Alexis Rufus (born 28 April 1979) is an English Muay Thaikickboxer who competes in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions. Having turned professional in 2005, Rufus is a two-time European and five-time world champion.
Alexis Rufus was raised with two brothers and has described herself as a tomboy growing up. She was involved in numerous sports in her childhood and, at eighteen, began studying fine art sculpture at university and then worked in the London art industry for ten years. She began training in Muay Thai when a friend suggested it as an alternative to normal workouts.[1]
Career
Having begun her professional career in 2005, Alexis Rufus suffered her first loss in a full contact kickboxing[broken anchor] match on 7 April 2007 when she dropped a unanimous decision to Tracey Renow in Hove, England.[2] The pair rematched in Hove on 24 November 2007 with the vacant Golden Belt Women's British -59.5kg/131lb Full Contact Championship on the line, and Renow again came out on top, this time by majority decision.[3] Rufus then rebounded with a lengthy win streak and, on 13 September 2009, outpointed Lucy Payne at Muay Thai Addicts II in London to become the United Kingdom Muaythai Federation (UKMF) Women's English Featherweight (-57kg/125lb) Champion.[4]
Now a reigning domestic champion, she soon moved up to international competition and beat Caterino Valerio by decision to take the ISKA Women's European Bantamweight (-54.5kg/120lb) Muay Thai title in Essex, England on 13 March 2010.[5][6] Later that year, on 23 October, she became a world champion for the first time when she beat Malika Machtoune for the ISKA World Muay Thai title in Essex. Winning by technical knockout in round two, Rufus forced Machtoune's team to throw in the towel after cornering the Frenchwoman and delivering a barrage of unanswered knees and punches. Rufus ended out 2010 with a unanimous decision win over Jessica Gladstone, who she has described as her toughest opponent,[7] at Journey Fight Series I in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on 13 November.[8]
On 19 March 2011, Rufus took on Lorena Klijn for the vacant IKF Women's World Bantamweight (-55.4kg/122lb) Muay Thai title in Essex. The first two rounds were close but Rufus began to pull away in the third and inflicted Klijn's first defeat by unanimous decision.[9] Shortly after, she won her third world title when he beat Joanne Calderwood for the WKA belt. Challenging for the WPMF Women's World Featherweight (-57.1kg/126lb) Championship, Rufus suffered her first defeat in four years when she lost to Mesa Tor Buamas on points at the Queen's Cup 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand on 11 August 2011.
After rebounding with a UD win over Mellony Geugjes at Stars Fight Night in London on 27 November 2011, Alexis Rufus won the WPMF Women's World Bantamweight (-53.5kg/118lb) Championship in Thailand in March 2012. She fought Kate Heuston for the vacant WMC Women's Intercontinental Featherweight (-57.1kg/126lb) title at Ignition Muay Thai in Perth, Australia on 22 April 2012, losing a UD.[10] This would kick off a three-fight losing streak for Rufus as she then lost two decisions to Sawsing Sor Sopit at Rangsit Stadium in Pathum Thani, Thailand in May and then Farseethong Sithsorung in a WPMF world featherweight title match at the King's Cup 2012 on 27 July 2012.[11] She got back in the win column on 23 September 2012 when she beat Ilsury Hendrikse via UD for the WMC Women's World Bantamweight (-53.5kg/118lb) Championship, her fifth world title belt, at Stars Fight Night 3 in London.[12] On 1 December 2012, she beat Kate Stables on points at Smash Muay Thai 2 in Liverpool, England.[13]
Rufus was knocked out for the first time in her career when she lost to Tiffany van Soest in the co-main event of Lion Fight 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on 25 January 2013. It was a closely contested affair up until round four when van Soest rocked Rufus with a high kick before dropping her for good with a right hand.[14][15] Competing under Oriental kickboxing rules[broken anchor], she lost for the second time on the trot when she dropped a unanimous decision to Iman Barlow after a back-and-forth fight in which the inaugural Enfusion Live Women's -54 kg/119 lb Championship was up for grabs.[16][17][18] Rufus was expected to fight Christi Brereton Smash Muay Thai 7 in Liverpool on 21 December 2013 but Brereton withdrew after having issues with the promoter and was replaced by Tanya Merrett.[19] Rufus defeated Merrett on points.
Alexis Rufus and Christi Brereton finally met in Telford, England on 22 February 2014 at Muay Thai Unleashed II, with Brereton winning by unanimous decision to take the previously vacant UKMF Women's British Bantamweight (-55kg/121lb) Championship.[20]
Kickboxing weight classes are weight classes that pertain to the sport of kickboxing.
Charles François is a French Muay Thai kickboxer. He is the W.P.M.F. European Muaythai Champion and former W.P.M.F. World Muaythai Champion.
Timothy Benjamin Thomas is a British Muay Thai kickboxer who competes in the welterweight and middleweight divisions. He came to prominence by winning the UKMF British Welterweight Muay Thai title early in his career before becoming the ISKA World Welterweight Muay Thai Champion in 2005. He lost this belt in 2008 after one successful title defence, but later became a world champion for the second time in Jersey against Michael Blood for the WRSA title. He won by TKO in the 5th round. He then regained the ISKA World title under Kun Khmer rules in 2011.
Raphaël Llodra is a French Muay Thai Fighter. He is the former WBC Muaythai Middleweight World Champion and the former WMC Middleweight Intercontinental champion.
Tiffany Lynn van Soest is a retired American Muay Thai kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight division. She is the former two-time Glory Super Bantamweight Champion and a two-weight Lion Fight champion.
Caley Reece is a retired Australian Muay Thai kickboxer who competed in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. A successful competitor at both amateur and professional levels, Reece came to prominence by winning state and national titles in her native Australia before going on to take six World Championships. Reece won a silver medal at the 2010 World Combat Games. She holds a notable victory over current Lion Fight Featherweight Champion and Glory Super Bantamweight Champion Tiffany van Soest.
Oléna "Lena" Serhíyivna Ovchýnnikova is a Ukrainian kickboxer and mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight division in kickboxing and the flyweight division in MMA.
Julie Kitchen is an English sports commentator and retired kickboxer, Muay Thai fighter.
Claire Haigh is a Luxembourgish female kickboxer and mixed martial artist.
Lucy Payne is an English female kickboxer and muay thai fighter based in Cornwall. She is a former WBC Muaythai World Featherweight champion and is the #2 featherweight in the world by WBC Muaythai, as of April 2020.
Iman Barlow is a retired professional English female kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter.
Meryem Uslu is a German female kickboxer who has fought for the Glory kickboxing title against Tiffany van Soest. She is the former Wu Lin Feng World 55 kg champion.
Anissa Meksen is a French-Algerian kickboxer, Muay Thai fighter, Savateur, and boxer. She currently competes in ONE Championship. She is the reigning ISKA World K1 Bantamweight champion, reigning WAKO World K1 Bantamweight champion, former two-time Glory Super Bantamweight champion, former WPMF World Muay Thai Flyweight champion, and former French, European, and World Savate champion. As a boxer, she won the vacant France Female Super Bantamweight title.
Christi Coral Brereton is an English female kickboxer and muay thai fighter based in Okehampton. She has fought for a WBC Muaythai title. Christi Brereton is signed with kickboxing organisation Glory
Franck Gross is a French kickboxer who has been professionally competing since 2011. He is the current WAKO Bantamweight World K1 Champion and the current ISKA Oriental Rules Featherweight champion.
Bernise Alldis is an English kickboxer and mixed martial artist who has been professionally competing since 2003.
Lara Fernandez is a Spanish Muay Thai kickboxer currently signed to ONE Championship. She is the reigning WBC Muaythai World Flyweight Champion and the reigning ISKA World Super Featherweight champion.
Lizzie Largillière is a French kickboxer. She is the current ISKA World Kickboxing Super Flyweight champion.
Chiara Vincis is an Italian kickboxer and the current ISKA World Featherweight Freestyle champion.
Jiří Žák is a Czech kickboxer and Muay thai fighter. He is the former ISKA and WMC champion.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Christi Brereton 
Tanya Merrett
Tiffany van Soest 
Ilsury Hendrikse
Farseethong Sithsorung
Kate Heuston
Joanne Calderwood 
Jessica Gladstone
Malika Machtoune
Caterino Valerio
