Kickboxing weight classes

Ask what the kickboxing weight classes are and you will get a chart. Ask which one applies to you and the answer needs three more questions: which body, which discipline, and whether you are amateur or professional.

WAKO, and the thing nobody explains

WAKO is the world amateur body. It holds full IOC recognition, granted at the Tokyo Session on 20 July 2021 after provisional recognition in November 2018, and it is a WADA Code signatory. Most national federations follow its rules.

It runs seven disciplines in two groups. Ring: full contact, low kick and K-1. Tatami: point fighting, light contact, kick light and musical forms.

The typical senior sets published for 2026 show the gap plainly:

Nine tatami divisions against twelve in the ring, starting 6 kg apart, for men in the same federation in the same year. These are the typical sets rather than a fixed law: WAKO publishes an Age and Weight Categories document each year and the figures move.

Which makes the entry document the only chart that matters. Do not take a ladder from a friend who competes in point fighting if you are entering low kick, and do not assume last year's numbers survived into this year's regulations.

The age groups

WAKO sets these by year of birth rather than by your birthday, so everybody born in the same year moves up together on 1 January.

Access to the ring disciplines is restricted by age group, and only seniors may enter all seven. A fighter of 16 and a fighter of 19 are not choosing from the same menu even at the same event.

The professional side

GLORY suspends and reinstates divisions from season to season, so the list above is a snapshot rather than a constitution. Check what is active before you plan around one.

Alex Pereira held GLORY titles at two of those limits, 85 and 95 kilograms, before he ever cut for the UFC. His weight across three sports is on its own page.

ONE's divisions carry the same names as everybody else's at heavier weights. They are written with a floor as well as a ceiling, so its flyweight is 125 to 135 lb rather than anything under 135. Their flyweight limit is 135 lb, which is lightweight on the traditional ladder, and the shift runs two or three rungs the whole way up. The full comparison, since ONE uses one set across both sports.

ONE also hydration tests. Urine specific gravity has to be at or below 1.025 and matchmaking works from walking weight, so a ONE division is a weight you hold rather than a weight you reach.

The question that decides more than the chart

Kickboxing's two halves are further apart than in any other striking sport, and the gap is the weigh-in.

Those are opposite jobs. A fighter who takes 2 per cent off in the last two days and weighs in on the morning competes 2 per cent down, then does it again in the quarter-final and again in the semi.

So in the amateur format the class has to be close to what you walk around at, and the sensible target is roughly 500 g under the limit rather than exactly on it. That margin is what lets you eat and drink normally the night before a day with four bouts in it. How the two formats diverge, in full.

Multi-day tournaments

Where a tournament runs across several days with a weigh-in each morning, the job changes again. You are not recovering from a cut, you are holding a weight while competing, and the evening has two aims that pull against each other.

The only version that works is arriving with a margin. Then weigh yourself before bed and on waking, every day. After two days you will know your own overnight loss to within a couple of hundred grams, and the evening stops being guesswork. Most fighters never measure this and spend the tournament guessing at a number they could simply have.

Anti-doping splits the same way

Amateur kickboxing under WAKO operates within the World Anti-Doping Code through your federation and your national anti-doping organisation. That means the Prohibited List, testing in and out of competition, and whereabouts obligations at the top of the sport.

The professional side varies by promotion and jurisdiction, and some cards have no testing at all. The absence of testing is not permission: a substance taken now can appear in a test at a future event, and the record follows the athlete rather than the card.

Before you agree a weight

• Get the entry document for your discipline, not the federation's general chart.
• Confirm the weigh-in time and how many bouts you might have in a day.
• Confirm what happens if you miss, because amateur and professional answers differ completely.
• Then choose a class you can make on the morning and still fight well four hours later.

If you travel with a squad, the hardest place you will stand all week is the dining hall, not the ring. Why the away tournament breaks plans.

Kickboxing does not have a body with the authority to make everyone else use its numbers, and it is unlikely to acquire one. Treat every chart as belonging to the organisation that published it, including this page.

Common questions

What are the kickboxing weight classes?

There is no single set. WAKO governs the amateur side, holds full IOC recognition, and runs seven disciplines whose weight classes are not identical to each other. The tatami disciplines and the ring disciplines use different ladders, so the relevant chart is the one for the discipline you entered. On the professional side GLORY currently runs six active men's divisions and one for women, ONE runs ten shared with its Muay Thai programme, and K-1 publishes its own ladder alongside contracted weights for individual bouts.

Does WAKO use the same weight classes for every discipline?

No, and this catches people out. WAKO runs full contact, low kick and K-1 in the ring, plus point fighting, light contact, kick light and musical forms on the tatami. The divisions have historically differed between disciplines at the same championship, so take the numbers from the entry document for your own event.

When do you weigh in for kickboxing?

In the amateur format, usually the morning of competition, with several bouts to follow that day. On a professional card, at least 24 hours before. That single difference changes the preparation more than any weight chart does.

How are WAKO age groups decided?

By year of birth rather than by birthday, so everybody born in the same year moves up together on 1 January. Children are 7 to 9, younger cadets 10 to 12, older cadets 13 to 15, juniors 16 to 18, seniors 19 to 40 and the master class 41 to 55. Access to the ring disciplines is restricted by age group.

Should I cut weight for an amateur kickboxing tournament?

Not in the way a professional would. Weighing in on the morning removes the recovery window entirely, so whatever comes off is missing for every bout that day. Aim to make the scale around 500 g under the limit rather than exactly on it, so you can eat and drink normally the night before.