Youssef Boughanem (born December 6, 1989) is a Moroccan-Belgian professional Muay Thai fighter, kickboxer, and mixed martial artist.
Youssef began practicing Muay Thai at the age of 12 and moved to Thailand with his brother Yassine Boughanem at 17 to focus on training fulltime after the loss of both his parents.
This format saw fighters wearing rope bindings instead of gloves (Muay Kard Chuek) and would eventually become the defining characteristic for subsequent Thai Fight events.
On June 24, 2016, Youssef Boughanem defeated Armen Petrosyan via three-decision in Monte Carlo to win the WAKO Pro 71.8 kg Championship.
On February 26, 2018, Boughanem retained the Rajadamnern title against Noppakaw Siriluck Muaythai by third-round knockout at Phoenix 5 Bangkok, which also saw him winning the WBC Muay Thai Middleweight World Championship.
[5] On April 28, 2018, he defeated Payakdam Extra Cole Film by third-round TKO to win the IBF Muaythai middleweight title.
[9] Boughanem successfully retained the WBC Muay Thai belt in his fourth title defense against Tobias Alexandersson on November 16, 2019, winning a five-round decision.
[10] Boughanem was originally scheduled to defend his WBC Muay Thai belt against Liam Nolan on July 17 at PSM Fight Night.
[15] On April 22, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium Boughanem defeated Joe Craven by TKO in the fourth round and became the WKN World super welterweight champion in Muay Thai.
[16] On June 25, 2022 in Liege, Belgium Boughanem made the first successful defense of his WKN World super welterweight title by knockout in the third round against Toni Romero at La Nuit Des Gladiateurs 2022.
[22] In 2024, Youssef Boughanem signed with Bahrain-based BRAVE Combat Federation to focus on his mixed martial arts career.