Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: September 2024

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.

1. Rico Verhoeven (1)
2. Levi Rigters (2)
3. Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
4. Kevin Tariq Osaro (4)
5. Antonio Plazibat (5)
6. Roman Kryklia (6)
7. Rade Opačić (7)
8. Ariel Machado (-)
9. Sofian Laidouni (10)
10. Iraj Azizpour (9)

Dropped from the rankings: Guto Inocente (8)

On Aug. 24, at the quarterfinals of the K-1 World GP 2024 in Brasília, No. 8 Guto Inocente scored a knockout in Round 1 over Jefferson Salviano. However, in the semifinals, he lost a unanimous decision to Ariel Machado. Machado went on to win the Grand Prix with a TKO of Jhonny Klever in Round 3 of the finals. A week later, at GLORY 94, No. 10 Sofian Laidouni won a unanimous decision over Nico Pereira Horta.

Machado enters at the No. 8 spot, Laidouni to No. 9 and previously ninth-ranked Iraj Azizour falls to No. 10. Inocente loses his spot in the rankings.

1. Donegi Abena (1)
2. Tarik Khbabez (2)
3. Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
4. Sergej Maslobojev (4)
5. Cem Cáceres (-)
6. Ștefan Lătescu (5)
7. Ibrahim El Bouni (6)
8. Felipe Micheletti (7)
9. Thian de Vries (8)
10. Jimmy Livinus Omani (9)

Dropped from the rankings: Lukas Achterberg (10)

At GLORY 94, fifth-ranked was dropped by Cem Cáceres with a body punch in the first round. Cáceres enters at No. 5, and everyone below that moves down one notch, leaving Lukas Achterberg as the odd man out.

1. Donovan Wisse (1)
2. Islam Murtazaev (2)
3. Sergey Ponomarev (3)
4. Michael Boapeah (4)
5. Ulric Bokeme (5)
6. Serkan Özçağlayan (6)
7. Sergej Braun (7)
8. Mohamed Touchassie (8)
9. Eduard Aleksanyan (9)
10. Aleksandar Petrov (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Ertugrul Bayrak (10)

Before getting to results, No. 10 Ertugrul Bayrak hasn’t fought for 18 months, and is on a three-fight losing streak, so he has been dropped from the rankings. In steps Aleksandar Petrov at No. 10. Petrov is on a 14-fight winning streak, mostly in SENSHI and Max Fight, and made his GLORY debut a year ago

The only middleweight in action was Serkan Özçağlayan, who won a unanimous decision over Jente Nnamadim at GLORY 94. He keeps his sixth spot in the rankings.

1. Alexis Nicolas (1)
2. Regian Eersel (2)
3. Chico Kwasi (3)
4. Tyjani Beztati (4)
5. Endy Semeleer (5)
6. Dmitry Menshikov (6)
7. Teodor Hristov (7)
8. Jay Overmeer (8)
9. Jamie Bates (9)
10. “Hamicha” Mohamed Mezouari (10)

No. 8 welterweight Jay Overmeer won a TKO by injury over Ismail Ouzgni at GLORY 94, and the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Chingiz Allazov (1)
2. Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
3. Marat Grigorian (3)
4. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
5. Tyjani Beztati (5)
6. Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
7. Tayfun Özcan (7)
8. Jamal Yusupov (8)
9. Kaito Ono (9)
10. Kacper Muszyński (10)

The only lightweight in action in August was No. 9 Kaito Ono, who won a TKO in Round 2 by injury over Dragomir Petrov at SHOOT BOXING 2024 act.4. The rankings remain unchanged.

1. Jia Aoqi (1)
2. Bobo Sacko (2)
3. David Mejia (3)
4. Rukiya Anpo (4)
5. Ayinta Ali (5)
6. Riki Matsuoka (6)
7. Han Wenbao (7)
8. Jomthong Chuwattana (8)
9. Petru Morari (9)
10. Ryota Nakano (10)

On Aug. 31, at Wu Lin Feng 547 – MAX Qualifying Tournament, Final, No. 7 Han Wenbao won a unanimous decision over No. 8 Jomthong Chuwattana. The rankings remain unchanged.

1. Miguel Trinidade (1)
2. Chadd Collins (2)
3. Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (3)
4. Wei Rui (4)
5. Hiroki Akimoto (5)
6. Tetsuya Yamato (6)
7. Kento Haraguchi (7)
8. Chihiro Suzuki (8)
9. Kiamran Nabati (9)
10. Taiju Shiratori (10)

No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

1. Yuki Yoza (1)
2. Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
3. Zhu Shuai (3)
4. Jin Ying (4)
5. Chadd Collins (5)
6. Tatsuya Oiwa (6)
7. Kento Ito (7)
8. Yuzuki Satomi (8)
9. Kan Nakamura (9)
10. Hideki Sasaki (10)

The only super bantamweight in action was No. 8 Yuzuki Satomi, who scored a first-round knockout of Kiyomitsu Nagasawa at KRUSH 164. The rankings remain unchanged.

1. Superlek Kiatmoo9 (1)
2. Takeru Segawa (2)
3. Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
4. Achraf Aasila (4)
5. Rémi Parra (5)
6. Leona Pettas (6)
7. Taiga Kawabe (7)
8. Yuki Kasahara (8)
9. Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
10. Yuki Egawa (10)

No. 8 Yuki Kasahara scored a knockout in Round 1 against Phetmorakot Teeded99 at SHOOT BOXING 2024 act.4 to keep his spot in the rankings.

1. Takumi Terada (3)
2. Taito Gunji (1)
3. Kaito Sakaguchi (2)
4. Akif Guluzada (4)
5. Haruto Yasumoto (5)
6. Shoki Kaneda (6)
7. Tatsuya Tsubakihara (7)
8. Wang Junguang (8)
9. Keisuke Monguchi (9)
10. Ryusei Kumagai (10)

At SHOOT BOXING 2024 act.4 on Aug. 17, No. 2 Kaito Sakaguchi picked up a unanimous decision over Ryoga Hirano. However, two weeks later, there was a top-of-the-pile shake-up, when top-ranked Taito Gunji lost his K-1 Featherweight (-57.5kg) title to No. 3 Takumi Terada in an extra round unanimous decision at K-1 World MAX 2024. Terada jumps to the to spot, Gunji drops to No. 2, and Sakaguchi falls to No. 3

1. Shiro Matsumoto (1)
2. Koki Osaki (2)
3. Akihiro Kaneko (3)
4. Masashi Kumura (4)
5. Masahiko Suzuki (5)
6. Kompetch Fairtex (6)
7. Prajanchai PK.Saenchai (7)
8. Jonathan Di Bella (8)
9. Akram Hamidi (9)
10. Jaroensuk BoonlannaMuaythai (10)

A few flyweights were in action in August. On Aug. 15, No. 10 Jaroensuk won a decision over Petchsongsaeng at Petchyindee TV X Pryde TV. The next day, No. 6 Kompetch won a majority decision over Omar El Halabi in a Muay Thai bout at ONE Friday Fights 75. Finally, on Aug. 31, No. 2 Koki Osaki won a unanimous decision over Ryunosuke Omori at RISE 181 to defend the RISE bantamweight title. The rankings remain unchanged.

1. Toki Tamaru (1)
2. Kazuki Osaki (2)
3. Kumandoi Petchyindee (3)
4. Jin Mandokoro (4)
5. Ryu Hanaoka (5)
6. Kazane Nagai (6)
7. Toma Kuroda (7)
8. Issei Ishii (8)
9. Koji Ikeda (9)
10. Rui Okubo (10)

On Aug. 23, Kumandoi Petchyindee lost a decision to Petchsila at Konkraeng Muay Thai Muang Chakangraw + Muaymanwansuk. However, as a Muay Thai bout, this does not affect the kickboxing rankings.

1. Chingiz Allazov (1)
2. Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
3. Marat Grigorian (3)
4. Wei Rui (4)
5. Rico Verhoeven (5)
6. Superlek Kiatmoo9 (6)
7. Toki Tamaru (7)
8. Kazuki Osaki (8)
9. Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (9)
10. Takumi Terada (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Taito Gunji (10)

The only pound-for-pound ranked fighter who was in action was No. 10 Taito Gunji, who lost to Takumi Terada for the K-1 featherweight title. Terada replaces Gunji in the rankings.

1. Tiffany van Soest (1)
2. Phetjeeja Or.Meekun (2)
3. Jorina Baars (3)
4. Sarel de Jong (4)
5. Koyuki Miyazaki (5)
6. Miyuu Sugawara (6)
7. Li Mingrui (7)
8. Martine Michieletto (8)
9. Arina Kobayashi (9)
10. Saho Yoshino (10)

No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

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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.