October Rankings: Heavyweight Division

Lots of changes this month thanks to the Grand Prix.  Strong showings from Saki, Ghita, Kyotaro, and Aerts move them up, while Zimmerman, Teixeira, Le Banner, and Kemayo all drop down, and Edwards and Sefo drop off the list completely.  Also shifting down a notch: Remy Bonjasky, who falls to #3 due to inactivity. 

Obviously, the big event to watch for at this point is the K-1 Grand Prix on December 11.  There are two top 10 v. top 10 fights we'll see at that show: #1 Semmy Schilt v. #5 Kyotaro, and #6 Gokhan Saki v. #8 Daniel Ghita.  Other top 10 fighters in the GP include #2 Alistair Overeem, who faces #13 Tyrone Spong, and #7 Peter Aerts, who faces #22 Mighty Mo.

The GP will also feature reserve fights and super fights, though the participants for these fights are yet to be announced.  Possible names to take part here are #10 Ewerton Teixeira, #11 Hesdy Gerges, #15 Jerome Le Banner, and there has even been talk about #4 Badr Hari being involved, though I would not count on that.

Before the GP, we also have the opening round of the United Glory World Series scheduled for October 16.  Based on GP results, these fights could change, but right now that event features three top 25 fighters: #6 Saki v. #18 Brice Guidon, and #9 Errol Zimmerman v. Adnan Redzovic.

Finally, It's Showtime has two shows scheduled for December, each featuring top 25 action.  On December 11 #20 Alexey Ignashov faces Tomas Hron, and on December 18 #11 Hesdy Gerges meets Rico Verhoeven.

The two big names unaccounted for right now are #3 Remy Bonjasky and #4 Badr Hari.  Bonjasky continues to recover from eye surgery, while Hari remains on his sort of self-imposed exile as he gets his career focused.  As mentioned, there's some talk of Hari being in a reserve fight at the GP, though I would imagine we won't see either man until 2011.

We acknowledge that all rankings are inherently subjective, however we have set the following criteria to help determine rankings:

These rankings are meant to represent fighters throughout kickboxing, not only in K-1.

Rankings are based on recent win/loss records in the ring. 

Rankings are divided into three weight classes - Heavyweight, for those fights at 85 kg and up, Middleweight, for fights at either 70 or 72 kg, and Lightweight, for fights at 63 kg.