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)
- Mory Kromah (-)
- Kevin Tariq Osaro (4)
- Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
- Ariel Machado (5)
- Nico Pereira Horta (7)
- Sofian Laidouni (9)
- Jamal Ben Saddik (6)
- Anis Bouzid (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Rade Opačić (8), Iraj Azizpour (10)
Well, as GLORY’s Last Heavyweight Standing tournament rolled on, GLORY 100 proved to be another huge event in 2025 for the heavyweight division. The four brackets first held their semifinals with ranked heavyweights Iraj Azizpour, Nico Pereira Horta, Bahram Rajabzadeh, Tariq Osaro and Sofian Laidouni all finding success. However, Laidouni’s win over Jamal Ben Saddik was the biggest shock, as the fight ended in the first round, due to a doctor stoppage from a nasty cut to Ben Saddik’s shin. Others picking up semifinal wins included traditional light heavyweights Miloš Cvjetićanin, Anis Bouzid and Mory Kromah.
In the finals for Bracket 3, Kromah scored a big upset, when he knocked out Rajabzadeh with a flying knee. In Bracket 4, Osaro disposed of Laidouni with a left hook, and in Bracket 2, Horta won a split decision over Cvjetićanin. The dark horse Bouzid showed up once again in the Bracket 1 finals when he dominated Azizpour en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Of course, the GLORY 100 headliner featured the return of former light heavyweight champ Artem Vakhitov, as he tried to take Rico Verhoeven’s light heavyweight strap. The fight went the distance with Verhoeven defending his title for the 13th time.
Kromah enters the heavyweight rankings at No. 3, Rajabzadeh and two others fall in the rankings, and Bouzid enters at No. 10. Rade Opačić and Azizpour fall from the rankings.
- Sergej Maslobojev (4)
- Tarik Khbabez (1)
- Donegi Abena (2)
- Bahram Rajabzadeh (3)
- Cem Cáceres (5)
- Thian de Vries (7)
- Michael Boapeah (8)
- Ștefan Lătescu (6)
- Ibrahim El Bouni (9)
- Mory Kromah (10)
At GLORY 100, Bahram Rajabzadeh, Cem Cáceres, Miloš Cvjetićanin, and Mory Kromah all fought at heavyweight, which has no bearing on the light heavyweight rankings. Although, it should be noted that Cvjetićanin was unranked at light heavyweight, but beat No. 5 Cáceres. No. 1 light heavyweight Kromah also beat No. 4 Rajabzadeh. Also in action, outside of his decision was No. 7 light heavyweight Michael Boapeah, who fought Donovan Wisse for the middleweight title, but lost by split decision.
While there were a lot of light heavyweights in action outside of their division at GLORY 100, the most important divisional bout took place in the co-main event when champion Tarik Khbabez took on No. 4 Sergej Maslobojev. In the fourth round, Maslobojev scored three knockdowns to win a TKO and capture the GLORY light heavyweight title.
- Donovan Wisse (1)
- Sergey Ponomarev (2)
- Michael Boapeah (3)
- Ulric Bokeme (4)
- Mohamed Touchassie (7)
- Serkan Özçağlayan (5)
- Sergej Braun (6)
- Eduard Aleksanyan (8)
- Bilal Bakhouche-Chareuf (9)
- Max Weekers (10)
As previously mentioned, No. 3 middleweight Michael Boapeah unsuccessfully challenged GLORY middleweight champion Donovan Wisse at GLORY 100, as he lost by split decision. However, seventh-ranked Mohamed Touchassie won a unanimous decision over No. 5 Serkan Özçağlayan that same night. Touchassie jumps to No. 5, Özçağlayan drops to No. 6 and Sergej Braun falls to No. 7.
- 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)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
- Marat Grigorian (2)
- Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (3)
- Ouyang Feng (4)
- Mohammad Siasarani (5)
- Kacper Muszyński (6)
- Don Sno (7)
- Younes Smaili (8)
- Luo Chao (10)
- Enriko Kehl (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Kaito Ono (9)
On Jun. 22, at SHOOT BOXING 2025 act.3, No. 9 Kaito Ono lost a unanimous decision to Enriko Kehl, which marks two losses in a row. Ono is dropped from the rankings, No. 10 Luo Chao mo ves up a spot, and Kehl enters at the tenth position.
- Jia Aoqi (1)
- Bobo Sacko (2)
- David Mejia (3)
- Riki Matsuoka (4)
- Han Wenbao (5)
- Zhou Jiaqiang (6)
- Meison Hide Usami (7)
- Takumi Sanekata (8)
- Hiromi Wajima (9)
- Darryl Verdonk (10)
At GLORY 101 on Bobo Sacko on Jun. 21, No,. 2 Bobo Sacko picked up a unanimous decision over Jan Kaffa. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (1)
- Miguel Trindade (2)
- Chadd Collins (3)
- Jonathan Haggerty (4)
- Ilias Ennahachi (5)
- Wei Rui (6)
- Hiroki Akimoto (7)
- Tetsuya Yamato (8)
- Kento Haraguchi (9)
- Kiamran Nabati (10)
At GLORY 100, on Jun. 14, top-ranked Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 won a unanimous decision over second-ranked Miguel Trindade to defend his GLORY featherweight title for the ninth time. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Yuki Yoza (1)
- Giorgi Malania (2)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (3)
- Zhu Shuai (4)
- Chadd Collins (5)
- Zhao Chongyang (6)
- Jin Ying (7)
- Kan Nakamura (8)
- Wei Weiyang (9)
- Yuma Saikyo (10)
At the RISE WORLD SERIES YOKOHAMA 2025 – 61.5kg World Series Semifinals, on Jun. 21, No. 8 Kan Nakamura defeated Yuki Kasahara with an extended-round, head-kick knockout. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (1)
- Rodtang Jitmuangnon (2)
- Takeru Segawa (3)
- Hirotaka Asahisa (4)
- Achraf Aasila (5)
- Rémi Parra (6)
- Leona Pettas (7)
- Taiga Kawabe (8)
- Yuki Kasahara (9)
- Tomoya Yokoyama (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Takumi Terada (1)
- Taito Gunji (2)
- Koyata Yamada (-)
- Kaito Sakaguchi (3)
- Akif Guluzada (4)
- Haruto Yasumoto (5)
- Shoki Kaneda (6)
- Shuhei Kumura (7)
- Wang Junguang (8)
- Tatsuya Tsubakihara (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Ryusei Kumagai (10)
On Jun. 22, at SHOOT BOXING 2025 act.3, No. 3 Kaito Sakaguchi lost by first-round knockout, due to a punch from Koyata Yamada. Yamada enters the rankings at No. 3. Sakaguchi and those below him all fall one spot, with Ryusei Kumagai falling out of the rankings.
Also in June, No. 2 Taito Gunji used a body punch to win a first-round knockout of Petchrungruang Sor.Jaruwan at THE KNOCK OUT. However, that was a Muay Thai bout and has no bearing on the kickboxing rankings.
- Shiro Matsumoto (1)
- Koki Osaki (2)
- Koji Ikeda (3)
- Akihiro Kaneko (4)
- Rui Okubo (5)
- Masashi Kumura (6)
- Ryunosuke Omori (7)
- Masahiko Suzuki (8)
- Prajanchai PK.Saenchai (9)
- Jonathan Di Bella (10)
On Jun. 21, at RISE WORLD SERIES YOKOHAMA 2025, No, 8 Masahiko Suzuki won a unanimous decision over Daiki Toita. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Toki Tamaru (1)
- Kazuki Osaki (2)
- Ryujin Nasukawa (3)
- Kumandoi Petchyindee (4)
- Ryu Hanaoka (5)
- Jin Mandokoro (6)
- Toma Kuroda (7)
- Issei Ishii (8)
- Rui Okubo (9)
- Riamu Sera (10)
In June, two ranked strawweights, No. 4 Kumandoi Petchyindee and No. 8 Issei Ishii both had Muay Thai bouts, which have no bearing on the rankings. However, two other strawweights both found kickboxing success at RISE WORLD SERIES YOKOHAMA on Jun. 21.
First, No. 5 Ryu Hanaoka picked up a unanimous decision over Muhammad Mikail Ghazali. Then, No. 3 Ryujin Nasukawa scored a unanimous decision of his own over Hamada Azmani to win the inaugural ISKA K-1 World strawweight (-51.5 kg) title. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Superbon Singha Mawynn (1)
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 (2)
- Marat Grigorian (3)
- Rico Verhoeven (4)
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 (5)
- Shiro Matsumoto (6)
- Toki Tamaru (7)
- Kazuki Osaki (8)
- Donovan Wisse (9)
- Takumi Terada (10)
In June, Petchpanomrung, Rico Verhoeven and Donovan Wisse were all in action, and all three were successful, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Phetjeeja Or.Meekun (1)
- Koyuki Miyazaki (2)
- Tessa de Kom (5)
- Débora Évora (-)
- Martine Michieletto (4)
- Saho Yoshino (7)
- Jackie Buntan (8)
- Kira Matsutani (9)
- Antonia Prifti (10)
- Mei Miyamoto (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Li Mingrui (3), Arina Kobayashi (6)
Before getting to June results, there are a couple quick housekeeping items to address with the women’s pound-for-pound rankings. First, No. 3 Li Mingrui has not fought since Feb. 2024 and has been removed. Also, Arina Kobayashi lost her RISE Queen mini flyweight title in May to Mei Miyamoto. Kobayashi was removed, and Miyamoto enters at No. 10.
On Jun. 7, at Oktagon: Valle D’Aosta, No. 4 Martine Michieletto lost by knockout to Portugal’s Débora Évora on her home turf. This loss also cost her the ISKA K-1 World featherweight (-57kg) title. Then, on Jun. 29, fifth-ranked Tessa de Kom continued her reign of terror, when she scored a unanimous decision over Manazo Kobayashi at RISE 189 to defend the RISE women’s flyweight title for the second time.
De Kom moves to No. 3, Michieletto falls to No. 5, and Évora enters at No. 4.
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.