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Next, we are set for another AIR BOUT with 80s video game icon Dick F;y (Vrij) and Herman Renting, who has proven to be one of Maeda’s wiser investments, as he has been able to have decent, if understated, matches with all those he is put against. After an initial period of mutual footfighting, things are underway with some very slick judo from Renting when he valiantly fought and succeeded in obtaining a kosoto-gake (minor outer-hook) off an attempt from Vrij to defend. This doesn’t really yield any meaningful results as Vrij just powers his way out of side-control and the fight restarts on the feet. The rest of the contest was a clash of judo vs FLY-boxing, with the latter being victorious via head kick knockout. While hardly essential viewing, this was entertaining, and both Vrij and Renting looked good, if not particularly aggressive. *** for entertainment value.
ML: Though not a bad match, it was poorly positioned given it didn't have anything to offer that we hadn't already seen done better earlier on the card. The intensity was down dramatically, with Vrij's pulled kicks not helping any. It also never felt as though Renting could win, and once Dick put him down with a low kick, he just worked over the leg to set up the big high kick finish.
After a brief interlude where we are given a demonstration of Russian military sambo it is time for the RINGS debut of accomplished karateka Willie Williams, who has the distinction of having bouts against both a bear and Antonio Inoki on his resume. The match against Inoki was surely worked, but I am not certain I can say the same of the bear. Here he will be facing Pieter Smit who has been missing in action since 8-1-91, where he was forced to have a dreadful contest with the much inferior of the two “Willys,” Willy Wilhelm. This match was over almost as soon as it started, as it was not even a mere 3-mins of Willie using Smit as a shoot-style punching bag. This was clearly a work, and while Williams was lively enough to save this from being terrible, it was rather pointless.
ML: Williams had perhaps the first classic martial arts match with Inoki on 2/27/80, and was clearly the star of that match, showing amazing athleticism in making the normally dull and feeble Inoki works into something with genuine excitement and intensity. As the legendary Apollo Creed once said, "You know Stallion, it's too bad we gotta get old!" The classic bout with Inoki came soon after Williams peak as a karateka, reaching the semifinals of the 2nd World Open Championships in 1979, when he was 28 years old. Now, at nearly 41, he obviously didn't have the same explosion that separated him in his heyday. This slower Williams didn't do a good job of faking his strikes, with none of the several knees he threw looking remotely convincing. The bout was a squash to get him over, but unfortunately he wasn't able to look convincing.
We then head into a UNIVERSE BOUT where the focal point of all existence will be zeroed in on Masaaki Satake and dutch newcomer, Fred Oosterom. This appears to be our 3rd shoot with the lean Dutchman instantly going for a takedown and primitive armbar attempt on Satake, after a brief striking exchange. Satake gets back up, and tees off against Oosterom's legs with some powerful kicks, but Fred seems to be a scrapper, and despite eating some hard shots, is able to quickly close in and trip Satake. Sadly, this didn't gain him much headway, as they instantly fell too close to the ropes. However, Oosterom got a lot smoother in figuring out Satake's patterns and wins the next striking exchange by catching Satake's kicks and landing some hard gut shots of his own, before executing another explosive trip. The rest of the match saw Oosterom get the better of Satake both in the standing and ne waza portions, quickly depleting Satake of his rope escapes, but shortly after the 6min mark, Satake knocked Oosterom down with a spinning back kick, which didn't seem like something that would have put him away, but right after he did this, he followed up to a soccer kick to Fred's face, which wound up securing the knockdown victory for Satake. Chalk this up to another jerk move, and bogus win for Satake, as the ref shouldn't have allowed this, but he did, and the W is forever etched into the history books. Exciting match that unfortunately ended on a bad note.
ML: This felt like the 12/7/91 Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Herman Renting match where they sparred realistically, but weren't trying to hurt each other with their strikes, mostly kicking the block or the thighs. That match was a lot better, but they did a good job of making things look urgent here, and Oosterom had a few hard takedowns. The finish definitely looked planned, with Fred managing to block the cheap shot kick with both arms despite perhaps not even being able to see it coming. Either way, there's always some shenanigans when Satake is involved.
Now for the final conflict in this, the 2nd MEGA BATTLE event, a match between Akira Maeda and Ramazi Buzariashvili, a newcomer to RINGS that I have been unable to find any significant information about. The battle starts and Ramazi heaves Maeda down with ease, but opens himself up to a crafty toehold attempt from Maeda when he (slowly) dove in and tried to attack Maeda's turtle defenses. After successfully rolling off into the ropes we are back to the feet, and Ramazi again tosses Maeda around with total ease, but is only able to follow up his impressive strength with a pitifully slow armbar attempt. What followed was a fairly credible (by Maeda standards) worked bout, that saw several protracted grappling sequences where they would fight for a submission, as well as numerous instances of Maeda being tossed around like a sock puppet. Ramazi was slow to be sure, but he came across as a credible grappler with legit skills. The fight ended with Maeda winning via ankle-lock. Maybe I'm just in a generous mood, but I like this more than I thought I would, and am hereby deeming it to be ***.
ML: Ramazi is a master of the Georgian national martial art, Chidaoba. Maeda may not be the best competitor these days, but he's really opening peoples eyes to a lot of different styles and techniques. What other promotion is giving demonstrations on how to defeat men armed with knives or who have guns lodged in the small of your back? Ramazi made a strong impression in his debut, and seemed to have all the makings of a star, with intensity, hard suplexes, and too much charisma, if anything, for shoot fighting. He did a good job, outside of a few ill advised attempts at power moves. Maeda, for the most part, didn't have enough impact or credibility to his offense, but the match was mostly entertaining even though it was by far the least believable on the show.
Conclusion: Before I offer any criticisms, I should first commend Maeda for allowing 3 shoots to be on the card, for two months in a row now. This alone is groundbreaking and puts the bravery quotient considerably ahead of their other two competitors, even if this hasn't always translated into a satisfying or entertaining result. Now with that said, this event was fairly entertaining, but hardly mandatory viewing. 2 of the 3 shoots were exciting, but too short to really be strongly recommended, outside of historical interest. Volk Han's match was also worth watching, but again, hardly compares to his best moments. Still, this was leagues ahead of the last PWFG event, so it may be safe to put them in the 2nd place slot of the three, going forward. They are still finding their voice, and there appears to be an influx of new talent, so it's understandable that will take some time to work the kinks out.
ML: I feel the Dolman gym is proving itself to be the first MMA super gym. They may not have the best workers, but they are leading the way in the cross training department, and that's coming to bear now that RINGS is showcasing some real fights. Their judo guys can hang in there on their feet with karate and kickboxing specialists, while their kickboxers can beat other strikers by relying on the takedown.
*This entire event, along with other priceless artifacts, can be found over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
*In Other News *
Rumors are circulating that the UWF-I is looking to bring in another pro boxer to face Nobuhiko Takada for their 5-8-92 event, scheduled to take place at the Yokohama Arena. No word yet on who that may be, but the last boxer he faced (Trevor Brebick) was convicted on a rape charge in Florida last week.
Leon Spinks and The Sheik are set to team up in an upcoming series of events within the FMW promotion in Japan. They are scheduled to start making appearances as of 3-20-92.