Georgi Keandelaki vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto 5R. An odd match because Keandelaki fought with the boxing gloves. I have no idea how this was supposed to help him, as RINGS is just punching to the body anyway, but he was obviously very handicapped in the grappling segments. Yamamoto stuck to his strategy of kicking on the outside, and then taking Keandelaki down when he was close. He did a good job of maintaining range with his kicks, and then closing the distance on his own terms behind punch combos. It was difficult to determine what Keandelaki's strategy actually was. Yamamoto was very clearly the better kicker, and Keandelaki mostly sat back and allowed him to control distance, which resulted in him dictating the match, even on the feet. There were some heated segments, but Keandelaki was too laid back when it came to implementing his offense. Keandelaki got a knockdown late in the third countering Yamamoto's left palm with a right hand, but for the most part, his highlights were few and far between. Keandelaki did finally have a big fifth round, knocking Yamamoto down with a punch after the bell, the very definition of too little too late. This was okay, but Keandelaki was never flowing, and just seemed very awkward. Yamamoto looked good though, so the match mostly served its purpose.

Masayuki Naruse vs. Nobuaki Kakuda R5 1:20. A rematch from March gave Kakuda the rare opportunity to once again fight someone who is actually his size. Naruse is also inexperienced, so that kind of made up for Kakuda being new to ground fighting. Kakuda's takedowns and grappling are definitely improving to the point he wasn't afraid to go there on his own terms. Naruse still clearly had the advantage there though, and was the one who was looking to get the fight to the ground. Their previous match was much more interesting. This one had its moments, but was too sedated. There just didn't seem to be a lot of intensity or urgency here, which was unfortunate because these two should be able to have a better match together. It was all fine, but it just seemed that in the end, nothing all that notable really took place. The finish saw Kakuda catch Naruse's leg after he somehow missed a high kick without Kakuda even ducking, and Kakuda made a nice move, dropping down into an Achilles tendon hold. Unfortunately, it quickly turned awkward when Kakuda switched to attacking the other foot, and Naruse countered by twisting his ankle for what could have been the finish if the round didn't end. Kakuda kept missing with elbows until Naruse found one he could fall to. He barely got back up at 9, for the phony finish where he came back with a Dragon screw then won with a kneebar. It could really only have been more pro wrestling like if he used a figure 4 instead. Overall, this was just okay.

Nikolai Zouev vs. Tudor Todorov 9:50. Zouev made a very impressive debut here in this work that was dead on in most of the aspects of a shoot, particularly the constant pressure and small adjustments utilized in the grappling. It was certainly flashier, both when it came to the throws and their choice of submissions, but they kept trying to advance their position on the ground with such urgency. Zouev's throws were impressive, and with Volk Han in his corner, he pulled off a few nice sambo style submissions that added flair to the bout. Zouev even did perhaps the only reasonable body slam variation we've seen in a shoot style match. Certainly, this bout was a much more lively encounter than the previous two. They fought in a very relentless manner, constantly moving and adjusting, pouncing on every opening to keep the pressure on one another. Todorov was definitely no slouch, and might gain the initial advantage with a throw, only to have Zouev make some good moves to take over soon after they hit the mat. The striking wasn't up to the level of the grappling, but since they were so proactive and aggressive, it was good enough. In the end, Zouev pretty much overwhelmed Todorov, but Todorov was always doing his best to hang in there despite it being an uphill battle, so it didn't feel as one-sided as it actually was. ***1/2

Hans Nijman vs. Mitsuya Nagai R3 0:33. This was the most disappointing performance of Nagai's career. Nijman has the size and reach, and Nagai just sat back and allowed him to do whatever the hell he wanted. Nagai needed to pressure hans, show some sense of urgency and try something to get him out of his shadowboxing rhythm. As it stood, this match was simply Nijman doing kickboxing forms for 2 1/2 rounds until Nagai finally crumbled.

Willie Williams vs. Bitsadze Tariel R3 1:35. Tariel would become one of the worst performers in the history of shoot style, the foreigner no one could understand why Maeda was pushing. That being said, he looked pretty good here. He was much thinner and quicker, moving well and working fairly stiff. This was mostly karate style, which was good for Williams. Williams was competitive, but the much younger Tariel was far too quick and energetic, just beating him on volume and work rate. Tariel missed so badly with two punch that he nailed Williams in the head, the second one caught him right across the chin, cutting the inside of poor Willie's mouth since they weren't wearing mouth guards. After a short break, Williams came back by finishing him off with an awkward no body control guillotine. I was expecting a travesty, but this was actually okay. It wasn't what you'd call exciting, but there was nothing boring or inept about it either.

Volk Han vs. Dick Vrij 9:09. One of the things that makes Han one of the 10 best performers of all time is he just keeps coming up with not merely one new hold after another, but essentially one new match after another, despite being in the most restricted and limited genre of pro wrestling. While middling performers such as Ric Flair were ridiculously praised for regurgitating the exact same cornball match for 50 years, Han was constantly innovating and creating, always trying to be unpredictable and show something new, different, and original. This was the best match of his career so far, which was surprising given Vrij has no real aptitude on the mat, and isn't even going to do anything memorable in standup on his own. Vrij provides good kickboxing offense for the few who can figure out how to keep him out of his comfort zone enough that he is dialed in and focused on seizing his openings rather than just doing his movie striking routine, and here he also proved to be pliable enough, though Han wasn't actually able to do any of his mat sequences or counters, it's basically all a single attack before Vrij grabs the ropes for the restart. Han came out charging at Vrij, immediately dropping him with a left straight/right hook combo. This is the sort of aggression I was expecting from Nagai earlier. Han's striking was looking the best it has since his earliest matches. He was putting a lot more effort into his footwork today, and being unpredictable and explosive to try to beat Vrij with the speed and deception of his entries. While Han was serious about his striking, the main thing was just throwing combos while closing the distance to keep from getting nailed coming in. Whatever damage he did in the process was a bonus, but getting a hold of Vrij was a necessity. Since Han was going right for the submission rather than trying to take Vrij down via wrestling, grabbing Vrij while he was still trying to defend Han's strikes provided some openings. This often meant that Han was working some sort of standing arm lock, which sometimes would force Vrij to the ground because he had to go/roll with the momentum. At that point, Han could attack a leg. When Vrij was able to back Han into the ropes, it was big trouble for Han, as he could just batter him, mixing quadrants until he found the high kick. Anytime Vrij was less proactive though, Han could just grab him and jump or drop down into a submission. The coolest example of this was when Han used a Russian leg sweep variation, maintaining a clasp around Vrij's neck and leg to force a rope escape. Perhaps because Vrij's only ground game was grabbing the ropes, Han wound up being more realistic with his mat work because he couldn't use any of his set pieces. There was a great sense of urgency from both, and while it was spectacular, it rarely felt flashy for the sake of it, and was actually one of the more purposeful and realistic matches you'll get from these two. Vrij was beginning to catch Han cleanly too often, and when Vrij caught him flush, Han was crumbling to the canvas, so Han was increasingly just looking for any way to get the fight to the ground. The discrepancy in the rules certainly worked in Vrij's favor though, as every time Han locked the submission, he seized the ropes and that was only half a point lost, whereas when he dropped Han with one of his crushing strikes, that was a full point lost. So basically Han was winning the match in the sense that he was having his way more often, but Vrij was dominating the scoreboard, leading to Han being on his final down when Vrij was still on his second of five. After Vrij got a rope escape for an armbar, he hurt Han with a high kick. Han knew he had to press forward, but he didn't have any particular explosion, and Vrij was able to nail him with a clinch knee then finish him off a right palm as Han was grabbing at him. Han had won their first match last August, so now Vrij evened the score, which while not my favorite result, it was important to keep parity between the top star of Russia and the top star of the Netherlands, especially with Japan's top star Maeda still shelved. This was possibly the best match of Vrij's career. It's on the short side, but that helped because both were working full speed, and able to keep being aggressive and pushing the pace throughout. ****