Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto Kakutogi Road: The Chronological History of MMA |
They say that politics make for strange bedfellows, and that axiom has never been proven to be more accurate than when looking at the long and storied history of combat sports. However, in the case of early MMA history, it’s not just the bizarre alliances that shaped due to political/financial necessities, but how the same informational zeitgeist swelled in different pockets of the world before converging into one another via Japan’s nascent MMA scene. During our many columns here at the Kakutogi Road, we have spent a lot of time discussing the early history of MMA starting from the vantage point of early 90’s Japan, but like anything else in life, there is an interconnectivity with many other moving parts and influences that allowed that to take shape.
As we are about to dive into the third round of FIGHTING NETWORK RINGS’ inaugural MEGA-BATTLE TOURNAMENT, let’s first take a moment to look at the only other country (Holland) that was making serious efforts to advance the science of modern MMA, and the main men who started it, Jon Bluming & Chis Dolman. Bluming was one of the very few people in the world to have climbed to the highest echelons of both judo and karate. He took up judo around the age of 23, and in only a year, he received the 3rd-degree dan from Tokio Hirano by beating 75 judokas in 26 minutes, one of which was another 3rd dan. This incredible feat put him on a fast track to be a top judo trainer, teaching around the world while founding a school in Nova Scotia, Canada. However, in 1959 Bluming grew restless with his abilities when he found himself struggling to beat another top-ranked American judoka who was also a 3rd dan. This reevaluation prompted him to move to Japan and join the Kodokan Institute, where he began refining his skills in earnest. Bluming found that his throwing abilities were very strong, but that his ne-waza (groundwork) needed to be improved, so he enlisted the help of legendary ground specialist and first known user of what’s now referred to as a triangle choke, Yaichihyoe Kanemitsu. During his time in Japan, he started taking interest in other forms of martial arts, especially karate, and in the subsequent years he started shifting more and more of his attention to it. Eventually, he earned a 6th degree black belt in Kyokushin Karate from none other than master/founder, Mas Oyama. By this stage of his life, he was a legend within both the small worlds of judo and karate, and was highly sought after for his expertise.
Around four years after receiving high accolades from Mas Oyama, Bluming began to take issue with some of the internal politics within Kyokushin and opted to start his own karate dojo. It wasn't long afterward that a young collegiate athlete named Chris Dolman crossed paths with Bluming and became his star pupil. Like his sensei before him, Dolman instantly took to judo and karate, becoming a fierce competitor in his own right. However, unlike Bluming, Dolman also took an interest in Sambo after being introduced to the sport by entering an international competition in Moscow in 1970, despite not having any experience in the art. Dolman continued his winning ways for the next several years, but little did he know that in 1976, an opportunity would come along that would not only change his life but drastically alter the trajectory of martial arts for years to come. In 1976, another one of Bluming’s renowned judokas, Willem Ruska, was scheduled to have a pro wrestling match against Antonio Inoki. Dolman tagged along, and his experience as Ruska's cornerman unlocked his imagination to the possibilities within mixed fighting. Up to this point, Bluming had proven that a man could excel in both grappling and striking disciplines, but no one in the modern era had ever attempted to systematically synthesize the two for sports applications. While being thrust into the world of Japanese pro wrestling, a platform for merging the two worlds started to make sense to Dolman. This fascination grew to the point whereby when 1981 rolled around, Dolman wanted to throw a party in which a full-scale pankration tournament would take place at a local music venue. This experiment could loosely be considered the first MMA event to take place in modern recorded history, although the concept was still in a very primitive stage.
While Dolman’s brief stint inside the world of New Japan Pro Wrestling planted the seed of what could be possible in the realm of free-fighting, Dolman still did not have many outlets available to him that would warrant full-blown cross-training. Most of his time outside of his own training was spent training young street kids,and trying to put them to work via kickboxing, bouncing, or as added muscle to sleazy Dutch crime lords. Thankfully, Akira Maeda had different plans for him, and when he was in the process of starting up the NEWBORN UWF promotion, he sought out Dolman and requested that he help teach some of his wrestlers, as well as possibly send in some of his talents. By the time Maeda spoke to Dolman about a possible business arrangement, the movement towards what would be known as MMA was in full swing thanks to Satoru Sayama and the accomplishments of the original incarnation of the UWF. The framework for a pro wrestling company based around realism had been laid, and now Dolman had finally acquired the means to put all of his knowledge to good use. Dolman sent Gerard Gordeau to headline the 3rd UWF show against Maeda on 8/13/88, but Maeda had a lot of key native players already in place for the 2nd UWF run, and Dolman's assistance was only required sporadically.
Fate would intervene, however, when a massive clash of egos splintered the Newborn UWF and forced their three primary personalities to start their own vanity projects. Strangely, this hurt Maeda the most, as despite being the biggest draw of anyone in the UWF, he had a horrible reputation amongst the core UWF crew, and none of that roster wanted to work with him any longer. If Maeda was going to have any hope of rising above the bridges he burned and launch a successful company, he needed more than just an occasional worker sent over or some sporadic training. No, this time he had to start from scratch, but this would seem impossible because all of the people trained in this niche style were already slated to work elsewhere. Necessity is the mother of invention, and Maeda quickly remembered Dolman, and the possibility of using his network of various martial artists seemed like a no-brainer. Granted, almost none of them had any pro-wrestling experience, but thanks to the world that Dolman had created, they were usually at least somewhat knowledgeable of all ranges of fighting, even if their skills were usually rudimentary in a particular dimension. Thanks to Maeda and Dolman's fortuitous relationship, MMA was able to spawn and evolve throughout parts of Europe, and in many ways, it helped to keep Japanese MMA afloat by continuing to provide many of the warm bodies that were needed for its boom period of the 90s. Over the years, Dolman's influence in the worlds of Dutch kickboxing/MMA would only grow, as it got to the point where anyone that trained in or around Holland from the late 80s to the late 00’s probably had dealings with Dolman at one point or another. Bas Rutten, both Overeem brothers, Gilbert Yvel, along with many others can be included in the long list of fighters that trained with him and his various associates.
Fast-forward to our present hour, and we are about to partake in either the greatest moment of Chris Dolman’s career or the most shameful, depending on your perspective. Yes, the 1992 MEGA-BATTLE Semi-Finals are upon us, and thankfully only the last two bouts will be part of the tournament.
Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto
Kakuda was in a shoot two months ago, a brutal affair that saw him gallantly die upon his shield as Dick Vrij wailed upon him with the cruelest of mercies. Hopefully, he'll be fighting for real once more, which is what will be needed to awaken Yamamoto from autopilot mode.
Round 1 sees Yamamoto continually keep Kakuda on the mat, and while we are unfortunately in worked territory, Kakuda RINGS a great intensity that keeps you engaged. However, you can still tell that he graduated from the prestigious Ric Flair School of Exaggerated Facial Expressions whenever he's in a submission. The following rounds saw Kakuda get a lot stiffer in those brief moments that he could stay erect, whereas Yamamoto, on the other hand, kept trying to put silly submissions like the STF or half crab on a mostly resistant Kakuda. This made for interesting viewing as we have probably all wondered at one point how possible it would be to try and slap a figure-four on a non-compliant foe, and the answer is, not likely. The real magic happened at the end of round 5 when there was a dispute over whether Kakuda scored a crucial last second knockdown or it was a low blow! Round 6 starts and 14 seconds is all it takes for Kakuda to kick Yamamoto into oblivion. This was a very cleverly worked bout that was very entertaining. Yamamoto is cleverer than I gave him credit for as he didn’t have to rely on cooperation to work a match with Kakuda as much as simply rely on low percentage submission attempts, or if he wasn’t doing that, taking a page out of 1984 Fujiwara and simply wait until your opponent is close to the ropes before applying pressure with your submission. Lots of great energy makes this a nice opener and easily *** ¼
ML: This was just the fifth match of rookie Yoshihisa Yamamoto's career, the other four being against fellow rookie Masayuki Naruse. Here he found himself in a heated shoot against 31-year-old karate champion Kakuda. This seemed kind of unfair given their experience level, but Yamamoto does have a huge reach advantage, and actually has some understanding of mat wrestling, rather than just being a pure striker like Kakuda, who is struggling to learn a new sport. It was ultimately pretty even, and quite good, probably the most interesting long shoot we have seen so far. Though this started off with a belly to belly suplex by Yamamoto, and had a lot of odd leg twisting by him early on, with him trying everything short of the STF, there was too much impact on the strikes for this to have not been legitimate. I mean, Kakuda was hitting much harder than in anything we've seen from him outside of Seido Kaikan, and these guys were really going at it hard, beating each other's legs and bodies up big time. I would explain some odd mat techniques by Yamamoto by saying that Yamamoto, and mostly everyone else, didn't exactly have a great grasp of real submissions yet, nor did Kakuda have more than the most rudimentary knowledge of defense. While Yamamoto certainly dominated on the mat, he probably could have won if he would have stuck to more conventional leg locks or worked for a rear naked choke when he had the back instead of doing weird things he saw in the UWF or something lamer, but these were the days when I was trying to finish off my friends in play wrestling with the sharpshooter or Hercules Hernandez torture rack. Kakuda landed several very effective inside leg kicks when he was actually on his feet, but Yamamoto simply had too much leverage for him, and wound up getting him down virtually every time they locked up. Yamamoto had an ankle lock at the end of the second round that Kakuda should have tapped on, but he screwed up his knee gutting it out to secure the rope escape, and was hobbling around for the next three plus rounds. Kakuda wasn't willing to just survive, he somehow found a way to start strong in each subsequent round. He immediately scored an inside leg kick knockdown to start the third round. Yamamoto was still able to get the fight to the ground by overhooking Kakuda when he came forward and tried to strike inside, which is his specialty in karate. Yamamoto forced a rope escape with an armbar, and had a rear naked choke, so he likely would have won his third round in a row, if they were scoring that way. The match became much more interesting with Kakuda closing the distance with more aggression and ferocity in the 4th, hurting Yamamoto early with body punches. This was a much better round for Kakuda, who also finished by nearly ending the fight with an inside leg kick knockdown because Yamamoto's leg was starting to betray him. Yamamoto decided to start the fifth round with an inside leg kick of his own, but while this certainly did damage, it mostly just seemed too piss Kakuda off, and he went into boss mode, hurting Yamamoto with yet another inside leg kick, then finally unleashing his ferocious body punches now that Yamamoto wasn't moving or overhooking as he was earlier in the fight because he was tired and beat up. Yamamoto had to will himself to circle, but this was still a bad round for him, and he was knocked down again from another inside leg kick. Kakuda used a rope escape near the end of the round to get off his back, and then hobbled his way in and dropped Yamamoto with a clinch knee, but after much deliberation, it was eventually properly ruled a low blow. This sent them to the extra rounds, where Kakuda came out on fire again, this time finishing off Yamamoto with a storm of 5 or 6 kicks to the bad leg in between a few body punches. A great comeback for Kakuda, and an excellent start to the night. Very good match.
Mitsuya Nagai vs. Sergei Sousserov
This match marks the debut of “Russia’s Secret Weapon,” Sergei Sousserov. If Sousserov is any indication, then it’s no surprise that the Motherland lost the cold war, as Sergei’s only notable win came in the form of Tsuyoshi Kosaka in 1995, of which I am unable to confirm or deny the shootiness of at this time. When we last saw Nagai, he was getting pummeled by the mighty palms of Masaaki Satake, one of the few times that he enjoyed squashing another opponent with such ease. Sousserov is out to impress, with plenty of kicks, feints, and throws, for everyone at the super echoey Ariake Coliseum. None of which looked particularly realistic, but was entertaining enough. Everything here was light, fluffy, and showy, which wouldn’t have been a bad thing if it wasn’t coming off the really stiff output of the first match. All of this was a bit too silly to be a strong recommendation, but it did show that Sousserov has a nice skillset, with fine judo, sambo, and even kicking while screaming like a banshee. If he can learn to come across more credibly, then he will be a fine hand. Eventually, Nagai wins with the high-kick KO. ** ¼
ML: Sousserov may have been Russia's Secret Weapon, but it was quickly no secret what he was going to do. He would throw a couple strikes to get inside, use a belly to belly suplex to take Nagai down, and then go into either an armbar or a leg lock. Sousserov, another sambo specialist, was entertaining enough, but his repetitiveness combined with Nagai never being allowed to do anything kept his match from being nearly as good as the sum of its individual parts. Nagai did come on some in the second half, but the match went on for so long, he had to eventually do something, I suppose. I was pretty shocked when Nagai suddenly knocked Sousserov out with a high kick. This was definitely 10 minutes longer than it needed to be, even if we aren't considering that it was Sousserov's debut, and he has a limited move set. This couldn't follow the intense opener, but overall was a nice start for Sousserov, in that he is a pretty good athlete who executes well and has a decent mix of standup and submission skills. He's definitely someone who could become a good worker with some experience and fine tuning.
Georgi Kandelaki vs. Rudy Ewoldt
This matchup intrigues me as the last time we saw Ewoldt, he was shooting for his life against Nobuaki Kakuda. Kandelaki, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise in his debut when he shadowboxed Hans Nijman. This slice of weirdness was another maybe-it's-a-shoot-maybe-it-isn't, as nothing they did seemed fake, but Kandelaki wasn't putting a lot behind his punches, either. It is listed as a shoot on a few different websites, so maybe this was just treated as a moderate sparring session. Round 2 saw Kandelaki show a moderate increase in stiffness, which adds a little more weight that this might be a proper shoot, so, perhaps, Kandelaki was pacing himself in the first round. Kandelaki clipped Ewoldt in the jaw early in the round, this winning by KO. I was excited about the prospect of a Judo vs. Boxing shoot, but this lacked any fire that could have made it worthwhile.
ML: Ewoldt looks like he could be a cousin of Chris Dolman, and unfortunately wasn't much more exciting. This was your classic grappler versus striker match, except Ewoldt couldn't control the fight on the ground when he did get Kandelaki down. Ewoldt seemed to have a chance after losing the first when he upending Kandelaki with a low kick early in the 2nd, but again couldn't maintain the advantage, and Kandelaki knocked him out midway through the round after they were restarted for being in the ropes. This was short enough to not be a terrible work, but it's definitely one to skip.
Volk Han vs. Sotir Gotchev
Bulgaria, yet again, gets another chance at redemption with the 2nd outing of Sotir Gotchev, despite their 0% success rate in giving us a worthy fighter up to this point. The great thing about having Volk Han involved is you already know that the match is going to be composed of copious amounts of win. The question will now be, how much win are we going to get. The bell doesn’t even ring before Gotchev attempts to get a Ric Flair-style cheap shot while shaking Volk’s hand. However, the referee hilariously does not permit this shenanigan, and restarts the two properly. As a side tangent, I remember one time Joe “Big Daddy” Stevenson did his usual sportsmanlike extending of the fist to start a fight, and some clown used it as a way to cheap shot him. Such cowardice should not be tolerated, and all MMA fighters doing so should be barred from polite society. With that rant out of the way, the action is underway, and it seems that Gotchev went to the Scott Steiner dojo of hoist and toss, ugly but effective. Han eschews any pretense of realism with an insanely entertaining hybrid of an inverted omoplata/toehold combination that didn’t work, but is in the stratosphere for creative holds. Gotchev simply has no answers for Han, as his next offensive attempt was none other than a shoot-style version of the airplane spin. The rest of this was all the Volk Han show, with Gotchev not having anything constructive to offer. This lack of skill was offset, to some extent, by Han’s boundless ingenuity but fell short of a typical Han bout. Han eventually wins with one of the most ridiculous submissions that I’ve ever seen which was a cross between a Vulcan neck pinch and a Fujiwara/straight armbar, which should award him either an award or a reprimand. I wanted to rate this higher, but Gotchev drug this down to a ** ½.
ML: I had high hopes for Volk Han vs. Balkan, especially after Gotchev's good debut against #2 sambo specialist, Andrei Kopylov, in the first round of the tournament on 10/29/92. While it's nearly impossible for anything from Han to fail, this was a good match that never seemed to be firing on all cylinders. While not a total one man show from Han, it felt more like Gotchev could do some slammy things, and Han, as always, figured out how to work around what Gotchev could do, rather than Gotchev really being able to work with Han. Gotchev wasn't bad by any means, but at this point he had offense rather than understanding how to work, and that hampered the match. Gotchev did a really nice job of scooping Han up and throwing him around like a rag doll, if you don't mind a bit of Mike Rotunda in your worked shoots, so Han had to focus on using his wrist manipulations when they locked up to prevent that, or just take control with his pretzeling submission attacks once they hit the canvas. At one point, Gotchev had a reverse body lock, but Han turned into it and bent down, lifting Gotchev by his knees and dropping him on his head, then going into a rear naked choke. Han used a handful of new moves here including the standing armlock that he won with, but overall this was somewhat disappointing in that the Gotchev/Kopylov match seemed better as a whole even though Han was super impressive here, as always. ***
MEGA-BATTLE TOURNAMENT '92 Semifinal: Dick Vrij vs. Herman Renting
Now, we are officially into the MEGA-BATTLE Semi-Final territory, with our first bout consisting of a round format between Vrij and Renting. I suspect that the goodness of this will all come down to how stiff they are willing to be, as Renting probably isn’t capable of pulling a well-worked match out of Vrij. Unfortunately, the pillow-light impacts of Renting’s kicks leave me little hope that we are going to get the slugfest that we all need and deserve. Renting was much better on the mat, where he gave both a spirited and realistic performance. It was also nice to see all of the various judo trips that Renting would use to keep depositing Vrij to the canvas. The rest of this fight followed much the same pattern, and while it wasn’t bad, it never got great, either, and just served to cap off the night with disappointment as we all know that Dolman will not give us the main event we’re looking for. ** ¾
ML: Renting didn't want to engage in a kickboxing match with Vrij, so he tried to tie him up and take him down. This worked pretty well early on despite the fact that Renting was predictably not very aggressive, and wasn't really coming forward all that much. The intensity was pretty low in these early rounds, but was at least increasing as the match progressed. Vrij, in particular, was kind of coasting early, but started getting serious in the second half of the fight, and Renting was folding under his pressure. Renting was all too happy to retreat to the ropes or the corner, which he hoped would allow him to grab Vrij when he closed the distance, but as long as Vrij was smart and just stayed in kicking range, he could punish him with little to no counterfire. Renting's legs were getting pretty beat up, and Vrij was looking to go high for the big blow. Vrij ultimately didn't need the coup de grace though because Renting's knee was finished from the low kicks just before the end of the 5th. This didn't suck, but it was pretty middling.
MEGA-BATTLE TOURNAMENT '92 Semifinal: Akira Maeda vs. Chris Dolman
Now for what may be the ultimate payoff for Dolman’s services, we are going to witness either the apex of his illustrious career or the nadir. To this day, Dolman will swear to anyone outside of his close circle that all of his RINGS output was on the up-and-up, which is both sad and hilarious. On paper, this makes sense, however, as Maeda was more indebted to Dolman's network and roster than any other person and would have never even gotten off the ground without him. Granted, Sediokaikan’s founder, Kazuyoshi Ishii, helped immensely, but his players were never going to be anything more than temporary loans and certainly not something you could base your company around. In a way, it is unfortunate that Dolman was so far past his physical peak by the time he got to be able to perform in Japan, as his skills were truly the stuff of legend, and even in his injured/dilapidated state, the Gracie’s wanted nothing to do with him, ignoring his many challenges.
Maeda walks to the ring, and the Tokyo crowd goes bananas, knowing that a grievous upset may be in store for their hero. While Maeda is looking pudgy, he is moving well and putting some genuine intensity into what he’s doing. Dolman is attempting to give his best, also, but can’t help but move like a golem coming out of suspended animation. Dolman attempts to nullify Maeda’s standing assault by clinching up with him, but Maeda is crafty and throws a series of body blows to continue his onslaught. Thankfully, both are overcoming their physical limitations by being stiff, and it helps that Maeda’s wrapped leg gives him an excuse as to why he isn’t in top shape. Eventually, Maeda throws one kick too many and is tripped to the mat via some crisp judo. From here, Maeda quickly goes for a Kimura, and despite his total lack of speed, Dolman does seem to possess plenty of the mysterious old-man strength that we all hope to achieve in our golden years. Knowing he can’t pry Dolman’s wrists loose, Maeda switches to a straight armbar which successfully gets him a point. Eventually, Dolman catches Maeda in a Hiza-Hishigi (knee lock), and the crowd completely loses its marbles. This main event was a lot better than I expected It to be, which isn’t saying much but was probably the best match you could ask from these two in their current state. In fact, this match pretty much sums up the essence of the entire event, which is that of “Ok, but not great.”
ML: Dolman's workrate is only slightly higher than C.M. Punk's, and his body doesn't seem to move in a manner conducive to throwing a proper kick. This was mostly a tepid molasses paced kickboxing match, which greatly favored Maeda, who even being out of shape working on a knee that was overdo for surgery practically seemed to be moving like Mighty Mouse Johnson by comparison to Dullman. Just when Maeda seemed to take over and was finally showing some fire and aggression with a big flurry of strikes, Dolman was able to counter by catching a knee, and trip him up into a kneebar on the heavily taped bad knee for the upset. This meant that two Netherlands fighters were meeting in the final, which didn't make much sense, but that could be said for the booking of this tournament, in general. The semifinals arguably being the two worst matches on the show wasn't exactly a sterling endorsement for the tournament either.
Conclusion: While this is a slight step forward from their event from last month, this wasn’t nearly as good as it should have been. Had they mined any of the other Eastern Bloc countries outside of Bulgaria, then they may have found a suitable opponent for Volk Han. Also, swapping out Renting for Willie Peeters would have probably elevated this to a solid card. However, I suspect that things will be back to proper form next month, as the MEGA-BATTLE will be limited to only the final match.
ML: One of the primary issues with being indebted to Dullman is it really waters down the potential of the cards to deliver anything consistently interesting. The good here involved two Japanese fighters and two Eastern European fighters, and while Willie Peeters is always interesting, and Renting has had moments where he appears to be a solid hand, as a whole the Netherlands portion of the RINGS cards has been most apt to be lacking.
Krummel's Korner
[Japanese in opening scene:] RINGS decides who is the strongest man in the world. Fighting Network RINGS, Mega-Battle Tournament ’92 Semi-Final
Opening ceremony: Greetings from Akira Maeda, representing all participants: “Thanks for coming today. UWF… sorry, I mean RINGS will be holding trial events at Korakuen Hall with the lighter weights with fighters from different fighting disciplines, on the basis of the ideal of returning to the roots of combat sports. The point is to get all these fighters from different combat disciplines/martial disciplines fight under a single format. RINGS will continue to do its best. Please continue cheering for us.” [The fans all laughed when Maeda said “UWF” instead of “RINGS” by mistake… and afterwards, you can see Maeda laughing too.]
Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto (5 rounds of 3 min. rounds)
Yamamoto: RINGS Japan; Born July 4th, 1970, in Yamaguchi prefecture. Practiced judo in high school and in May 1991 joined Maeda Dojo.
Yamamoto’s prefight interview: “This will be my first big fight. And the opponent is a striking expert, so instead of exchanging strikes with him I’ll take him to the ground and submit him with combat sambo submissions.” Q: “This is the last fight of the year, how was the year?” A: “Well after debuting in May, it’s been a year and a half, which went by quickly. And since this is the last fight of the year, I’ll do my best.”
Kakuda: Seidokaikan; Born April 11, 1961, in Osaka. Seidokaikan Kobe branch head, 2nd dan, and 13-year career in Seidokai karate; Won the 1988 and ’91 Points & KO All Japan karate championship; an emotional fighter…
Kakuda’s prefight interview: “This is a very memorable place for me since this arena is where I made a life-changing decision some years ago, and this year—even though I’m here just blabbering about myself—after beginning with a good start, I’ve fought 4 big names in Kaman, Willie, Andy Hug, and Dick Vrij; and I quit my full-time job and I became a father, so this year was a quite turbulent year for me. So as the last closing fight of the year at a memorable arena, I’d like to have a good match tonight.” Q: “Please have a good fight!” A: “Yes, thank you, osu!”
[my thoughts; this was a good fight… even if it was a work it looked like they were competing to see who can shine despite the ending… and then the extra round they added to determine the winner after a draw, looked like a shoot. I wonder if that extra round was indeed a shoot after a worked draw since Kakuda really started banging hard then. Those inside leg kicks right behind or inside of the knee looked really painful… I was thinking that since both of my knees have been bad for the last 10 years since I injured them.]
Yamamoto’s post-fight interview: “The low kicks really hurt. At the start despite his strikes, I was doing well so I thought this is fine… but then his low kicks were hitting me and they hurt. Next time, I’ll have to make sure to check the low kicks”
Kakuda’s post-fight interview: “That was hard… I was stubborn enough to roll with him on the ground. People will say that unless you can grapple on the ground you have no right to fight in RINGS. So I decided that if it goes to the ground, I’ll accept that and roll with him. You learn by getting knocked down, and it’s the same with this,… when he got me in a sleeper hold, I learned from it. With his strikes he [Yamamoto] was like a young inexperienced fighter type in karate who doesn’t think about his defense but just goes forward aggressively.”
Mitsuya Nagai vs. Sergei Sousserov (30mins 1 fall)
Sousserov: RINGS Russia; Born April 14th, 1973, 19 years old. Began training in sambo at the age of 10; won the 1989, ’90, and ’91 Soviet Union Sambo Championships, the 1989 World Sambo championships in the 95 kg class. Nicknamed the “secret weapon of Russia.” This is his first time to fight in RINGS.
Sousserov’s prefight interview: Q: “What are your aspirations for your first appearance here?” A: “With a calm spirit I want to showcase my skill that I’ve been training in every day.” Q: “What is your experience in martial arts/combat sports?” A: “I’ve been training in both sambo and combat sambo for over 10 years.” Q: “What is your strategy in dealing with Nagai’s strikes?” A: “I’m really not bothered by whatever kind of fighting style or techniques my opponent will use.”
Nagai: RINGS Japan; Born November 10, 1968. Began training in shooting at the age of 17, then joined shootboxing in 1986 and gained a record in professional shootboxing of 5 wins and 2 losses (2KOs). In the tournament he’s been expected to move to the top ranks.
Nagai’s prefight interview: “Since there really is no information about the opponent, in the beginning I’ll take my distance and throw some kicks and palm strikes. But, if possible, I don’t want to always rely on my strikes; and since the other day Kopylov taught me some moves so I’d like to test or try some of these [submission] moves I’ve been learning. The last event of last year was at this arena [Ariake] and since it’s been exactly an year, I’m wondering what the audience will think of my progress over the year. But in general, this year has been very fruitful for me as a fighter.” Q: “I wish you success” A: “Thank you, I’ll do my best.”
Nagai’s post-fight comments in locker room: Kakuda says, “you knocked him down! Congratulations!” Nagai: “When I kicked him his elbow hit my shin… he was really strong. He would be formidable once he gets used to this [RINGS rules]… I wasn’t sure about Ariake [the arena] [seems like he’s had bad luck here (?)], but since I won if I can start having good matches now starting next year that would be good… Thank you, please root for me next year as well.”
[My thoughts: Sousserov’s shadow boxing for the camera in the locker room right after he got knocked down… was not inappropriate. What was he thinking? If it was a shoot, he wouldn’t be doing that obviously. And even in a work, he is supposed to at least pretend or act like he’s hurt in front of the camera… He probably did that without thinking because it was his first fight, and he was excited. The way Ewoldt looked, walking to his locker room, looking depressed, after losing to Kandelaki even though that was not a believable way to get knocked out, at least, was more appropriate.
Georgi Kandelaki vs. Rudy Ewoldt (5 3min rounds)
Kandelaki: RINGS Georgia; Born April 10th, 1974, only 18 years old. He’s won the 1991 Soviet Union Boxing Championships and also trains in kickboxing. He is expected to continue improving in the future.
Ewoldt: RINGS Holland [Netherlands]: Born in Amsterdam, 1957; Won the 1985 Netherlands Judo championships 86 kilo weight class; took 2nd place in the European Judo championships. After training in sambo and karate, he started training Dutch mixed martial arts.
Volk Han vs. Sotir Gotchev (30mins 1 fall)
Gotchev: RINGS Bulgaria: Born April 24th, 1968; Won 3 times in a row 1986~88 Bulgarian Wrestling Championships and took 3rd place in the 1988 European tournament in wrestling, 100 kilo class.
Gotchev’s prefight interview: Q: “Having experienced one match in RINGS, how do you feel about fighting in RINGS?” A: “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]. Q: “Your tactics that centers on suplexes is appreciated in RINGS.” A: “The suplex is a technique I learned when I first started training in sports and it’s my favorite move. I would like to use this technique to win against Han as well and to demonstrate the strength of freestyle wrestling.”
Han: RINGS Russia; Born April 19th, 1961, in the Northern Caucasus, Soviet Union; Trains military and police as an expert in combat sambo; Took 2nd place in the 1984 Soviet Union Sambo championships, and won the 1985 Soviet Union Championships in the heavy wt. division; He’s also entered competitions in wrestling, judo, karate, and boxing; possess a variety of metaphormosing techniques.
Han’s prefight interview: Q: “It’s been a year since you joined RINGS.” A: “It’s been an year and I’ve been happy that I’ve been able to fight against top level fighting experts of the world. Regardless of win or loss, I would like to continue having great fights in the future and to show it to the fans.” Q: “What do you think of Gotchev?” A: “I saw the video of the match between Gotchev and Kopylov. I think he has splendid intelligence as a fighter. I will fight him with everything I have with faith in my own strength.”
[My thoughts: OMG the beginning prowrestling cheap trick angle Gotchev pulled on Han was a little lame and Han wasn’t playing along with it with his “WTF?” gesture… It was a little laughable and the audience was laughing… I don’t know what Gotchev was thinking. Maybe he was imitating what he saw on other Japanese prowrestling shows on TV (?). The weird submission Han used in the end to beat Gotchev was interesting, but would that really work in a shoot? In any case, I love watching Han with all of his bizarre submission holds and locks he comes up with. This match was suplexes vs weird submissions]
MEGA-BATTLE TOURNAMENT '92 Junkessho [semifinal]
Dick Vrij vs. Herman Renting
Renting: RINGS Holland; Won 1990 Netherlands Kickboxing 82 kilo division; the left low kick and left straight punch are his favorite techniques; He’s been on a losing streak against big names like Vrij, Satake, Han, and Dolman, but he is participating in the tournament due to his experience in RINGS rules fights.
Renting’s prefight interview: Q: “How do you feel before the big match which is the semifinal in the tournament?” A: [In English]; Q: “How do you feel about Vrij who is a power fighter?” A: [In English]
Vrij: RINGS Holland; Born May 2nd, 1965, in Notterdam, Netherlands; Began bodybuilding at the age of 16 and kickboxing at the age of 19; and trains in kickboxing and sambo-wrestling at the Kops Gym. For this tournament he is considered the ace among the Dutch fighters.
Vrij’s prefight interview: Q: “This will be a semifinal among Dutch fighters…” A: [In English] Q: “What do you think of Renting?” A: [In English]
Akira Maeda vs. Chris Dolman MegaBattle tournament semifinal
Dolman: RINGS Holland: Born 1945 in Amsterdam; Won the 1966 European Judo Championships and also won the 1971 Netherlands Judo Championships, 1984 and ’85 Sambo World Championships. He has a splendid record as a judoka and sambist representing the Netherlands.
Dolman’s prefight interview: Q: “The match you have long desired will be realized tonight.” A: [In English]; Q: “What do you think of Maeda in the present?” A: [In English]
Maeda: RINGS Japan; Born January 24th, 1959, in Osaka city; Established RINGS in 1991 as a professional combat sport network on a global scale. He asserted that he will “aim to win the tournament as a participant.” He is putting his stakes on the tournament by postponing his left knee surgery.
Maeda’s prefight interview: “When I see Dolman’s fight’s recently, it seems like he is lacking stamina these days. So I’ll take him to the ground and go for his legs, and if I keep attacking him aggressively, I don’t think he’ll be that dangerous an opponent. As for the tournament I have a feeling I’m going to end up facing Vrij, so my head has been filled with how to deal with Vrij. So, I’ve gotta watch Vrij’s match tonight. I don’t mean to insult Dolman, but I just don’t feel like I would lose to Dolman. Dolman today lacks stamina. But when I saw his fight with Kopylov, for example, even though he doesn’t have stamina, he somehow was able to pull his opponent into submissions. So I just need to be careful about that. As far as pulling strength or power to draw his opponent towards himself, out of all the fighters I’ve faced in RINGS, he is the strongest. He has pure natural power.”
[my thoughts: Wow Dolman won… maybe so Maeda can take a break with his knee surgery (?)… Will they have a few events without him as he recovers from his surgery. And so perhaps they needed let someone else shine like Dolman?... So, the finals will be among the Dutch: Dolman and Vrij it seems]
[also my thought: Who was that Japanese old lady clapping like mad in Dolman’s dressing room?]
*Kakutogi Supplemental*
Since we have been on the subject of Chris Dolman and his importance to early MMA history, I thought that it would be nice to include some quotes from one of his right-hand men, and founder of Amsterdam’s legendary Chakuriki Gym, Thom Harinck.
PANKRATION IN PARADISO (17 MAY 1981)
Chris Dolman wanted to organize an event with no-holds barred fighting that mirrored the ancient Pankration of Ancient Greece. It was held in Amsterdam's pop temple Paradiso. Chris organized it together with a journalist whose name was Ton van Dijk. Chris asked me if I had some participants, and of course, I had. I came with four guys and one girl.
The girl was Saskia van Rijswijk. She didn't have to fight because her opponent didn't show up. The guys included Coban and Muzaffer Yamali. All my boys won their matches by way of knockout. There were wrestlers, participants from a kyokushinkai gym and an individual entry who totally got his butt kicked.
The event was very crowded, and Paradiso was completely full, but there were still between 300 and 400 people standing outside and they had to be sent home. This crowd of people were milling around in front of the building and even preventing the trams from passing. Me and Chris Dolman refereed the matches. They also did some strong man stuff like tearing up telephone books. The fighting matches were a bit like MMA nowadays, but in a very raw form. Headbutts and biting were prohibited. Knees and elbows were our best weapons. They didn't fight on time, there was no time limit. You fought until there was a winner.
Most of the fights ended very quickly though. There were no skirmishes in the hall fortunately, and all the fights took place in the ring. Later there were problems with the police, who were not amused. This was the first and only event of its kind ever to be held in Paradiso.
THE FIRST MIXED FIGHT (20 NOVEMBER 1988)
On 20 October 1988 the first “mixed fight” was held in The Netherlands in which a wrestler would fight a kickboxer. The fight was between Chris Dolman's student Freek Hamaker and my student Charly Lieveld during a kickboxing event in the Jaap Edenhal. Lieveld was 20 kilos lighter than his opponent. It was a very hard match. Lieveld was more of a showman, a great physique, good looks and a hit with the ladies. He wasn't really a star as far as kickboxing was concerned, but he had a happy-go-lucky attitude and a fighter's heart. The fight started out relatively calmly with both fighters exploring their options. At one-point, Freek Hamaker jumped onto Charly Lieveld and made a choke from which Lieveld barely escaped. Lieveld tried to fight back with low kicks, but was grabbed by Hamaker when he attempted this. In the second round, it was decided that elbows were allowed and Hamaker, who later said he hadn't been told about this rule, had to take a couple. Then Hamaker grabbed Lieveld in a clinch situation, threw him to the ground and applied a head lock that spelled the end of the confrontation. So it was 1-0 for the wrestlers.
There was a lot of talk about a second confrontation between the two fighters, but it never came to be. Hamaker would later fight in the second edition of the UFC in 1994, while Lieveld had one more fight with a wrestler called Willie Peeters that resulted in a draw.
THE FIRST FREE-FIGHT EVENT IN The Netherlands (19 FEBRUARY 1995)
Starting in the early 1990s, a group of Dutch fighters successfully competed in RINGS competitions in Japan. RINGS was a Japanese MMA organisation especially active from 1995 to 2002.
In 1995, Chris Dolman and Milco Lambrecht thought it was time to let the Dutch public get acquainted with this form of combat. The first event was held on 19 February in Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam. Fighters like Dick Vrij, Hans Nijman and Herman Renting all faced Japanese opponents. Chris Dolman would fight his very last match at the venerable age of fifty against Akira Maeda; a match he won by submission in a leglock in the second round. The rules were the same as the ones used by RINGS Japan: all judo and wrestling techniques permitted, all kicks permitted, punching to the body and blows with the palm of the hand to the head were permitted.
I participated with one student, Piet Bernzen, originally from Germany. He fought about 20 matches and won almost all of them. Piet was matched against Ronny Rivano, multiple Dutch and European karate champion who was slowly branching out into the full-contact arena. Another fighter from my gym that would later fight free-fight matches was Michael Tielrooy.
Pictures of the face of Ruud Ewoldt-whose face was so swollen after his fight against Japan's Yamamoto that his mother could hardly recognize him-were on the front pages of the newspapers. After this event, I was asked to take part in a radio talk show. Erica Terpstra, Minister of Sports at the time, was furious and initiated a commission to see if the sport could be banned. She spoke about “that cage fighting”. I said: “Madam, these fights were not held in a cage, you're misinformed.” Every time I said something, she interrupted me. So, at one point I said to her: “Madam, if you have any decency, you should let me speak.” Suddenly there was silence.
There had been an inquiry by Maarten van Bottenburg about the possible prohibition of free-fight as a sport. The inquiry concluded that free fight, taught and organized in a responsible way, was acceptable. RINGS Holland was very successful in the 1990s, with Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam as their base, they organized many an event that sold out.”
Credit:Thom Harinck: Godfather of Muay Thai Kickboxing in the West by Thom Harinck, Julio Punch