"APRIL 8, 1991: "Akira Maeda's 'Rings' Promotion debuts 5/12 at the Yokohama Arena (17,000 seats) with Maeda vs. Dick Leon Fry on top. It'll be interesting to see how well Maeda can draw all by himself, and this group is Maeda and nothing else."
"APRIL 22, 1991: "Akira Maeda's 'Rings' group which they are say will actual shooting starts on 5/11 at the Yokohama Arena. The card will air on television on both 5/12 and 5/18. He also has Osaka booked on 8/1 and Sapporo on 9/3. The group booked Korauken on 4/12 with 2,000 fans simply to see the announcement of the first show, an interview with Maeda and sparring. Maeda, Dick Leon-Fry (a bodybuilder/kick boxer who faces Maeda on 5/11) and Chris Dolman were there sparring. Maeda and Dolman sparred for five minutes trading legholds. The name "Rings" comes from the name of Dolman's promotion which is called Rings of Holland and this will be Rings of Japan."
"Maeda's 'Rings' promotion debuted 5/11 at the Yokohama Arena before 11,000 fans. The crowd was impressive because there were very few freebies (by Maeda's own decision) and it was really Maeda alone as the drawing card. Maeda's main event against kick boxer/bodybuilder Dick Leon-Fry from the Netherlands turned out to be Maeda's best match in a long time. The matches were all worked, although the crowd seemed to be convinced otherwise and popped big when Maeda pulled out the win after giving Fry a lot of the match. The other matches involved Dutch guys trained by Chris Dolman (sambo) and Wilhelm Ruska (judo); however, the fans weaned on the UWF noticed the guys did judo and sambo submissions and not the Karl Gotch-UWF style submissions that the fans were used to. Dolman worked against many time world champion powerlifter Bill Kazmaeir, in a match said to be awful. Dolman won by submission in the fifth round. Maeda is also plagued by a front office that includes nobody that has ever worked previously within the pro wrestling business."
— Dave Meltzer, on the first RINGS show.
"RINGS, the first pro wrestling company to start out as a worked promotion and end up as a 100% shoot promotion, officially folded with the announcement of the company liquidation at a press conference by CEO Akira Maeda on 12/27."
"The folding, effective after the company's final show, the traditional annual tournament finals on 2/15 at Yokohama Bunka Gym, may also spell the end of Maeda, one of the most influential pro wrestlers in history when it comes to influence on the evolution of the business. Due to that, the legacy of Maeda, 42, perhaps the single most important person when it comes to the popularity of both shoot style pro wrestling and actual shooting in Japan, will continue to shape the future industry. It is expected this will spell the end of Maeda's career in the pro wrestling and MMA world due to his unpopularity within both worlds in recent years, but stranger things have happened."
"In its nearly 11 years, RINGS created the popularity of many of the biggest stars in today's Pride such as Antonio Nogueira and Gilbert Yvel. Before going to an all-shoot format in late 1999, the company had promoted some of the greatest technical pro wrestling matches in history, largely involving Kiyoshi Tamura in his various battles with the likes of Volk Han, Ilioukhine Mikhail, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Yoshihisa (now Pride fighter Norihisa) Yamamoto. It also created its own stable of pro wrestling stars, and while switching formats, forced all of them to go into shoot matches to defend their reputations, with both good and bad results."
— Dave Meltzer, on the last RINGS show.
"Maeda went his own way, figuratively turning his back on pro wrestling, by teaming with WOWOW to do an offshoot of the UWF, only claiming it to not be pro wrestling, even though it was, and claiming it to be a new sport they were going to invent called RINGS. His first goal was to avoid all ties with pro wrestling, by not using any North Americans or Mexicans, even if they had experience with only so-called (worked) shoot promotions. His talent instead came from contacts that gave him access to Eastern European Olympic athletes, Russian sambo champions and big real fighters, street fighters and bouncers from Holland. The idea was not to use anyone with a taint of pro wrestling in them, a doctrine they didn't always follow."
— Dave Meltzer
"RINGS would often do shoot matches on the undercard, although that wasn't revolutionary because UWF had done some shoots as well, although never with any of the big names. The ultimate Maeda irony was that his dream was to create a sport, not pro wrestling organization, where they would fight for real under pro wrestling rules. RINGS started with points for knockdowns and rope breaks, and with no closed fist punching. As UFC style fighting gained popularity, rope breaks and points were eliminated and finally, fighters started wearing gloves and punching was legalized. The only difference RINGS maintained to the end as compared to a Pride, Pancrase or UFC, was no closed fist punching or knees on the ground, leading to more of an emphasis on submission technique as opposed to brawling and ground-and-pound. With more frequent stand-ups, it created a cleaner and faster-paced and less brutal looking sport. But it was also one less marketable, particularly in countries that had seen UFC or Vale Tudo first like the United States. In the end, Maeda temporarily did achieve his goal. But he himself had to retire to do so, because he himself was never willing to risk his reputation in a shoot."
— Dave Meltzer
"First and foremost is a business that should be profitable and therefore the spectacle should be spectacular. Of all the current fighting shows, RINGS seemed to me the most interesting - it is possible to demonstrate a high level of technique, strength and speed and at the same time reasonable restrictions remove the danger of accidental injury or death. A high class and ethical principles lead fighters to guarantee no foul play."
— Yuri Kochkine
"Yeah, I like those rules. But I think it requires less skill though, because if you have a heavy puncher, you will have to be able to grapple real good because he can throw a bunch of punches and knock the guy out. But with the RINGS rules you have to be more skilled because you are not allowed to punch in the face when you are on the ground. So you will have to make him tap out. But beside that I like it also. I'm comfortable with those rules as well. But I think that RINGS is a very good experience also."
— Valentijn Overeem when comparing NHB rules with RINGS rules
"RINGS style is very good style. It’s between Kickboxing style and the wrestling style, the sambo wrestling style with armlocks, leglocks and headlocks mixed with kicks so I think it’s the best style there is. You can do everything, it’s real, it’s fighting."
— Bert Kops Jr
"RINGS fighting style is very complete, you can do everything. That’s why I think it’s one of the best fighting sports there is. Because you can wrestle, you can kick, you can punch, you can do armlocks, leglocks, strangles. So I that it’s the most complete fighting sport there is."
— Ton van Maurik
"I think it’s a wonderful format. In the world of combat sports [martial arts] there are all kinds of genres, karate, judo, boxing, sambo, etc., and there are differences in techniques. But there can only be one champion for each and the effectiveness of the combat sport [martial art] that that champion represents/comes from is demonstrated inside of Rings. So this is worth participating in. And it’s also valuable to experience the techniques of other martial arts [combat sports]."
— Sotir Gotchev
"RINGS is okay. It's a good organization and they treat you well. If it weren't for the kind of screwy judging, then the fighting would be fun too. But, it's just real awkward over there to know what I have to do to win. I mean, one fight maybe I have to punch a lot; then the next fight, I have to be doing all submissions; and then the next fight, as long as I'm aggressive, nothing else matters."
— Jeremy Horn
"RINGS rules takes some getting used to. You have to look at things differently… you can’t just go out, look for the takedown, pass the guard and get the mount… that doesn’t mean as much as in NHB. You have to control the opponent throughout and hold your own on your feet."
— Jeremy Horn
"I actually enjoy the RINGS rules, which ban punching the head from the mount, more than UFC rules, because the change in fight by eliminating punches from the mount creates more exciting ground work and puts more of an emphasis on skill, and those rules created the King of Kings show that we reviewed last week, which was perhaps the best of the modern MMA style shows because of the skill level displayed and the variety of styles."
— Dave Meltzer
"I am the champion! I rule all the rings! I am high... the king of the universe! I am I who conquers all. If you mess with me, hey it’s you who’s gonna get slayed. Because I'm the king of all kings, I mean what I mean, let me tell ya, lets step into the ring!... Ankle hold, armlock, a front suplex, and that ain't all. High kick, middle kick, and low kick, I let you know who is the best. I got a German suplex hold, a front suplex. And if you really get nasty dude, I got something in store for you, my special Captured!"
— The Original RINGS theme, when it had "rap" lyrics.
"Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, "TK" Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Matt Hughes, Sanae Kikuta, Gilbert Yvel, Valentijn Overeem, Alistair Overeem, Alexander Otsuka, Peter Aerts, Genki Sudo, Mikhail Illoukhine, Renato Sobral, Bobby Hoffman, Andrei Kopylov, Hans Nijman, Hiromitsu Kanehara, Dave Menne, Ricardo Morais, Kiyoshi Tamura,…. they all fought in RINGS way before they stepped into PRIDE, UFC, or K-1. In fact, RINGS is where everything began. I'm not just talking about how many of today's stars were discovered by RINGS. Brazil may have planted a seed called Vale Tudo but RINGS definitely is the one who provided a variety of fertilizers to make this into a full-blown professional sport, and I believe, this makes RINGS undoubtedly a cornerstone of today's MMA. When we look at the very first poster of RINGS, it is apparent that Maeda was RINGS and RINGS was Maeda. The image of Maeda standing occupies half of it and on the other side, it says, "Akira Maeda, the first event." It is the first poster for RINGS' inaugural event but the word "RINGS" is printed almost apologetically, tiny, on the bottom. That's right. Back in 1991, Akira Maeda started it all and Japanese fight fans were only interested in what Maeda was going to do, not "what the hell is this RINGS all about?" Basically fans were wondering, "What can he do all alone?""
— From the article; "Akira Maeda & RINGS Part 1" by Shu Hirata
""RINGS will declare the strongest man in the world." That was the promotional copy, perhaps slogan and philosophy of this organization. In fact, Maeda didn't like RINGS being referred to as an "organization." For him, it was a network of fighters throughout the world who someday would provide all the top athletes in the sport a way to make good living by competing. Maeda, in front of all his fighters and staff, used to say, "We are over futbol, we are over baseball!" and everyone, in concert, raised a sports drink or juice or whatever they had in their hand. This was a ritual in the RINGS' locker room after every event. Maeda was dead serious, and his mind was set on bringing this sport, real fighting, Mixed Martial Arts, up to the same level as World Cup Soccer and Major League Baseball... While Maeda was gone, until he came back for competition in 1994, RINGS barely kept its place as one of the top MMA / MA fight organizations in the world along with the UFC, K-1 Pancrase, and Shooto but I believe RINGS still was the most revolutionary out of all of them. First, RINGS never restricted their own fighters from competing in other events, or other fighters from other organizations, disciplines, or gyms competing in RINGS. This may sounds ordinary today but back in the early 90's in Japan's fight business, this was immensely open-minded and incredibly rare. Fighters like Genki Sudo and Akihiro Gono tested their skills in RINGS, and at the same time, Maeda allowed, in fact recommended and sometimes urged RINGS Japan fighters to taste a different fruit; Yoshihisa Yamamoto entered in the 1995 Vale Tudo Japan Open, and in the first round, faced Rickson Gracie, and "TK" Tsuyoshi Kosaka, later went on to fight in the UFC. And secondly, RINGS never lost a track on discovering unfound land and there, began a new professional spectator sport called MMA. In 1994, RINGS Russia successfully held "the first professional sporting event in Russia." That's right. After the fall of so called communism, the very first professional sporting event held for the purpose of commercial gain in that country was in fact an MMA event called RINGS Russia. The following year, RINGS Holland promoted "the first professional Mixed Martial Arts event held inside of Holland." Believe or not, RINGS was the first again. Additionally, Maeda is the first one who went out to Brazil to reach talents outside Gracie Jiu-jitsu. By this time, in 1995, everyone in the fight business learned that the letter "R" is pronounced as an "H" in Portuguese because of Gracie Jiu-jitsu but not many promoters went out to Brazil to reach other fighters. There, Maeda later scouted, well, indeed excavated great talents like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. When we look at the past ten years of the UFC, K-1 or past seven years of PRIDE, the fighters from Russia, Holland, Brazil pretty much lead the scene. Sure, just like how Christo's gigantic white clothes lining along the shoreline or Walter De Maria's huge circles and squares attracted perhaps surprised media and critics, the bigger scale spectacle does get recognized relatively faster and easier especially by the general public. Maeda however only focused on a long-term success of the entire sport, not only RINGS. He wanted MMA to establish a status, not only in Japan or in the States, actually in the whole wide world of professional sports. Maybe this tells something about Maeda's foresight and predeterminations, and how epoch-making, innovative, and groundbreaking RINGS really was."
— From the article; "Akira Maeda & RINGS Part 2" by Shu Hirata
"To Maeda, Rings was more than a promotion or an organization of wrestlers. Maeda was thinking bigger than that. Like Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, Maeda saw what we would soon call mma as a global sport, as big as soccer or baseball. He pursued this vision with a passion, forming a network of Rings promotions throughout the world, most importantly in Holland and Russia. While Maeda saw the fighters of Rings as a network and collaboration, the cable television channel wowow that promoted his cards saw things differently. Like the fans, they saw Rings as a one-man show. So much so that the contract they signed with Rings included a unique stipulation: if Maeda did not fight, Rings did not get paid. This created a tough situation for Maeda the promoter and Rings the promotion. Maeda had a vision to move towards real fights. The Rings undercard frequently had competitive bouts, while the more important matches at the top of the card were all scripted wrestling matches. They had to stay that way, despite a number of tough fighters available from Chris Dolman's gym in Holland and Volk Han's Russian Top Team. This was a vision that couldn't be carried out because Maeda was not ready for real fights. He was in his thirties and his body had been destroyed by years of hard sparring and professional wrestling. The WOWOW contract made things worse. He tore a ligament in his right knee, but worked through it. Rings needed him too much. Eventually the knee got so bad he could barely walk. Maeda waited until he could sign a new contract with the television network, working through the pain to protect his investment in Rings. In 1993, he had no choice but to get surgery. It was a time of change for the sport in Japan. Many of the kickboxers Maeda brought to Japan through Rings, like Peter Aerts, joined with promoter Kaz Ishii to form K-l. At the same time, Funaki and Suzuki's Pancrase promotion revolutionized shoot-style wrestling by putting on fights up and down the card that were real. And then the UFC made its debut that November. Suddenly the brutal Rings matches were seen by the fans to be clearly just as fake as the matches Maeda mocked in the traditional wrestling organizations. While Rings could no longer claim to be the leading promotion in Japan, they were still breaking new ground worldwide. Maeda helped create a burgeoning mma revolution in Holland and Russia, not only bringing in fighters to compete in Japan, but also helping entrepreneurs to promote Rings events in Europe. In Japan the promotion was making the awkward transition from professional wrestling to MMA. Maeda had a second knee surgery in 1996 and when he returned he was fat and out of shape — a shell of his former self, clearly on his way out. Rings brought in Kiyoshi Tamura, Takada's understudy in UW Fi, to be the heir apparent. Tamura was both a legitimate fighter and one of the best professional wrestlers in the world: the perfect man to bridge the gap between real and fake in Rings. Tamura took a rare win from Maeda in 1997 on his way to becoming the Rings champion. He was expected to do it all; like Rings he would mix wrestling matches and real fights in his contests. It went wrong almost immediately. Tamura was talented, but only 180 pounds. His first fight as champion was against the lightly regarded Valentijn Overeem. Overeem had 50 pounds on Tamura and dominated him, making the champion and the promotion look bad. Tamura never recovered from the embarrassment; his opportunity to replace Maeda was lost, with his credibility, in a single bout. Tamura lost the title in his next fight, a worked wrestling match with Tariel Bitsadze. Rings had one final show where the promotion mattered, where it was as big as any other in Japan, if only for a night. Maeda's retirement match was expected to be with Rickson Gracie. The storyline had even been built. Gracie had beaten Maeda's UWF rival Nobuhiko Takada and it was up to Maeda, as the senior man, to avenge wrestling's reputation. But Rings had the same trouble negotiating with Gracie that Takada's UWFI did. The Brazilian star was adamantly opposed to doing a pro wrestling match, even if he was supposed to win in the end. The replacement for Gracie was another legend. Russian Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin was considered by many to be the best wrestler in modern Olympic history. Karelin won three gold medals and was undefeated in international competition for 13 years before falling victim to American Rulon Gardner in his final match. He was a credible opponent for a star like Maeda's closing match and Rings packed more than 17,000 fans into the Yokohama Arena to say goodbye to the legend. Karelin won the match and even used his famous Karelin Lift on Maeda. Unlike Antonio Inoki, Maeda didn't insist on winning his final match. The company used the big platform and all of the nationwide media to try and rehabilitate Tamura. He beat Overeem in a rematch; wisely, this time Rings asked for a worked match. The crowd, however, refused to accept Tamura on top. Attendance dwindled below 5,000 fans for all of Tamura's bouts as the headliner and the promotion was forced to make the change to legitimate MMA. Before Rings made this monumental change, Maeda wanted to be sure he had a fighter who could compete with the world's very best. Tamura had been their candidate, but he was simply too small for the role. They found their man in Rings veteran Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Kohsaka had been on the undercard of Rings' fights for years, but never made it far because of his lack of charisma. It turned out, however, that Kohsaka could fight. His breakout wins in the UFC convinced Maeda that he had his man. The King of Kings tournament was then created, bringing in fighters like Renzo Gracie and Randy Couture to headline a new era of Rings matches. With what eventually became two King of Kings Tournaments, Rings was able to bring in some of the very best martial artists in the world, this time for legitimate competition. Dan Henderson won the tournament in 1999 and Antonio Rodriqo Noqueira took the top prize in 2000. Rings introduced many of the world's best fighters to the Japanese audience, including Henderson, Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Alistair Overeem, and Fedor Emelianenko. A pattern was soon apparent. No sooner would Rings develop a star than Pride Fighting Championships would sign them away. Takada's group treated Rings like it was a minor league training ground. Rings went out of business in February 2002 after more than a decade of revolutionizing the sport of MMA in Japan."
— From the book; The MMA Encyclopedia
