Fighting Network Rings

Fighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods: shoot style puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and a revived MMA promotion from 2008 onward.

Fighting Network Rings
TypePrivate
IndustryProfessional wrestling promotion
Mixed martial arts promotion
Founded1991
(as a professional wrestling promotion)
1995
(original mixed martial arts promotion)
2008
(revived promotion)
FounderAkira Maeda
Defunct1995
(as a professional wrestling promotion)
February 15, 2002
(original mixed martial arts promotion)
Key people
Akira Maeda

RINGS was founded by Akira Maeda on May 11, 1991, following the dissolution of Newborn UWF. At that time, Maeda and Mitsuya Nagai were the only two people to transfer from UWF, wrestlers such as Kiyoshi Tamura, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kenichi Yamamoto would later also transfer from UWF International.

Despite starting out as a shoot style professional wrestling promotion, RINGS showcased primitive MMA fights, as early as 1991, and notably promoted shoot style wrestling matches alongside these legitimate fights on the same cards. Beginning in 1995, RINGS ceased promoting their product as professional wrestling and following founder Akira Maeda's retirement in 1999, the promotion transitioned into a full-fledged MMA promotion.

The promotion often brought in fighters and professional wrestlers from Shooto, Pancrase, and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi to compete against RINGS fighters.

Tournaments

Mega Battle Tournament
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1992 (Oct 29, 1992 – Jan 23, 1993) – Chris Dolman
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1993 (Oct 23, 1993 – Jan 21, 1994) – Akira Maeda
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1994 (Sep 21, 1994 – Jan 25, 1995) – Volk Han
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1995 (Oct 21, 1995 – Jan 24, 1996) – Akira Maeda
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1996 (Oct 25, 1996 – Jan 22, 1997) – Volk Han
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1997 (Oct 25, 1997 – Jan 21, 1998) – Kiyoshi Tamura
  • Mega Battle Tournament 1998 (Oct 23, 1998 – Jan 23, 1999) – Team Georgia

King of Kings

Title tournaments
  • Light-Heavyweight Title Tournament 1997 (Mar 28 – Aug 13, 1997) – Masayuki Naruse
  • Middleweight Title Tournament 2001 (Apr 20 – Aug 11, 2001) – Ricardo Arona
  • Openweight Title Tournament 2001 (Apr 20 – Aug 11, 2001) – Fedor Emelianenko

Other tournaments
  • Rising Stars Heavyweight Tournament 2000 (Jul 15 – Sep 30, 2000) – Bobby Hoffman
  • Rising Stars Middleweight Tournament 2000 (Jul 15 – Sep 30, 2000) – Jeremy Horn
  • Absolute Class Tournament 2001 (Oct 20, 2001 – Feb 15, 2002) – Fedor Emelianenko

Championships

Openweight Championship
No. Name Date Location Notes
1 Japan Kiyoshi Tamura
(def. Mikhail Illoukhine)		 January 21, 1998
(Mega Battle Tournament 1997)		 Tokyo, Japan
2 Georgia (country) Tariel Bitsadze
(def. Kiyoshi Tamura)		 May 29, 1998
(Fighting Integration III)		 Sapporo, Japan
3 Japan Kiyoshi Tamura
(def. Tariel Bitsadze)		 May 22, 1999
(Rise III)		 Tokyo, Japan
4 Netherlands Gilbert Yvel
(def. Kiyoshi Tamura)		 April 20, 2000
(Millennium Combine)		 Tokyo, Japan
Title was vacated in May 2000 when Yvel signed with Pride FC.
5 Russia Fedor Emelianenko
(def. Renato Sobral)		 August 11, 2001
(10th Anniversary)		 Tokyo, Japan

Light-Heavyweight Championship (−95 kg (209.4 lb))
No. Name Date Location Notes
1 Japan Masayuki Naruse
(def. Christopher Haseman)		 August 13, 1997
(Fighting Extension VI)		 Kagoshima, Japan Title later dissolved.

Middleweight Championship (−90 kg (198.4 lb))
No. Name Date Location Notes
1 Brazil Ricardo Arona
(def. Gustavo Ximu)		 August 11, 2001
(Rings-10th Anniversary)		 Tokyo, Japan
Title dissolved when original promotion closed on February 15, 2002..

Japanese roster

Foreigners

RINGS' system was largely much inspired by organizations such as the National Wrestling Alliance and FIFA, and featured fighters from different countries organized into stables. These foreign fighters would then compete against RINGS' Japanese competitors and against each other.

Stables

Decline

Maeda retired from active duty in 1998, leaving Tamura as the top star, but the collapse of UWF International and the subsequent rise of PRIDE provided competition that proved to be too much for the promotion. On February 15, 2002, RINGS ceased activity.[1]

Many Japanese RINGS stars, including Masayuki Naruse, Wataru Sakata and Hiroyuki Ito, made the transition back into traditional puroresu (although Naruse continued to compete sporadically in MMA). Kiyoshi Tamura, Hiromitsu Kanehara, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and Tsuyoshi Kosaka continued competing in MMA, most notably for PRIDE. Mitsuya Nagai began a career in kickboxing before returning to traditional puroresu. The MMA promotion ZST was founded in November 2002 to accommodate former Japanese RINGS fighters who remained competitors in mixed martial arts.

Revival

Following the dissolution of Hero's and the conclusion of Maeda's involvement with FEG, Maeda revived the RINGS brand for a new series of MMA events named The Outsider. The first RINGS The Outsider event occurred on March 30, 2008. Over a dozen Outsider events have been held since.[2]

The brand was resurrected once more on January 22, 2012 with Battle Genesis: Vol. 9; the event was sanctioned by fellow mixed martial arts promotion ZST.[3] The previous RINGS Battle Genesis event, Volume 8, took place on September 20, 2001

See also

References
  1. 前田日明 07年リングス再始動へ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 10, 2008.
  2. "UFC, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) News, Results, Fighting". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  3. 2012年 ZST・RINGS スケジュール
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