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

Trade name	RINGS
Company type	Private
Industry	Professional wrestling promotion Mixed martial arts promotion
Predecessor	Newborn UWF
Founded	1991 (as a professional wrestling promotion) 1995 (original mixed martial arts promotion) 2008 (revived promotion)
Founder	Akira Maeda
Defunct	1995 (as a professional wrestling promotion) February 15, 2002 (original mixed martial arts promotion)
Key people	Akira Maeda

History

Early history

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.

In its early years, the promotion often brought in fighters and professional wrestlers from Shooto, Pancrase, and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi to compete against RINGS fighters.

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.

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.

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. The previous RINGS Battle Genesis event, Volume 8, took place on September 20, 2001.

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 Tournament

• King of Kings Tournament 1999 (Oct 28, 1999 – Feb 26, 2000) – Dan Henderson
• King of Kings Tournament 2000 (Oct 9, 2000 – Feb 24, 2001) – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira

Championship tournaments

• Light-Heavyweight Title Tournament 1997 (Mar 28 – Aug 13, 1997) – Masayuki Naruse
• Middleweight Title Tournament 2001 (Apr 20 – Aug 11, 2001) – Ricardo Arona
• Heavyweight 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	Kiyoshi Tamura (def. Mikhail Illoukhine)	January 21, 1998 (Mega Battle Tournament 1997)	Tokyo, Japan
2	Tariel Bitsadze (def. Kiyoshi Tamura)	May 29, 1998 (Fighting Integration III)	Sapporo, Japan
3	Kiyoshi Tamura (def. Tariel Bitsadze)	May 22, 1999 (Rise III)	Tokyo, Japan
4	Gilbert Yvel (def. Kiyoshi Tamura)	April 20, 2000 (Millennium Combine)	Tokyo, Japan
Title was vacated on June 13, 2000 when Yvel signed with Pride FC.
5	Fedor Emelianenko (def. Christopher Haseman)	February 15, 2002 (World Title Series Grand Final)	Yokohama, Japan	Wins title on promotion's final event.
Title dissolved when original promotion closed on February 15, 2002.

Heavyweight Championship (+95 kg (209.4 lb))

No.	Name	Date	Location	Notes
1	Fedor Emelianenko (def. Renato Sobral)	August 11, 2001 (10th Anniversary)	Tokyo, Japan
Title dissolved when original promotion closed on February 15, 2002.

Light-Heavyweight Championship (−95 kg (209.4 lb))

No.	Name	Date	Location	Notes
1	Masayuki Naruse (def. Christopher Haseman)	August 13, 1997 (Fighting Extension VI)	Kagoshima, Japan
Naruse vacates the title on February 24, 2001; title dissolved when original promotion closed on February 15, 2002.

Middleweight Championship (−90 kg (198.4 lb))

No.	Name	Date	Location	Notes
1	Ricardo Arona (def. Gustavo Ximu)	August 11, 2001 (10th Anniversary)	Tokyo, Japan
Arona vacates the title on September 22, 2001 after signing with Pride FC; title dissolved when original promotion closed on February 15, 2002.

Roster

Japanese

• Akira Maeda
• Mitsuya Nagai
• Yoshihisa Yamamoto
• Masayuki Naruse
• Tsuyoshi Kosaka
• Wataru Sakata
• Kiyoshi Tamura
• Kenichi Yamamoto
• Hiromitsu Kanehara
• Ryuki Ueyama
• Koichiro Kimura
• Hiroyuki Ito
• Yoshinori Nishi

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

• Netherlands – Dick Vrij, Hans Nijman, Gilbert Yvel, Joop Kasteel, Bob Schrijber, Herman Renting, Valentijn Overeem, Alistair Overeem, Chris Dolman
• Australia – Chris Haseman, Elvis Sinosic
• Bulgaria – Todor Todorov, Dimitar Petkov, Georgi Tonkov, Borislav Jeliazkov
• Georgia – Zaza Tkeshelashvili, Tariel Bitsadze, Amiran Bitsadze
• Russia – Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Kopylov, Bazigit Atajev, Nikolai Zuyev, Mikhail Illoukhine, Volk Han
• Brazil – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Renato Sobral, Gustavo Machado, Renzo Gracie
• United Kingdom – Lee Hasdell, Chris Watts, Dexter Casey, Paul Cahoon
• United States – Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Kerry Schall, Bobby Hoffman, Jeremy Horn

See also

• List of Fighting Network Rings events

External links

• Rings event results at Sherdog