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)
- Ariel Machado (8)
- Sofian Laidouni (9)
- Iraj Azizpour (10)
At SENSHI 23 on Sep. 7, No. 7 Rade Opačić won a unanimous decision over Cristian Ristea. Two weeks later, No. 2 Levi Rigters earned a TKO by doctor stoppage at GLORY 95 over No. 3 Bahram Rajabzadeh. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Donegi Abena (1)
- Tarik Khbabez (2)
- Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
- Sergej Maslobojev (4)
- Cem Cáceres (5)
- Ștefan Lătescu (6)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (7)
- Felipe Micheletti (8)
- Thian de Vries (9)
- Miloš Cvjetićanin (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Jimmy Livinus Omani (10)
At GLORY 95, No. 10 Jimmy Livinus Omani got knocked out with a punch in the first round by Miloš Cvjetićanin. The following week, No. 4 Sergej Maslobojev won a unanimous decision over Mohammed Hamdi at UTMA #9. Cvjetićanin enters the rankings at No. 10, and Omani falls off the rankings.
- 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)
- Aleksandar Petrov (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alexis Nicolas (1)
- Regian Eersel (2)
- Chico Kwasi (3)
- Tyjani Beztati (4)
- Endy Semeleer (5)
- Dmitry Menshikov (6)
- Teodor Hristov (7)
- Jay Overmeer (8)
- Jamie Bates (9)
- “Hamicha” Mohamed Mezouari (10)
No top-10 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)
- Kacper Muszyński (10)
The only lightweight in action in September was No. 2 Superbon, who finished Jo Nattawut with an elbow in Round 1 at ONE Friday Fights 81. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Jia Aoqi (1)
- Bobo Sacko (2)
- David Mejia (3)
- Rukiya Anpo (4)
- Ayinta Ali (5)
- Riki Matsuoka (6)
- Han Wenbao (7)
- Jomthong Chuwattana (8)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (-)
- Takumi Sanekata (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Petru Morari (9), Ryota Nakano (10)
On Sep. 8, No. 9 Petru Morari lost a unanimous decision to Takumi Sanekata at RISE WORLD SERIES 2024 YOKOHAMA. That same evening, No. 10 Ryota Nakano lost a majority decision to Lee Sung-hyun. This results in Morari and Nakano leaving the rankings, previously ranked Zhou Jiaqiang entering back in at No. 9, and Sanekata entering at No. 10. No. 4 Rukiya Anpo held his spot with a unanimous decision win over Sho Patrick Usami at RIZIN 44.
- Miguel Trinidade (1)
- Chadd Collins (2)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (3)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Ilias Ennahachi (-)
- Hiroki Akimoto (5)
- Tetsuya Yamato (6)
- Kento Haraguchi (7)
- Kiamran Nabati (9)
- Taiju Shiratori (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Chihiro Suzuki (8)
Before getting to the monthly results, No. 8 Chihiro Suzuki has transitioned to MMA, and has not fought in a kickboxing match in over 18 months, so he has been removed from the rankings.
At RISE WORLD SERIES 2024 YOKOHAMA, No. 2 Chadd Collins won a first-round knockout with a punch over Yutaro Asahi, and No. 10 Taiju Shiratori scored a first-round knockout with a knee to body of Faphayap Grabs. At the end of the month, No. 5 Hiroki Akimoto lost a unanimous decision to Ilias Ennahachi at ONE Friday Fights 81. That same night, No. 9 Kiamran Nabati won a unanimous decision over Nong-O in a Muay Thai bout that does not affect the kickboxing rankings.
Ennahachi enters at No. 5, and a few below him move down.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Kongnapa Weerasakreck (2)
- Zhu Shuai (3)
- Chadd Collins (5)
- Zhao Chongyang (-)
- Jin Ying (4)
- Tatsuya Oiwa (6)
- Kento Ito (7)
- Yuzuki Satomi (8)
- Kan Nakamura (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Hideki Sasaki (10)
Four ranked super bantamweights were in action in September, and while all one at least one bout, one lost his second bout to shake up the rankings. First, No. 9 Kan Nakamura won an extra-round unanimous decision over Yuan Pengjie at RISE WORLD SERIES 2024 YOKOHAMA on Sep. 8. On Sep. 28, while second-ranked Kongnapa won a third-round TKO by corner stoppage over Kuto Ueno at KRUSH 165, fourth-ranked Jin Ying was not as lucky at the Wu Lin Feng 548 – 63kg World Tournament A Group. Ying opened the tournament with a unanimous decision victory over Mo Abdurahman, but he followed that up with a unanimous decision loss to Zhao Chongyang in the semifinals. The next evening, No. 1 Yuki Yoza scored a leg-kick knockout of Petchdam at K-1 World MAX 2024.
No. 10 Hideki Sasaki, who has not fought in over a year, falls out of the rankings, Chadd Collins, moves up to No. 4, Zhao Chongyang enters at No. 5, Jin Ying falls to No. 6, and those below move down one notch each.
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (1)
- Takeru Segawa (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Achraf Aasila (4)
- Rémi Parra (5)
- Leona Pettas (6)
- Taiga Kawabe (7)
- Yuki Kasahara (8)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (9)
- Yuki Egawa (10)
On Sep. 6, at ONE 168, top-ranked Superlek finished Jonathan Haggerty with an elbow in Round 1 to capture the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai title. While this has no bearing on the kickboxing rankings, it was a notable win. three weeks later at ONE Friday Fights 81, No. 2 Takeru Segawa won a second-round knockout of Thant Zin in spectacular fashion. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Takumi Terada (1)
- Taito Gunji (2)
- Kaito Sakaguchi (3)
- Akif Guluzada (4)
- Haruto Yasumoto (5)
- Shoki Kaneda (6)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (7)
- Wang Junguang (8)
- Keisuke Monguchi (9)
- Ryusei Kumagai (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)
- Rui Okubo (-)
- Masashi Kumura (4)
- Masahiko Suzuki (5)
- Kompetch Fairtex (6)
- Prajanchai PK.Saenchai (7)
- Jonathan Di Bella (8)
- Akram Hamidi (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Jaroensuk BoonlannaMuaythai (10)
On Sep. 8, the RISE WORLD SERIES 2024 YOKOHAMA headliner saw top-ranked flyweight Shiro Matsumoto pick up a unanimous decision win over No. 1 strawweight Toki Tamaru for the RISE Bantamweight (-55kg) World Tournament title. Both men stay at the top of their respective divisions.
On Sep. 29, at the K-1 World MAX 2024 – 55kg World Tournament semifinals, No. 3 Akihiro Kaneko won a unanimous decision over Riamu, and No. 4 Masashi Kumura lost a unanimous decision to Rui Okubo. In the finals, Kaneko won the tournament with a second-round knockout of Okubo to win the tournament.
No. 10 Jaroensuk, who lost a bout of his own, falls off the rankings, Okubo enters at No. 4, and everyone else moves down. No. 9 Akram Hamidi lost a Muay Thai bout to Sam-A, but that has no effect on the rankings.
- 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. 9 Koji Ikeda lost a TKO in Round 2, due to two knockdowns to Lyra Nagasaka at the K-1 World MAX 2024 – 55kg Tournament reserve fight. This does not affect the strawweight rankings.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Rico Verhoeven (5)
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (6)
- Shiro Matsumoto (-)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (9)
Dropped from the rankings Takumi Terada (10)
The only pound-for-pound ranked fighter who was No. 7 Toki Tamaru, who lost to Shiro Matsumoto for the RISE Bantamweight (-55kg) World Tournament title. Shiro enters at No. 7, those below drop one sot, and Takumi Terada falls off the top 10.
- 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)
No top-10 ranked fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
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.