February 21, 1999 in Yokohama, Japan
Yokohama Arena drawing 17,048
WELL IT'S REALLY HAPPENING, Александр Александрович Карелин vs. 前田 日明 (born 고일명, 高日明) in front of a packed 横浜アリーナ Yokohama Arīna in something out of another era, like an Antonio Inoki World Martial Arts match from a half-generation before. Has anyone made a comp of all those Inoki matches? Like all of them? [UPDATE: TOM and Jonathan have determined that yes, someone has.] I think maybe I will see which ones are on NJPW World at some point and write about them here. But we really shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves, as there is more than enough to attend to in the here and now (by which we mean early 1999), so much, in fact, that our WOWOW broadcast joins the opening bout betwixt and indeed between skilled young RINGSman Yasuhito Namekawa and U-File campist Ryuki Ueyama already in progress. They are shooting, these two, and I admire the way in which they do so. Namekawa takes the decision on the basis of points lost but both fought well and I hope they feel good about how they did.
Our first chance to get a real feel for how geared-up the Yokohama Arena crowd is come as Yoshihisa Yamamoto and Andrei Kopilov are introduced and their level of geared-up, the crowd's, I mean, is to my ear at least really very geared-up. The last time RINGS ran Yokohama Arena was for Akira Maeda's retirement match that turned out to not really be a retirement match however if I recall correctly Maeda held open the possibility that he may return for one lat match against an outsider of great import and certainly this fits that bill. Andrei Kopilov continues to low-key operate on a very high level of shoot-style that includes a remarkably strong 蟹挟 kani-basami crab-scissor takedown and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for juji-gatame (I share this thirst; I understand it; it's not always easy). Of course when I spoke of juji-gatame just now I mean its application to the arm, and so properly ude-hishigh-juji-gatame, but Kopilov is of course also fond of the knee-bar we call hiza-juji (or maybe he isn't, maybe he despises it, but it's there, and he must take it). Yoshihisa Yamamoto, remember, likes omote-sankaku-jime, the triangle from underneath and in front, and he attacks with it nicely here but it is the naked strangle of hadaka-jime that secures for him shoot-style victory at 6:55 of a match no one could reasonably have minded in any way. Sleeeeper holdo, hadaka-jime, is the commentator's excellent call. If anyone knows the name of the regular RINGS/WOWOW play-by-play commentator, I would very much like to know, because I find his calls super exciting despite (or perhaps in part because of, who knows) only really catching names, techniques, and body parts (what else is there, I guess one could ask here).
As Volk Han makes his way to the ring to the strains of his really quite sikk synth theme, for example, the excellent (and yet to me sadly nameless) RINGS commentator says VOLK HAN, SAMBO, and KANSETSU-WAZA (joint-locking or bone-locking technique), and also some other things, but mostly those, and it's great. Here Han, tragically wearing shorts, faces his RINGS Russia teammate Nikolai Zouev, who, while note genre-definingly-great like our pal Volk, is probably in the next tier down, or at worst two tiers down. He's very good! And he does well. Volk Han transitions beautifully from hadaka-jime to juji-gatame in a nice bit of fundamental ne waza I still vividly remember learning, like super vividly remember, even though it was years and years ago and probably not even that big of a deal, except that it totally was to me for whatever reason, and I remember not just who showed me (a lovely guy, a former national team member, a great coach) but what the light was like, it's that kind of memory. Han finishes with his not-quite-inverted-but-like-side-STF (stepover toe-hold facelock) but a choke instead of a face-lock; this sounds more ornate than it is. Good match!
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Sean Alvares is right, what better way to prove the efficacy of your waza than to show up looking (I say looking here deliberately; what do I know [about this, about anything]) juiced to the gills for a bout against little Wataru Sakata to be contested under Vale Tudo ("anything goes" [not really true]) rules:
How better to embody the principle of yawara? You literally can't, this is the best anyone can do at that. Throughout the first five minutes, Alvares lays atop Sakata in the chest-pin of mune-gatame and pretty much occludes him whilst making no effort to do anything else; Sakata keeps his inside knee high to offer minimal resistance against a transition to tate-shiho-gatame and Alvares' response to this, as expressed physically, is like well there is no way anyone has ever gotten around that, least of all anyone as enormous as me. What of the explosiveness contained within his big giant awesome muscles? Perhaps Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Kiyoshi Tamura, together in Sakata's corner, are asking themselves and each other questions of this very sort:
ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE as Sean Alvares has moved to tate-shiho-gatame after I guess maybe ten minutes? Please note that he is doing nothing with it but being super vascular, which is something he could do anywhere. TK SCISSORS ESCAPE TO A SCRAMBLE BEFORE TK HIMSELF APPLAUDING IN THE CORNER YESSSS THE TRIUMPH OF SPIRITED WAZA OVER VASCULAR LAYING THE CROWD ROARS IN YOKOHAMA AS DO I WHILST SITTING ON A FOOTSTOOL IN MY HOUSE WEARING A BABY BJORN TYPING ON A LAPTOP THAT RESTS PRECARIOUSLY ON THE COUCH YESSSSSSSSSSSS:
Sakata lands the punch he looks super about to land in that last image, drops low for a takedown, but is sprawled atop and squished and ends up on his back in the hikikomi position, which is to say Alvares is inside his guard. I wonder if Alvares will dynamically try to pass! Oh weird, he just hangs out doing nothing. The crowd erupts as Sakata so much as forms the thought of a mae-hadaka-jime front choke but it isn't there, and the bell rings to bring to a close a bout that should shame all involved except for everyone who isn't Sean Alvares. SAKATA IS PISSED WHAT IS HAPPENING THERE IS A FRACAS and Sakata gestures towards his glove or his fingers or something; had Alvares been messing inappropriately with his hands? If so I missed it, forgive me. Order is soon restored, Alvares is revoltingly given the win, and Sakata emerges a hero despite the loss (that is how you book).
The lights come up for intermission and there really are an awful lot of people here, among them Masayuki Naruse, who joins the WOWOW team on commentary as a video package highlighting the strange fact of the Maeda/Karelin encounter that looms so near before us. The core clips, as you would expect, demonstrate Karelin's ability to ruin enormous men with the lift that came to bear his name:
We also have fairly extensive footage of Maeda training at Muarice Smith's kickboxing gym in Seattle and lifting weights whilst wearing local collegiate athletic gear. Maeda works shooting low on Kohsaka time and time again and it occurs to me that trying to take Aleksandr Karelin down is probably going to prove slightly futile? His style is Greco-Roman, though, so he is not used to leg attacks! (This would not ever even slightly matter.)
Our next match is insane, in that it pits Ricardo Morais against Hiromitsu Kanehara. There is a size difference between them, have a look:
Morais, you will recall, is the comic-book villain who ruined Yoshihisa Yamamoto in seconds but got laid on forever by the much-smaller-and-thousand-year-old Grom Zaza; I am worried that this match will look a lot more like the former than the latter. Who knows, though, maybe Hiromitsu Kanehara's weird energy will protect him? Last show, I captured an image of Kanehara applauding Tsuyoshi Kohasaka after his (shoot-style) victory over Kiyoshi Tamura, but I forgot to post it then. Here it is now:
He is sort of odd! And we love him. I hope this will be okay. Kanehara shoots low at once but is unable to finish the takedown as Morais sprawls out, flattens him, and takes the back. Kanehara stands, though, and looks for the gyaku-ude-garami from that position that Kazushi Sakuraba would in time make famous, but before anything can develop in that direction, they are down, with Morais held between his chubby little foe's baby legs. Do you think Sean Alvares, who you can see in the corner, and Ricardo Morais are on the same diet? The one that keeps you that lean with all that size? They're sure doing something right, those two! Here they show the same approach to passing the guards of vastly smaller men, in that they refuse to so much as attempt it, nor to work towards a kansetsu (joint-locking) or shime (strangling) technique, nor yet to hit (not that I think hitting is right, but it is one of the options available to the gigantic person on top in a Vale Tudo match). Hey good for Ricardo Morais, he has stepped a leg over into niju-garami or half-guard! In the little scramble that follows, Morais takes a waist-lock, but Kanehara stands and turns, and the crowd roars when their pudgy little buddy gets an underhook to stave off a takedown. Kanehara drops for an ankle pick/heel trip/kibusi gaeshi but alas it is not to be had and we are back to Morais between Kanehara's lil' drumsticks as the ten-minute mark is reached. Kanehara works up to his feet! Morais has his back and Kanehara is trying the Sakuraba-style gyaku-ude-garami again! This little fella is going for it! Whenever they stand back up, Kanehara pretty immediately goes low for an ankle-pick but it has yet to work. There is so much Portuguese yelling from the corner as we reach fifteen minutes with Morais again between Kanehara's legs, doing nothing to either get around them or to hit (I still do not condone hitting, please do not mistake me). Kanehara tries to "shrimp" or ebi his way into a juji-gatame position a couple of times within about a minute, which is more than Morais has done in these fifteen-plus as far as looking to finish goes (it goes pretty far). ONE MINUTE LEFT and after like ten seconds of stand-up one of Kanehara's kibisu-gaeshi/heel-reversal/ankle-picks kind of works! He's on top for an instant! Morais throws up-kicks towards the now-standing Kanehara and when Morais is laying on his back with his legs straight up in the air, we see that his legs are nearly are tall as, like, all of Kanehara, it's wild. The match ends with Morais again between Kanehara's legs. The near-literal ogre Morais exults like a conqueror as he wins a decision that discredits him; the noble Kanehara leaves the ring a greater hero than he had entered it despite his loss; RINGS is the best.
VALENTIJN OVEREEM enters the ring to "Firestarter" to face the KIYOSHI TAMURA in a rematch of Overeem's stunning shoot-win and one wonders if as much will be left to the will of Ares this time around? Probably less, right? The Yokohama crowd is wild for Kiyoshi Tamura, as wild as the wild guitar and indeed the wild-guitaresque synth of Tamura's "Flame of Mind" theme which recalls nothing so much as "Wild Guitar" from any number of Fires Pro. REVENGEMATCH is the excellent commentator's excellent call. A lost point comes for Tamura nearly at once as he his punched in the chest super-hard in what is plainly a shoot-style bout and I definitely see where they're coming from with the decision to have one of those. They head matwards, Tamura fully on top in tate-shiho-gatame, gathering up both of Overeem's arms as one does when preparing to assume the cross-mark perpendicularity of ude-hishi-juji-gatame from there; the snaking position of his legs (I believe some call this "s-mount"? not me, but others I know, and have known) tells the same tale. Ah, but Overeem is a taught man who knows much well, and escapes at the very moment of the technique's application. Omote-sankaku-jime to juji-gatame, just last night we were drilling the attack Tamura uses here to drive his foe to the ropes! Only we were going juji-gatame --> uke slips their arm out --> sankaku-jime (after using your foot on their hip to square-up or indeed turn to the far-side! that's my favourite detail), which flows beautifully into --> juji-gatame on the other arm. A gregarious fellow I trained with years ago would call these "our threes," as in, like, "let's drill our threes from hikikomi" and so there you are with your juji (one), sankaku (two), juji (three). It just feels so great to do. Throw in ashi-sankaku-garami (known to many as the omoplata) as way to branch off of towards another worthy family of waza from the same circumstance and you've got a whole class, and a pretty good one! This match is just excellent, and it's not all Tamura: everything Overeem does is close and true. Tamura does his hyper-real in-and-out-and-around bit that I am not nuts about (we have discussed this previously) but ends it with a fine rolling attack so I will not belabour it (not this time; maybe again next time, though) and Overeem has grabbed a rope once more, so we are tied at two lost points. OH HEY a fine juji-gatame finish in the middle of the ring! At 6:08! At some point Tamura seems to have had a tooth "shoot" knocked out! What have they done to our beautiful boy!
Tamura calls for the microphone and addresses the crowd and they are very pleased with his words.
As soon as Tamura's music ends, the crowd roars and begins to chant MA E DA MA E DA before anyone has been introduced or anything. The ring announcer explains the rules, and I think the situation is two five-minute rounds, two points lost for a knockdown, one point for an escape; there is a lot of writing on the screen too so there are probably details I did not grasp from the announcer. Fireworks! Above the ring! I think for the first time in RINGS? Aleksandr Karelin's music is suitably ominous as he walks out the heavily smoke-machined aisle. (I think it's an Ozzy song from the long Zakk Wylde period? Have you ever seen the video of Zakk Wylde playing "Mississippi Queen" in the parking lot of a strip-mall where you can see a Subway restaurant in the background? I think it is a very genuine expression of something.) Maeda enters of course to "Captured" and the chants long familiar to us as he picks his way through swarming admirers.
You can totally see it, right? OKAY HERE WE GO and Maeda comes out kicking hard. And he goes low for a takedown! It definitely doesn't work even a little! Karelin takes Maeda's back but they are in the ropes and restood. WOAH Maeda just tried a kind of ude-gaeshi (arm-reversal) takedown but yeah that didn't work either. Karelin is unfazed by Maeda's hikikomi or "guard" position and is on his back again soon enough, and clasps his hands in an inverted waist-lock maybe for the liiiiiiiiift no they are in the ropes, and are stood. Maeda is really firing in those kicks! Karelin throws with a sutemi-waza sacrifice technique from a mae-hadaka-jime front-choke position (frontuuu necklock!) but Maeda gets ahold of a leg and attacks with kata-ashi-hishigi in the mode of the single-leg-Boston-crab and Karelin grabs a rope. Have I yet stated that this is a shoot-style match, or were you able to tell for yourself given the fact that Maeda still lives? Either way, this is really very good so far and it has been less than three minutes. Karelin seems really good at putting people down and then, once they are down, controlling them and turning them over; I only ever watch wrestling at the Olympics so that is not an expert view by any means but I do feel there is a measure of truth to it. YESSSS HERE COMES THE LIFT YESSSSSSSSSSS:
STOP THE MATCH BEFORE MAEDA IS KARELIN-LIFTED AGAIN PLEASE REFEREE RYOGAKU WADA EXERCISE YOUR AUTHORITY IN THIS MATTER but he elects not to at this time and Maeda comes to his feet and begins to knee Karelin in the very middle of his really very powerful-seeming body. The crowd is pretty into this. At this point the obvious occurs to me: as a promoter, Akira Maeda is no doubt thrilled he was able to convince Aleksandr Karelin to come and do a match; as an athlete, he must have been like "ah hell I have to take the lift, don't I"; but as an artist he must have been like this is so worth it. Karelin cuts Maeda off and hucks him to the mat effortlessly as Volk Han delights in all this from the corner. The bell sounds! That's round one! This is just excellent. Maeda opens round two with a knee to the body and then he sort of half-sprawls out of Karelin's arm-drag and the crowd loooooooses its mind as Maeda applies a hadaka-jime strangle for a moment before Karelin rolls him over the top and secures him in a mighty kesa-gatame that Maeda wants out of badly enough that he expends a point on a rope escape. Even if Aleksandr Karelin was being friendly to you, I would think his kesa-gatame would feel pretty heavy? That's one point each, then, as the points seem to be carrying over between five-minute rounds. Maeda seems likely to use another as Karelin messes around with te-gatame (a hand-armlock) in the corner, but they are both sufficiently in the ropes that they are stood up without charge. Ah, there's another rope escape though, and again from kesa-gatame, the scarf hold (kesa is queen, kesa is king). Karelin tosses Maeda quite effortlessly again and turns him over with an arm-lever. Back up, Maeda tries a kata-guruma shoulder-wheel or fireman's carry but he gets first squished and then Karelin-lifted again, so that went about as badly as could ever be feared. Karelin takes the back, standing, and the colour-commentator is like "hiza-juji?" but no, Akira Maeda will in fact not be rolling through for a knee-bar in this instance. Time expires, the bell sounds, Karelin is our winner on points, and it is time for well-earned hugs:
WELL THAT WAS A TREAT AND A DELIGHT and I am still kind of amazed that it ever happened!
WHAT DID DAVE MELTZER SAY:
February 22, 1999:
"OTHER JAPAN NOTES: Akira Maeda returned from Seattle on 2/16 for his match with Alexander Karelin. At press time, Karelin had yet to arrive from Russia. Maeda said that the rules for the match had still not been finalized, but he's looking at doing two five minute rounds, and in the case of a draw, going to a third five minute overtime round. The belief is that every match on the 2/21 show will be a shoot except possibly the main event, which nobody will know about until it gets into the ring. That means they are once again risking Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Valentijn Overeem if they are going in without a finish, because Overeem blitzed him and hurt him when they fought last year in that huge upset which took a lot of the specialness as far as being a top headliner away from Tamura. Tamura will also do a shoot match on 4/23 with Frank Shamrock so that's asking a lot. The Shamrock match has been delayed because Shamrock had a six month no-compete clause in his contract with SEG for the 10/16 fight with John Lober, and SEG refused to allow him to fight anywhere else until it expired. RINGS wanted the match first in January, then for the big February show, and then for the 3/23 show at NK Hall but SEG sent RINGS a letter saying they were not going to allow Shamrock to fight on any of those shows. This sounds weird, but this is what I was told, that Maeda returned from the U.S. weighing 285 pounds (he's been totally out of shape at 255-265 in recent years), but said he's trained so hard he feels like he's 230. Kenichi Yamamoto of RINGS quit after the last show. He had that really weird match with Willie Peeters. Apparently the match was a shoot but seemed weird because Yamamoto's reactions were all screwed up from taking so many shots to the head. Yamamoto may go to Pancrase, but his ultimate goal is to return to pro wrestling, but not for a few years. Right now, due to all the head trauma, he's taking time off. Yamamoto basically said that the schedule of fighting so often, whether the fights are works or shoots, results in too much head damage from the style. He's intimated that even in the shoot matches with RINGS that there are guidelines and understandings about things people can't do."
Look at this unbelievable item, it's truly incredible Dave (or anyone) would run this as news:
"Pankration looks to be debuting as an Olympic sport in the 2004 games in Greece. The U.S. will be fielding a team and among those who will be State directors will be Ken Shamrock and Keith Hackney (who was famous years back for knocking down 640-pound Emmanuel Yarbrough in UFC III in 1994) and Shamrock's Lions Den may wind up being the Olympic training center for the sport. Apparently Dan Severn, who would be 46 at the time, is actually contemplating trying for it, as he's had a life long goal to make an Olympic team."
Dave getting utterly worked like the merest mark; this is just a shocking lapse of judgment and a brutal "self-own" in the parlance of I suppose not our time but of the fairly recent past. How little would one have to know about the Olympics to have reported this? Like almost nothing, right? This is staggering. Let's try to collect ourselves and move one (I am not suggesting this will be easy, only that we must try).
"The latest on Frank Shamrock and SEG is that Shamrock's contract has expired but is saying he's willing to defend the middleweight title against Vitor Belfort or whomever else, but not until August, as he's fighting with RINGS on 4/23 and is talking about promoting a show in San Jose over the summer and is also getting married this summer. So the ball is in SEG's court regarding the middleweight title."
March 1, 1999:
A major piece on FINAL CAPTURE:
"Perhaps the greatest competitive wrestler who ever lived, and certainly the most successful, Alexandre Karelin, the Russian nicknamed "The Experiment" (probably not for anything he has done himself in laboratories or food supplements he's experimented with) an 11-time world Greco-roman champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist who hasn't been beaten in any form of competition in more than 12 years, headlined his first pro wrestling event on 2/21 at the Yokohama Arena for the RINGS organization.
There are things known about the match. Karelin, 31, won a decision via a 2-1 point score over Akira Maeda in a two-five minute round match. Maeda, 39, a pro wrestling legend in Japan who retired before a packed house in the same arena in July, came out of retirement for the main event of the biggest RINGS show in history before a sellout 17,048 fans paying an estimated $2,479,000--which probably rivals only the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki match in 1976 as the largest gate for a traditional arena (as opposed to a domed stadium) in the history of pro wrestling.
The match was considered a major success both financially for the company, which has been struggling at the gate since Maeda's retirement due to its top two remaining stars, Kiyoshi Tamura and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, despite their talent, not breaking through and becoming pro wrestling drawing cards. The appearance of Karelin garnered incredible publicity both within the wrestling and martial arts world of Japan, but also as a top sports story, as it received major coverage on every network sports segment and got six full pages of coverage the next day in Tokyo Sports, unprecedented for pro wrestling in years. The question among insiders going into the match, and still coming out of it, was what exactly was the match.
Apparently this has become a hotly debated issue among wrestling fans on the internet in Japan, as to whether this was a shoot or worked match. We should have a complete review of the show from videotape hopefully by next week, if not the week after.
The general consensus among those there live is it was a shoot match, but perhaps with agreed upon stipulations before hand which is not unusual for shoot matches in that organization, perhaps limiting some forms of striking. There is natural skepticism due to Maeda's background. Reports from those live indicate the match had no "holes" (spots in worked shoots where it becomes noticeable that the combatants are working together), which would be almost impossible in a work since Maeda in numerous worked shoots has never had a match without holes against far more experienced workers. Only the very best RINGS workers, a category Maeda doesn't fit into, against one another, can do a worked match without holes, if this truly didn't have any holes. It is ridiculous to believe Karelin never having done this before could pull off a work that would be believable, especially since he wasn't in the country long enough to practice it out ahead of time which is common practice in worked matches with people who had never done this before. That doesn't rule out a shoot with one person carrying the other to the time limit instead of working to finish them although Karelin would probably not be experienced enough at that aspect of "holding back" in competition without that also becoming evident watching the match.
Karelin himself never threw one blow, but dominated throwing Maeda around like a rag doll for most of the bout. But realistically, in a striking match, he would have lost, so it served him no purpose to even try and do something he was unfamiliar with simply because the rules allowed it, when his strengths would not have been attempting to throw blows, but in using his power to throw his opponent around, although he could have done open hands while in the mount but perhaps that was pre-match agreement in regard to agreement on what rules the match would be held under, and even striking on the ground could give Maeda an opening to get a submission. Maeda had never done a "real" match in his legendary career (the closest he came were two legendary pro wrestling matches which broke down into anarchy, a 1985 match against Satoru Sayama and a 1986 match with Andre the Giant). With no reputation needed to protect since he was retired and had no intention of coming back after this match due to persistent knee problems, it is conceivable he would have, for the good of his company, done a shoot match. All Japanese media covered this match as if it was legitimate, which isn't necessarily the seal of approval but that is how it was handled. It isn't conceivable Maeda should have done shoot matches during his active career, for he was not a world-class shooter in reality but was the company's big drawing card and needed to be protected for the survival of the company. Because he had retired, protecting his reputation wasn't necessary for future business as it had been in the past, and nobody would hold it against him to lose to Karelin under any situation, who most wrestling and martial arts reporters after the match believed was the most powerful man they had ever seen in any form of combat competition.
Maeda trained under Karl Gotch at the New Japan dojo and later for the original UWF in submissions and had a strong karate background as a teenager before being recruited by New Japan pro wrestling in 1977. Among fighters familiar with Maeda, and knew of Karelin only through reputation, was that as a pure wrestler (Karelin was a military champion in sambo as a teenager and boxed as a young child), since the match could only end via knockout or submission, that if it was a shoot (and those involved in training Maeda insisted from the start it was going to be even though most others were skeptical due to Maeda never being in one before, citing that and his age and the ungodly physical power of his opponent), it would end with either Maeda hooking Karelin if he got tired or made a mistake since Karelin is used to matches under far shorter time limits in international Greco-roman rules, or Karelin throwing him around like a rag doll but not finishing him. However, Karelin has injured foes in Greco-roman wrestling with his famed Karelin lift (basically a shoot version of the pro wrestling Dr. bomb) and did have the power to perhaps knock Maeda out with it a throw, although that was unlikely, or injure him, which was far more likely. Ten minutes was considered too short of a time limit to give Maeda a strong shot at winning, and Maeda's stamina would have been suspect in a long match as well, because he's never been in top shape in years and was inexperienced at this level of competition. He'd be expected to take tremendous punishment being thrown around until he could hook him or catch him with a kick.
The first round opened with Maeda throwing kicks and going for a takedown, which sounds ridiculous because it had 0% chance of success. Karelin blocked it and injured Maeda's neck in the process. Karelin threw Maeda around for a while but Maeda caught Karelin's ankle midway through the first round and scored a point (which may have been with a half boston crab) when Karelin made the ropes. Karelin used his Karelin lift late in the round, further damaging Maeda's neck. In the second round, Karelin dominated, gaining rope break points with a headlock choke and with an armbar, which has to be a surprise Karelin even getting Maeda into a submission position. At one point early in the round, Maeda did get Karelin's back momentarily but was unable to secure a choke. The two points meant Karelin was the winner when time expired. The match was said to have been more exciting than most expected it would be, particularly since the earlier shoot matches on the show were dull and that the vast majority of the match saw Karelin dominating Maeda holding him on the ground in the mount position with Maeda unable to handle the power and move. Maeda did get some low kicks in before being taken down a few times in the fight. Maeda had to be helped from the ring due to the damage he had suffered.
After the match Karelin stated that he was tense and uneasy about fighting this style for the first time. He said he was lucky to be near the ropes when Maeda got his ankle or he would have had to tap. He said his strategy was to wear Maeda down in the first round and go for a finish in the second round, but that he got tired faster than he expected and couldn't finish Maeda, although Maeda appeared to be more tired than Karelin. He said he was satisfied with a win in his first match under these rules but suffered some damage from leg kicks which concerned him because he's competing in the Russian national championships next week and the world championships in June. He said he wouldn't return to RINGS at any time in the near future. He said to continue to fight this style, he would have to train for the sport, and at this point all his training is geared toward winning a fourth gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He hinted that he would consider returning after the Olympics.
Of the remaining three major matches on the show, two were definitely shoots and another was a work. Kiyoshi Tamura avenged a major loss in a shoot match last year to Valentijn Overeem to an extent, winning in 6:08 with an armbar in a match which was a work this time out. Most likely Tamura won't be doing another shoot match until his 4/23 match in Osaka against Frank Shamrock, which was officially announced to the crowd at this card. It was also announced at this show that on 3/23 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall there would be a Vale Tudo rules match with Randy Couture, the former UFC heavyweight champion, facing Soviet Ilioukhine Mikhail. RINGS had been attempting at various times to book a rematch between the Tamura and Overeem of Holland after Overeem destroyed Tamura, injuring his ankle badly in the process one year ago. The rematch would have had to have been a work because in hindsight it turned out to be such a major mistake risking Tamura's reputation and health in a shoot against a much larger and younger opponent who was both a dangerous striker and quick on the ground in submissions. In the shoot matches, giant Ricardo Morais (6-8, 280) of Brazil won via decision in a boring match over Hiromitsu Kanehara (5-6, 213), a far more technical fighter simply giving away too much size, and RINGS fighter Wataru Sakata also lost a boring decision match to Brazilian Vale Tudo fighter Sean Alvarez. 2/21 Yokohama Arena (RINGS - 17,048 sellout): Yasuhito Namekawa b Ryuki Ueyama, Yoshihisa Yamamoto b Andrei Kopylov, Volk Han b Nikolai Zouev, Sean Alvarez b Wataru Sakata, Ricardo Morais b Hiromitsu Kanehara, Kiyoshi Tamura b Valentijn Overeem, Alexandre Karelin b Akira Maeda."
and
"Coming off the big show on 2/21, RINGS announced several major arena shows over the next several months. On 3/22 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall besides the Randy Couture vs. Ilioukhine Mikhail match will also be Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara, Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Valentijn Overeem and Masayuki Naruse vs. Dave Von Popai. The 4/23 Frank Shamrock vs. Tamura will be at Osaka Furitsu Gym. 5/22 will be at Tokyo Ariake Coliseum, 6/19 at Nagoya Aiichi Gym and back on 7/23 at Osaka Furitsu Gym. They were looking at putting Tom Erikson vs. Ricardo Morais on the 5/22 show, however Morais, who had signed a two-fight deal, when he heard that Erikson was his proposed second opponent, refused to fight for the agreed upon money and it appears he's done with RINGS, however it appears Erikson will still debut on that show."
and
"Among the names in the Abu Dhabai World Submission Wrestling world championships from 2/24 to 2/26 are: 143--Joao Roque (Shooto, EFC), Royler Gracie; 156--Andre Pedernerias (Shooto, Contenders), Eddie Ruiz (Kingdom), Fabiano Iha, Hayato Sakurai (Shooto), Jean Jacques Machado (Shooto), John Lewis (EFC, Shooto), Kaoru Uno (Shooto), Robin Gracie, Rumina Sato (Shooto); 191--Akihiro Gono (Shooto), Akira Shoji (Pride), Amoury Bitetti (UFC), Robby Kilpatrick (Ken Shamrock's real life brother), Egan Inoue (RINGS), Fabio Gurgel (UFC), Omar Bouchie (Pancrase), Renato Verrissimo, Renzo Gracie; 215-Jerry Bohlander (UFC), Rigan Machado, Murillo Bustamante, Roberto Traven (UFC), Sanae Kikuta (Pride), Vernon White (Pancrase) and heavyweight--Carlos Barretto (UFC), Chris Hasemann (RINGS), Gary Myers (EFC), Mark Kerr (UFC/Pride), Ricardo Morais (RINGS), Sean Alvarez (RINGS), Travis Fulton (Pancrase/Extreme Challenge), Tra Telligman (UFC/Pancrase)."
March 8, 1999:
Dave
gets
tape:
"In the years to come, there will likely be more written about the Akira Maeda vs. Alexandre Karelin match on 2/21 from the Yokohama Arena than any match within pro wrestling this year.
The match is not only notable because it was the debut of the most successful competitive wrestler who ever lived into pro wrestling, but because it bridged three different worlds together--pro wrestling, amateur wrestling and martial arts. And after the fact because of endless speculation that has and will no doubt continue to transpire over what it exactly was, perhaps for years given the amount of coverage the event received in Japan thus far. In addition, Japan, far more than the U.S., is into long-term historical sports perspective when it comes to pro wrestling, and the U.S. is more soap opera where history is generally forgotten after the next episode of the television show.
After viewing a tape of the show, it is not easily clear, which will no doubt make the debate on what it was that much more vociferous. Karelin is a freak. He came in at 295 pounds and was ripped, with his strength generated in particular in his low back and thighs. He didn't have the bloated denseness of a steroid user and was almost lithe and sinewy in build yet still weighed 295 which is where the freakishness of the big head and big hands comes in. I wouldn't try and insult anyone's intelligence by using the fact he never failed a steroid test in sports as evidence of anything as announcers have done over the past three Olympic games, particularly for a man whose nickname at one time was "The Experiment." While there are no doubt plenty of weightlifters who can push more iron, I'd doubt there would be many, if anyone in the world, who could out power him in man-on-man strength which has been evident for more than a decade as he's gone unbeaten and almost untouched in Greco-roman wrestling. None of that has much to do with the big question.
I'm skeptical of the legitimacy of the match. The match had great intensity and no matter what it was, it was a huge success both financially and as an event and a spectacle for the market it played to. It will be remembered in a positive light by everyone except for those who considered nothing but it's legitimacy, and the fact Karelin was involved in a work. Of course, that's because the live audience was largely those who see RINGS as an offshoot of pro wrestling. For those looking at it from the other two worlds, amateur wrestling, which doesn't do works, and martial arts, which sometimes does depending upon the sport, the framework of judging this would be different. The two did an outstanding job of making it appear to be legitimate for 10:00, which is difficult. Karelin had doubtfully never worked a match before (although he did throw people around in what was called an exhibition in 1989 at a New Japan show at Tokyo Sumo Hall). It was believable enough that people who wanted to believe wouldn't be disappointed and apparently the Japanese media covered it as if it was legitimate, and it received tremendous mainstream sports coverage. But there were holes and it was ultimately more a pro wrestling match than a competitive mixed martial arts match.
First, it appeared Karelin gave Maeda his leg in the first round and waited for Maeda to put the ankle lock on him and then grabbed the ropes for a point. The way Maeda got the leg with an ankle pick and the way move was set up didn't seem believable given Karelin's skill level as a wrestler. Because Karelin is inexperienced at the submission aspect (although he was a Soviet military champion in sambo as a teenager), the hesitation in Karelin's reactions waiting for the move appeared a give-away.
The second round began with what looked to be a high spot. Maeda took Karelin down and got his back and went for a choke. Karelin quickly reversed it and got a cranking headlock for a rope break point in the first 25 seconds.
If one can argue that things that shouldn't happen can happen to explain the first point, because world class wrestlers have been surprisingly taken down in MMA matches before (although never a wrestler of Karelin's credentials by a man pushing 40 like Maeda), the second point kills the arguments. There is no way Maeda could cleanly take down Karelin twice, and certainly no way in the manner he did in the second round. Where it gets weird, is that everything from that point forward looked pretty legit, although there were holes if you look for them closely where Karelin seemed to ease off the pressure, but other times he appeared to be trying to bend Maeda in very painful positions with his freakish strength. If someone were to argue that they agreed to give each other one spot and it was legit from there, it would be an arguable case although that probably wasn't what it was either. It did appear Karelin was trying to finish Maeda with submissions the entire second round as opposed to laying on him and carrying him for time as we've seen when guys have carried other guys for him in otherwise legitimate Pancrase matches. The crowd intensity was tremendous for Maeda's spurts of offense which gave the match an authentic sports feel since Karelin couldn't block leg kicks and Maeda can throw them. Late in the first round, when Karelin did his Karelin lift, it appeared he was taking something off the impact of the slam, but he was so powerful and the jarring to Maeda while landing was still devastating. I have no doubt Maeda took tremendous legitimate punishment over the course of the match and deserves a lot credit for hanging in there and finishing his career with the match he'll always be remembered for in a positive way and what will be one of the two defining moments of his career, even though he lost.
The RINGS organization also become headline fodder in British tabloids the Daily Mail and Daily Star this past week due to Lee Hasdell promoting a show on 3/7 in Milton Kings, England. The tabloids called the RINGS show "Ultimate Fighting Championship Rings" and used quotes from Sen. John McCain about UFC and the death of Douglas Dedge in Russia on an MMA show trying to say the show should be banned due to it being barbaric. One story claimed that Tank Abbott was elbowed in the head 256 times on a RINGS show, which would be accurate except that elbows to the head are illegal in RINGS, and that Abbott has never fought in RINGS. There was also a photo of Dedge being taken out on a stretcher before dying.
As an event, "The Final" was a good mix of styles and a successful event in attempting to attract new fans to the company through the mainstream curiosity from the main event. Whether Kiyoshi Tamura, who avenged his most devastating loss of his career, although it was a worked win to avenge a shoot loss. This is where RINGS gets confusing to everyone because you never know exactly what it is until it takes place, and even then sometimes you don't really know. Tamura put on a great performance in the semifinal in his win. Will Tamura be able to keep some of the curious fans interested in RINGS is the question that answers the company's future?
1. Yasuhito Namekawa beat Ryuki Ueyama via 1-0 score after the 20:00 time limit expired. The only point was Ueyama getting a yellow card 8:30 in and it wasn't even clear what for. This was a real good shoot match under RINGS rules. A lot of good standing exchanges with Namekawa getting the better of it. Namekawa actually tried a Baba-style high kick in a shoot. As the match went on, Namekawa tired and Ueyama, in his debut match, nearly got him twice with chokes. Ueyama is the typical 180-pound Japanese shootfighter with endless stamina and a lot of skill. If it hadn't been for the yellow card, this would have been a very difficult decision.
2. Yoshihisa Yamamoto beat Andrei Kopylov in 6:55. This was a worked match and turned out to be pretty good for the style with good holds and switches on both sides. The score was tied 3-3 before Yamamoto caught him with a choke in the middle and Kopylov struggled before tapping. **1/2
3. Volk Han beat Nikolai Zouev in 4:49 with a combination half crab using his legs instead of his arms for the crab and using his arms for a facelock. This was a very good worked match, particularly Han doing his great matwork and submissions. **3/4
4. Sean Alvarez beat Wataru Sakata by decision in a 20:00 Vale Tudo match. Alvarez weighed 244 to Sakata's 195, and was looking like a cross between Mark Coleman and Scott Steiner. This was a shoot under Vale Tudo rules (basically similar to UFC but without stand-ups so the match could continue forever stalled on the ground, as it did), but really boring but the fans were still really into it anyway. Alvarez took him down immediately but never once tried to do anything but get position and hold him down. He got side control and then a full mount, but still did nothing on offense but hold his position until 15:50 when Sakata finally got away. The place went nuts at this point. Sakata got a momentary takedown but Alvarez quickly reversed it and was caught in the guard. And there they stayed until time expired. Sakata was working for submissions in the final moments from the bottom and if there had been no time limit may have eventually won. After the match ended, Sakata got up and complained that Alvarez was doing something illegal (it appeared he was signalling manipulating joints) and kicked him in the chest and everyone at ringside pulled them apart.
5. Ricardo Morais beat Hiromitsu Kanehara by decision after 20:00. Morais is 6-8 3/4 and 279 pounds and ripped, but looking far more artificial than Karelin. Kanehara is 5-6 and weighed 211 so there was another size mismatch. You pretty well got the idea that RINGS booked its Japanese fighters in these ridiculous size mismatch matches so if they lose, it's okay because they were fighting someone much bigger and if they were to win, it would get them over big. Morais got behind him and then wound up on top but caught in the guard. He punched from the top and was more aggressive than Alvarez. Kanehara was far more skilled but was giving away far too much size and knew he couldn't stand with the bigger man because of the incredible reach difference, nor could he take him down so he wound up eating a lot of leather. Kanehara escaped a few times and tried ankle pick take downs but couldn't get them and was caught underneath every time. Even when Morais got behind Kanehara, he never worked for a choke. He'd punch Kanehara, who would turn his back. Kanehara got a momentary top position but was quickly reversed before the finish. Kanehara, who swells easily, had his eye pretty swollen up by the end of the match. Not much happened but people were into the drama of it.
6. Kiyoshi Tamura beat Valentijn Overeem in 6:08. This was finally, one year later, the rematch to Overeem's upset in a shoot last year. RINGS didn't make the same mistake as this was a work but one hell of a stiff work. Overeem, who is 6-3, was down to 193 (he was 220 last year) and looked skinny. It appeared Overeem actually knocked Tamura out momentarily early with a palm heel. Tamura's matwork on the ground was out of this world with the quick spinning moves into submissions made more impressive because he was working with a guy with virtually no experience doing works. Overeem put Tamura down a second time with a kick and a knee, and it appeared the knee knocked Tamura's tooth out. Tamura kept feeling for the missing tooth. Overeem got a half crab, but Tamura escaped and turned it into an armbar for the submission. ***1/2
7. Alexandre Karelin beat Akira Maeda via 2-1 score after two five minute rounds. Maeda came in at 257 and was in the best shape he'd been in years, but the stories of him being 285 with 5% bodyfat were a joke. I doubt his bodyfat would have been below 15% Maeda threw three low kicks to set up a missed high kick. Karelin then simply manhandled him, throwing him around where he hurt his neck early (it wasn't a takedown attempt by Maeda as much as Maeda trying to just get low to avoid being thrown) and Maeda maneuvered near the ropes so a stand-up was ordered. He went back to leg kicks and went for a spin under, but was caught underneath. Karelin did try some weak attempts standing at throwing slaps but there was no way he could stand and strike with Maeda and look believable whether work or shoot. Karelin took him down with the front headlock but Maeda got a leg trip and the ankle lock at 2:48 for the rope break point. That didn't look believable. A few more leg kicks before Karelin just throw him down. He executed the Karelin lift at 3:56. There was super heat for the spot and when Maeda came back throwing some knees before being taken down again. At the end of the round, Maeda looked like he was one step from collapsing. So then he got the takedown to begin the second round and was reversed into the first headlock choke. Karelin took him down a second time and kept trying to maneuver different version of wristlocks . Karelin got his second point at 2:39 of the round with another cranking headlock. Karelin also delivered Maeda's favorite captured suplex. Maeda tried a spin under and got caught underneath again. Karelin tried a second Karelin lift but barely got Maeda off the ground. Maeda had to be helped to the back. The match was a lot better than you'd think, but part of that was due to the crowd heat because Karelin just looked like a more powerful version of the typical "lost" huge European amateur wrestlers that are brought in for this group. **1/4"
CTRL+F "RINGS" also brings us news from the ADCC:
"Mark Kerr, who recently made his pro wrestling debut and is generally regarded as the top heavyweight in the world of shootfighting, added another honor to his expanding resume capturing the unlimited weight class at the World Submission Fighting championships 2/24 to 2/26 in Abu Dhabai.
The second annual tournament, bankrolled by rich oil Sheiks in the Middle East, brought together one of the strongest fields of any tournament of its type in history under unique rules with some strange happenings. With no striking allowed, matches generally had ten minute time limits, of which the first five minutes were submission only, as in no points being kept. If no submissions took place in five minutes, the next five minutes were under a point system similar to the sport of Jiu Jitsu awarding points for takedowns and dominant positioning (side mount, full mount). If the score was tied or no points were awarded after ten minutes, an additional five minute overtime period was added, in which case judges would pick a winner. In certain cases, even after the five minute overtime, the judges would pick a draw, in which case the fighters would do a second overtime. The championship matches expanded those time limits, so it would be ten minutes with only submissions, another ten for points, and if tied, the overtime period lasted 20 minutes which wound up with one fight, in the 215-pound weight class championship match, going 40 minutes. Another strange rule is in the event of an injury to a winner, the losing competitor in that match is given the chance to replace the winner in the tournament.
Kerr, who is 10-0 under MMA rules including tournament wins in both UFC and Brazil, scored wins over Carlos Barreto, a top-level Jiu Jitsu and MMA star from Brazil, Josh Barnett of the United States, Chris Hasemann of RINGS Australia and Sean Alvarez of Brazil to win the unlimited weight class although failing to secure a submission. In what looked to be the most important first round match-up going on, Kerr won via judges decision after 15:00 over Baretto in a world class wrestler vs. world class Jiu Jitsu fighter battle. He defeated Barnett by six points in the quarterfinals, Hasemann by 15 points in the semis and Alvarez by six in the finals, which meant he fought a total of 55 minutes.
In the superfight, last year's heavyweight and absolute champion Mario Sperry of Brazil, considered in many circles as the best submission fighter in the world, defeated Shooto world heavyweight champion Enson Inoue, the recent conqueror of Randy Couture, by a 16-0 score.
Other champions were Jeff Monsen of Matt Hume's AMC Pankration team out of Seattle at 215 pounds, beating Saulo Robeiro, a Brazil Jiu Jitsu fighter from the United States who was coached by Sperry in the 40:00 marathon by judges decision; Russian wrestler Kareem Barchlov at 191 pounds beating Alexander Savko by two points; Jean Jacques Machado, who recently fought and lost in shooto last year, an American from the famed Machado brothers academy beating Japanese shooto fighter Kaoru Uno with a choke in 4:45 to win at 167 pounds and famed Royler Gracie, brother of Rickson and Royce, winning at 143 pounds over Socca of Brazil in 33 seconds with a leglock submission.
The heavyweight division was loaded with big names, with those who have dabbled in pro wrestling capturing the top three spots. Alvarez, who was coming off a shoot fight with RINGS on the big 2/21 show, finished second. Alvarez has done several matches with RINGS, all of which have been shoot matches. Hasemann, who placed third in a unique placing, is both a promoter for RINGS in Australia and an undercard performer in Japan. He's probably among the most underrated workers in the entire pro wrestling business and one of the most talented for his ability to make working matches look so real. Hasemann beat Gary Myers, who has done shootfighting around the world and some pro wrestling on an independent level around Indiana, by six points in the first round before losing by two points to Ricardo Morais, who also came off a shoot win on the 2/21 RINGS show. Morais suffered an apparent broken ankle in his first match against Lions Den fighter Tra Telligman (Pancrase/UFC) in winning a match described as a war, by three points. Telligman caught Morais in a heel hook but Morais refused to tap and won the match on points for getting superior positioning. Morais taped up his heel and continued, beating Hasemann, but the next day, his ankle was badly swollen and he couldn't continue, which put Hasemann back in the tournament and he defeated Luis Roberto Duarte by three points in the third place match. Duarte had also lost earlier and advanced when his victor, huge Mark Robinson, the World amateur champion in sumo as well as being judo and sambo champion of South Africa, pulled out after beating Duarte in the quarterfinals. Robinson pulled out of the tournament supposedly due to a dispute between his sponsors and the promoters, although that's probably a nicer way of saying that the promoters were looking to make sure one member of Team Abu Dhabai (consisting of Alvarez and Morais) would at least make it to Kerr in the finals.
Among performers tied to either pro wrestling or MMA in the 215 pound weight class, Vernon White (former Pancrase) of Lions Den won his first match by points over Daiju Takase of Japan (most noted for his win on the Pride show over 680-pound Emmanuel Yarbrough last year) before losing by 16 points in the semifinals to Saulo Ribeiro. Murillo Bustamante, the Brazilian who is highly respected in MMA, won his first two matches before losing by five points to Ribeiro in the semifinals and failed to continue to go for third place, instead saving himself for the Absolute championships held later where he ended up losing in the quarterfinals. Roberto Traven, who competed in the same UFC on the undercard in Detroit of the second Dan Severn-Ken Shamrock match, was eliminated in the second round on points by eventual champion Monsen. Traven came back in the Absolute division to win beating Shooto fighter Hayato Sakurai on points, the latter making a tremendous impression going to the finals in the absolute division despite weighing only 160 pounds. Jerry Bohlander of Lions Den beat Shang Wenyu, a member of the Chinese National Judo team, with a choke in 4:05 before losing on points to Rigan Machado in the second round. In one of the biggest surprises of the tournament, Ricardo Almedia of Brazil, who lost by points earlier to Bustamante but advanced when Bustamante pulled out of the third place match to save himself for the Absolutes, choked out Machado to capture third in just 50 seconds.
At 191 pounds, Akihiro Gono of Shooto in Japan was knocked out in the first round by points against Ricardo Liborio of Brazil. Fabio Gurgel, a noted Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champ with UFC experience, won his first round match but lost in the second round by points to Alexander Savko. Omar Bouchie of Sweden, who has fought a few times recently in Pancrase, lost via points in his first round match to Savko. Famed Renzo Gracie, the defending champion, won his first round match, but in upset, lost by two points to Egan Inoue (Enson's brother who also has fought in RINGS) in the quarterfinals. Inoue, who won his first round match over Robbie Kilpatrick (Ken Shamrock's real-life brother as Ken's birth name is Kenneth Wayne Kilpatrick, who went in with a shoulder injury) via armbar in 9:25, wound up losing by points to eventual champion Barchlov in the semifinals, before finishing fourth after losing by points to Liborio. Amaury Bitetti, a Brazilian best known in the U.S. for losing a UFC war to Don Frye in one of the great matches in UFC history in Detroit, defeated Akira Shoji of the Pride organization in Japan by points in the first round before losing in the quarterfinals on points to Barchlov.
The 167-pound weight division was weakened when Rumina Sato, with little question the most exciting submission exponent in the world, pulled out due to being ill. Sato was in Abu Dhabai but unable to compete. Still, there were a lot of interesting matches in that weight division. John Lewis of EFC fame, tapped out in his first round match to Shooto's Kaoru Uno in 8:05. Eddie Ruiz, a member of Tank Abbott's crew who has fought in Kingdom pro wrestling and has been considered for UFC as a lightweight, was a big surprise winning his first two matches, the second via decision over Robin Gracie. Ruiz luck ran out from there as Uno beat him via choke in 6:00, and he finished fourth losing to Sakurai's armbar in 17 seconds in the third place match. Hayato Sakurai scored a measure of Shooto revenge, beating Andre Pederneiras by decision in the first round, since Pederneiras knocked out Sato in a Shooto match late last year. With Sato out, he was replaced by Lions Den Team Manager Joe Hurley, who was submitted by Fabiano Iha, who has done very well in Extreme Challenge events in the U.S., with an armbar in 39 seconds. Sakurai outpointed Iha before being tapped out by Jean Jacques Machado in the semifinals, and then beat Ruiz for third, before going into the Absolutes and taking second. That also had its controversy as it was said he tapped out Ricco Rodrigues, a heavyweight, in the Absolute division clearly after the bell had rang to end the time limit but was awarded the win anyway. Machado, who lost to Frank Trigg in a Shooto match last year at the Vale Tudo Open, beat Uno in a battle of Shooto veterans via choke in 4:45 to win the division, being the only fighter in the tournament to win every match via submission.
The 143-pound division looked to go to Royler Gracie, and there were no surprises. Gracie won a decision over Joao Roque of Brazil, the biggest name aside from him in his weight class, in the second round. After that, Gracie easily outpointed Melchor Manibusan in the semis before beating Socca quickly in the finals."
It also brings us this:
"MMA: Ken Shamrock did a lengthy interview on the Fight World video magazine, which was actually shot at the last UFC, talking about his potential return and the reality of Pancrase. Shamrock said when his WWF contract expires this year, he wants to do one year back in the UFC when he's young enough (he just turned 35) and then go back to the WWF and said he didn't want to be like Marco Ruas or Dan Severn (in reference to still fighting near the age of 40). He made it clear he wants Bas Rutten. He said of Royce Gracie that he didn't get complete retribution against him but got enough in their second match that he's able to live with it but is still frustrated that he didn't finish Gracie off in their rematch which he said was going according to his plan but he didn't finish him off in time. "I didn't get the job done and that'll always be with me. Always." When talking about Rutten, Shamrock said that Rutten talked about his two losses to Shamrock in Pancrase (in 1994 and 1995) saying they were early in his career. Shamrock said that both started real fights at the same time in 1993 with Pancrase, which was the first true shoot organization, Rutten coming from kick boxing and Shamrock from pro wrestling and when they fought they had equal experience. He mentioned Pancrase asked him to put Rutten over for the title in their second fight and he refused, but said he'd agree to put a Japanese fighter over (Minoru Suzuki) but not a foreigner for the title. He said Pancrase was like RINGS, some shoots and some works. He said UWFI had no shoots and felt you can't mix shoots and works. He said WWF tried with the Brawl for All and the people didn't like it. He admitted his Pancrase match with Matt Hume was a work and both wanted it to be because Hume was a lot smaller and he's the one who booked him to Japan and taught him and neither wanted to beat up the other one. He said Pancrase started as all shoots, but they started doing some works when too many fighters got injured since he broke Ryushi Yanagisawa and Yoshiki Takahashi's ankle, which led to banning heel hooks, and broke Takahashi's jaw twice. He said Rutten was very possibly telling the truth when he said he'd never done a worked match in Pancrase because he said all he can say is he was asked twice. He said he didn't know if Rutten was ever asked. He said his loss to Severn in Detroit was "an embarrassment," saying he wasn't physically or mentally ready to fight. He said he was injured most of his last year in UFC and fought at too heavy a bodyweight (said if he came back he'd fight at 215-217). He said in regard to injuries that his joints are in better shape now even though his body has taken a lot of punishment in pro wrestling, he said it's a different kind of punishment. The reality is that unless a cable breakthrough is made, and there are no indications that is on the horizon, there is no way UFC can afford to pay Shamrock anywhere near what it would be worth for him to give up a year of pro wrestling based on what he's earning in WWF even if he really wants to do it again."
AND WITH THAT THE AKIRA MAEDA-ERA OF FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS IS BEHIND US, THE KING-OF-KINGS ERA AWAITS and I suggest we explore all of this together. Thank you once again for your time and for your attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment