamran Nabati (9)
- Lee Sung-Hyun (10)
On May 3, at ONE Fight Night 22, No. 4 Hiroki Akimoto faced No. 6 Wei Rui. After three closely contested rounds, Wei scored the nod from the judges, and he jumps to the No. 4 spot. This pushes down Akimoto and No. 5 Tetsuya Yamato, each by one spot.
- 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)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (1)
- Takeru Segawa (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Rémi Parra (4)
- Leona Pettas (5)
- Taiga Kawabe (6)
- Chan Hyung Lee (7)
- Yuki Kasahara (8)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
- Yuki Egawa (10)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
The only super flyweight in action was Haruto Yasumoto when he faced Temirlan Bekmurazev at ONE Friday Fights 62 on May 10. This bout was contested at bantamweight, Yasumoto scored the decision victory, and he keeps his third spot in the rankings.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Koki Osaki (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Masashi Kumura (4)
- Masahiko Suzuki (5)
- Kompetch Fairtex (6)
- Jonathan Di Bella (7)
- Akram Hamidi (8)
- Jaroensuk BoonlannaMuaythai (9)
- Ryunosuke Omori (10)
Two flyweights were in action in May, and both picked up victories. First, ninth-ranked Jaroensuk BoonlannaMuaythai fought Petchartchai FightGeekMuayThai in Fearless Fighting Championship on May 4. He scored a high-kick knockout in the first round. Then, on May 19, second-ranked Koki Osaki won a second-round knockout with a left hook to the body of Yodbuadaeng 3rdplaceGym at RISE 178. 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 (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)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Rico Verhoeven (5)
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (6)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (9)
- Taito Gunji (10)
Fourth-ranked Wei Rui was successful against Hiroki Akimoto in his ONE Championship debut, and the rankings remain unchanged.
- Tiffany van Soest (1)
- Phetjeeja Or.Meekun (2)
- Jorina Baars (3)
- Sarel de Jong (4)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (5)
- Miyuu Sugawara (6)
- Li Mingrui (7)
- Martine Michieletto (8)
- Arina Kobayashi (9)
- Saho Yoshino (10)
Two of the top pound-for-pound women were in action this month. First, on May 13, No. 4 Sarel de Jong won a unanimous decision over Andreea Cebuc at Enfusion 122. Then, on May 19, at RISE 178, ninth-ranked Arina Kobayashi scored a unanimous decision of her own over Manazo Kobayashi. The rankings remain unch
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.