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 GLORY: COLLISION 7 on Dec. 7, top-ranked Rico Verhoeven won a unanimous decision over second-ranked Levi Rigters. That same evening, No. 3 heavyweight Bahram Rajabzadeh fought at light heavyweight, which does not affect the heavyweight rankings. Also in action that night was No. 9 Sofian Laidouni won a unanimous decision over Ionuț Iancu. A week later, eighth-ranked Ariel Machado had a great night of fights.
At the K-1 World Grand Prix 2024 Final on Dec. 14, Machado first knocked out Rhys Brudenell with a right hook in Round 1 before winning a TKO over Errol Zimmerman with two knockdowns in Round 2. He then finished Feng Rui with a first-round left hook to win the Grand Prix title.
After all of that heavyweight action in December, the rankings remain unchanged.
- Tarik Khbabez (2)
- Donegi Abena (1)
- Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
- Sergej Maslobojev (4)
- Cem Cáceres (5)
- Ștefan Lătescu (6)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (7)
- Thian de Vries (9)
- Mory Kromah (-)
- Miloš Cvjetićanin (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Felipe Micheletti (8)
The light heavyweights had a busy December. But, before getting to that, No. 8 Felipe Micheletti, who appears to have fully moved to MMA with two bouts in 2024, was removed since he has not had a kickboxing match since Jun. 2023.
At GLORY: COLLISION 7, a whopping seven ranked 205-pounders were in action. Starting at the bottom of the rankings. No. 10 Miloš Cvjetićanin, who had moved up to No. 9, lost a unanimous decision to Mory Kromah. So, Cvjetićanin drops back to No. 10, and Kromah enters at No. 9. At the same event, No. 5 Cem Cáceres scored a unanimous decision win over Pascal Touré, and No. 4 Sergej Maslobojev won in the same fashion over No. 6 Ștefan Lătescu. In the next fight at that event, No. 3 Bahram Rajabzadeh won a first-round TKO by three knockdowns over Daniel Stefanovski. Those three fighters keep their spots in the rankings. However, the co-main event was the rubber match between top-ranked Donegi Abena and second-ranked Tarik Khbabez. After five rounds, the split decision went to Khbabez, as he defended the GLORY light heavyweight title. With that, they swap spots in the rankings.
Lastly, on Dec. 14, 23-year-old Thian de Vries extended his unbeaten career to 27-0-1 when he scored a first-round knockout of Rui at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2024 Final. He keeps his No. 8 spot in 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)
The only ranked middleweight in action in December was No. 6 Serkan Özçağlayan, who won a unanimous decision over Ramy Deghir at GLORY: COLLISION 7. He keeps his spot in the rankings.
- Regian Eersel (1)
- Alexis Nicolas (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)
At GLORY: COLLISION 7, No. 5 Endy Semeleer picked up a unanimous decision over No. 8 Jay Overmeer. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Chingiz Allazov (1)
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (4)
- Tyjani Beztati (5)
- Giorgio Petrosyan (6)
- Younes Smaili (-)
- Tayfun Özcan (7)
- Kaito Ono (8)
- Kacper Muszyński (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Luo Chao (10)
To start the month, seventh-ranked Tayfun Özcan lost a split decision to Younes Smaili at GLORY: COLLISION 7. Smaili enters at No. 7, after extending his winning streak to five, and those below him move down, with No. 10 Luo Chao falling out of the rankings. A week later, No. 9 Kacper Muszyński, who had fallen to No. 10, scored a third-round TKO by referee stoppage over Valentin Mavrodin at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2024 Final. Then, on Dec. 26, No. 8 Kaito Ono, who dropped to No. 9, won a unanimous decision over Guerric Billet at SHOOT BOXING Battle Summit: Ground Zero Tokyo 2024.
Finally, at ONE Friday Fights 92 on Dec. 20, No. 3 Marat Grigorian scored a second-round knockout of Abdelali Zahidi to stay in place. That same night Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong lost a Muay Thai bout to Shadow Singha Mawynn, but that has no affect on his kickboxing ranking.
- Jia Aoqi (1)
- Bobo Sacko (2)
- David Mejia (3)
- Rukiya Anpo (4)
- Ayinta Ali (5)
- Riki Matsuoka (6)
- Han Wenbao (7)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (8)
- Jomthong Chuwattana (9)
- Meison Hide Usami (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Takumi Sanekata (10)
The only super featherweight in action in December was tenth-ranked Takumi Sanekata, who lost a unanimous decision to Meison Hide Usami at the RISE World Series 2024 Final. Usami enters at No. 10, as Sanekata exits the rankings.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (3)
- Miguel Trindade (1)
- Chadd Collins (2)
- Wei Rui (4)
- Ilias Ennahachi (5)
- Hiroki Akimoto (6)
- Tetsuya Yamato (7)
- Kento Haraguchi (8)
- Kiamran Nabati (9)
- Taiju Shiratori (10)
The GLORY x RISE Featherweight Grand Prix on Dec. 21 saw a big shake-up at the top of the featherweight rankings. In the quarterfinals, No. 1 Miguel Trindade knocked out No. 8 Kento Haraguchi, No. 2 Chadd Collins won a unanimous decision over Abraham Vidales, and No. 3 Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 won a unanimous decision over Taiju Shiratori. In the semifinals, Petch won a unanimous decision over Lee Sung-Hyun, and Collins fell to Trindade by first-round TKO due to two knockdowns. In the final Petch won a split decision over Trindade to win the Grand Prix. Petch claims the top spot, Collins falls to No. 3, and Trindade drops to No. 2. Earlier in the month, No. 7 Tetsuya Yamato lost a unanimous decision to The Star Petchkiatpetch at RWS Muay Thai, but that has no effect on kickboxing rankings.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (2)
- Zhu Shuai (3)
- Chadd Collins (4)
- Zhao Chongyang (5)
- Jin Ying (6)
- Kan Nakamura (7)
- Giorgi Malania (8)
- Wei Weiyang (9)
- Tomás Aguirre (10)
The only super bantamweight in action was Chadd Collins, but he fought at featherweight, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
All three bantamweights who fought in December won their respective bouts, so the rankings remain unchanged.
On Dec. 8, No. 9 Tomoya Yokoyama defended his title at KRUSH 169, when he scored a third-round TKO of Yuta Matsuyama. Six days later, No. 5 Rémi Parra won a first-round TKO with a kick to the body of Alejandro Lopez Vallejo at Carcharias Fight Event 2024. Then, on Dec. 26, eighth-ranked Yuki Kasahara won a unanimous decision over GUMP at SHOOTBOXING GROUND ZERO TOKYO 2024.
- Takumi Terada (1)
- Taito Gunji (2)
- Kaito Sakaguchi (3)
- Akif Guluzada (4)
- Haruto Yasumoto (5)
- Shoki Kaneda (6)
- Shuhei Kumura (7)
- Wang Junguang (8)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (9)
- Ryusei Kumagai (10)
The only super flyweight in action in December was tenth-ranked Ryusei Kumagai, who won a unanimous decision over Braian Gavio at KNOCK OUT K.O CLIMAX 2024. This win earned him the vacant ISKA K-1 World Super Featherweight (-59kg) title.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Koki Osaki (2)
- Akihiro Kaneko (3)
- Rui Okubo (4)
- Masashi Kumura (5)
- Masahiko Suzuki (6)
- Kompetch Fairtex (7)
- Prajanchai PK.Saenchai (8)
- Jonathan Di Bella (9)
- Akram Hamidi (10)
At ONE Fight Night 26, No. 9 Jonathan Di Bella got back in the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Rui Botelho. A week later, No. 3 Akihiro Kaneko and No. 4 Rui Okubo both won unanimous decisions at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2024 Final. A week after that No. 6 Masahiko Suzuki scored a first-round knockout of Jhaymie Gayman at RISE WORLD SERIES 2024 Final. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Toki Tamaru (1)
- Kazuki Osaki (2)
- Kumandoi Petchyindee (3)
- Ryu Hanaoka (5)
- Jin Mandokoro (4)
- Kazane Nagai (6)
- Toma Kuroda (7)
- Issei Ishii (8)
- Koji Ikeda (9)
- Rui Okubo (10)
December saw seven of the top 10 strawweights in action, but one was No. 10 Rui Okubo who fought at flyweight, and two were was No. 3 Kumandoi and No. 8 Issei Ishii who won Muay Thai bouts that do not affect the kickboxing rankings.
On Dec. 14, ninth-ranked Koji Ikeda won a unanimous decision over Momotaro Kiyama at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2024 Final. The following day, No. 4 Jin Mandokoro lost a unanimous decision to No. 5 Ryu Hanaoka for the vacant RISE super flyweight title at RISE 184. They swap spots in the rankings. At RISE WORLD SERIES 2024 Final, No. 2 Kazuki Osaki won a decision over Albert Campos.
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (2)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (10)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Rico Verhoeven (5)
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (6)
- Shiro Matsumoto (7)
- Toki Tamaru (8)
- Kazuki Osaki (9)
- Donovan Wisse (-)
- Takumi Terada (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Chingiz Allazov (1), Wei Rui (4)
December ended up seeing a huge shake-up in the pound-for-pound rankings. Before getting into results, there are two fighters being removed from the pound-for-pound rankings. First, in what could be considered a controversial consideration, top-ranked Chingiz Allazov has been very open about the fact that he got burned by ONE Championship, he has not fought 16 months, and he might be becoming a promoter. So, he is being removed from the pound-for-pound rankings for now, but he will stay as the No. 1 lightweight until 18 months passes. Also, No. 4 Wei Rui is being removed, because, while he is on a 21-fight winning streak, outside of his wins over Jin Ying and Jia Aoqi several years ago, he hasn’t really beaten a top-ranked opponent. His last win over Hiroki Akimoto at ONE Fight Night 22 was questionable, at best, and he hasn’t fought since last May.
In addition to the removals, No. 10 Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 out on a clinic at the GLORY x RISE Featherweight Grand Prix to beat Taiju Shiratori, Lee Sung-Hyun and Miguel Trindade en route to a Grand Prix championship. This launches him to the No. 2 spot. Entering the rankings are GLORY middleweight champion Donovan Wisse, who recently made his fifth title defense, and extended his winning streak to 11. Also coming in is K-1 featherweight champion Takumi Terada.
- Phetjeeja Or.Meekun (2)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (5)
- Miyuu Sugawara (6)
- Li Mingrui (7)
- Martine Michieletto (8)
- Tessa de Kom (-)
- Arina Kobayashi (9)
- Saho Yoshino (10)
- Jackie Buntan (-)
- Antonia Prifti (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Tiffany van Soest (1), Jorina Baars (3), Sarel de Jong (4)
Before addressing the December results, top-ranked Tiffany van Soest, who retired in Sep. 2023, No. 3 Jorina Baars, and No. 4 Sarel de Jong have been removed due to inactivity. No. Jorina Baars Everyone else was shifted up in the rankings, and ONE strawweight kickboxing titleholder Jackie Buntan and Antonia Prifti entered the top 10.
Two pound-for-pound-ranked female fighters were in action at RISE 184 on Dec. 15. No. 5 Koyuki Miyazaki, who had moved up to No. 2, scored a second-round, head-kick knockout over Tan Xuan Yun to keep her spot in the rankings. The same night, No. 9 Arina Kobayashi, who had moved up to No. 6 lost a bid for the RISE women’s flyweight title when she lost a unanimous decision to incumbent champion Tessa de Kom. De Kom enters at No. 7, Buntan enters at No. 9, and Prifti enters at No. 10
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.