Fighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods: shoot style puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and the revived mixed martial arts promotion from 2008 onward. RINGS was founded by Akira Maeda on May 11, 1991, following the dissolution of Newborn UWF. At that time, Maeda and Mitsuya Nagai were the only two people to transfer from UWF, wrestlers such as Kiyoshi Tamura, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Kenichi Yamamoto would later also transfer from UWF International. Despite starting out as a shoot style wrestling promotion, RINGS showcased early mixed martial arts fights, as early as 1991, and notably promoted shoot style matches alongside these mixed-style shoot fights on the same cards. The promotion brought fighters from Shooto, Pancrase, Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi and Submission Arts Wrestling to compete against RINGS fighters. Tournaments Mega Battle Tournament Mega Battle Tournament 1992 (Oct 29, 1992 – Jan 23, 1993) – Chris Dolman Mega Battle Tournament 1993 (Oct 23, 1993 – Jan 21, 1994) – Akira Maeda Mega Battle Tournament 1994 (Sep 21, 1994 – Jan 25, 1995) – Volk Han Mega Battle Tournament 1995 (Oct 21, 1995 – Jan 24, 1996) – Akira Maeda Mega Battle Tournament 1996 (Oct 25, 1996 – Jan 22, 1997) – Volk Han Mega Battle Tournament 1997 (Oct 25, 1997 – Jan 21, 1998) – Kiyoshi Tamura Mega Battle Tournament 1998 (Oct 23, 1998 – Jan 23, 1999) – Team Georgia King of Kings King of Kings Tournament 1999 (Oct 28, 1999 – Feb 26, 2000) – Dan Henderson King of Kings Tournament 2000 (Oct 9, 2000 – Feb 24, 2001) – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Title Tournaments Light Heavyweight Title Tournament 1997 (Mar 28 – Aug 13, 1997) – Masayuki Naruse Middleweight Title Tournament 2001 (Apr 20 – Aug 11, 2001) – Ricardo Arona Open-weight Title Tournament 2001 (Apr 20 – Aug 11, 2001) – Fedor Emelianenko Other Tournaments Rising Stars Heavyweight Tournament 2000 (Jul 15 – Sep 30, 2000) – Bobby Hoffman Rising Stars Middleweight Tournament 2000 (Jul 15 – Sep 30, 2000) – Jeremy Horn Absolute Class Tournament 2001 (Oct 20, 2001 – Feb 15, 2002) – Fedor Emelianenko Championships Open-Weight Championship Light-Heavyweight Championship (−) Middleweight Championship (−) Japanese roster Akira Maeda Mitsuya Nagai Yoshihisa Yamamoto Masayuki Naruse Tsuyoshi Kosaka Wataru Sakata Kiyoshi Tamura Kenichi Yamamoto