The crowd went wild when they saw Maeda's bitterly disappointed but determined look appear on the huge monitor just above the scoreboard. October 11th, 1997, at Tokyo Dome. The most exciting moment of the evening, perhaps for Japanese fans, happened at the very end but it was not when Rickson Gracie finished Nobuhiko Takada with a lightning quick armbar.
It happened soon after.
The fan's voltage reached its maximum level when they saw the explosive fiery eyes of Maeda. Yes, the story continues into the final battle. Everyone in the Big Egg knew that there were only two left. The two who still carried, at the time, what I would call an "Illusion of UWF." Masakatsu Funaki and Akira Maeda. The fans wanted to believe their hero could be the best in the world so they pinned their hopes on Maeda, the oldest member of the club and the most charismatic out of the three.
That's why fans went crazy when they saw Maeda's close-up displayed on that gigantic monitor.

Finally, Karelin (right) came to Japan. Volk Han (left), the leader of RINGS Russia played akey role in the negotiations with this russina legend. Photography by Hideto Ida

In 1996, once again, Maeda had to go through a knee operation and when he came back, he was never the same, and the world of fight sports was also never the same. By then, K-1 already made its way to the prime time of national television and began gaining the status of the "major leagues of fight sports." This indeed can be considered an amazing accomplishment in the history of Japanese television. Other than a world championship boxing bout involving a Japanese boxer - which doesn't happen too often – the fans weren't used to seeing fight sports on their TV screen right around supper time. (I am not including pro-wrestling) Maeda himself was obviously no longer in the top level of competition. It was well marked, just brutally unequivocal. Since coming back from the second knee surgery, I would say, almost 80% of the time, after the fight, Maeda required a hand from the young fighters to walk back to the locker room. He was always limping. I don't mean to be cruel or rude here but back then, every time I saw Maeda, he looked like a physically disabled individual. In the world of art, you can do a lot with broken pieces like how John Chamberlain created a series of sculptures with broken auto parts but in the world of fight sports, a malfunction often means retirement. In a Japanese MMA-variety TV show called "The Spirit of the Ring," Maeda once confessed, "I always fought with injuries. But ever since I lost the ability to kick high with my left (because of the knee injury) everything became different."

Maeda however had a responsibility as the founder of RINGS. He had many mouths to feed so he needed to do something to bring back the popularity of RINGS.
So the timing was perfect, for the fans and Maeda, and RINGS.
The Black Ship called Gracie Jiu-jitsu was now invading Japan and Takada couldn’t do a thing and hands down got destroyed. Naturally, someone has to stand up to take revenge and in the mind of Japanese fight fans that man has got to be Akira Maeda.

Immediately after the inaugural PRIDE Fighting Championship event at Tokyo Dome, Maeda began negotiating with Rickson Gracie he was very vocal, through the media, regarding every step of this process. He even mentioned that he understood Rickson wanting to fight in an event where everything is neutral for both fighters, implying, at times, the possibility of bringing a new set of sponsors and starting a brand new MMA event just to make this happen.
Once again, fans went berserk about this. For them, Maeda is the real man. This man just doesn’t back off. There is no such a word called "avoiding" in his vocabulary. Even with severe knee problems, he still stood up, and he was willing to fight with the expectation of the entire country on his shoulder.

Everyone in Japan was buzzing with this Rickson – Maeda showdown. Everyone wanted to see this fight. In the subway, at the Rahman stand, in the video arcade, or even in the waiting room at soap land, with cottonmouth, everyone was talking about this.
Maeda is much bigger than Rickson. Takada was more like an athlete but Maeda is a warrior. Maeda has this dangerous aura that will do anything to win. Maeda would go on with a broken arm. He wouldn't care.
The illusions of fans expanded, got bigger and bigger.

However like any other dreams, this one also faced an abrupt ending.
In August of 1998, DSE, the company had just taken over the PRIDE Fighting Championship from KRS, announcing the main card of PRIDE 4. It was the re-match of Rickson Gracie and Nobuhiko Takada. No one expected this. This was completely unexpected in the face of the fans and for Maeda it was a big slap in the face. Maeda had no idea of DSE, or Takada, talking to Rickson about the possible re-match. Not very long before this announcement, Maeda sat with Takada on a round table discussion organized by a Japanese MMA publication and when they talked, Takada knew Maeda was negotiating with Rickson but never mentioned anything about what DSE was doing.
All of sudden, everything had ended for Maeda. There was nothing he could do about Rickson Gracie at that point. It was a done deal but Maeda was, again, not yet done. He immediately made his next move, and that is to find someone bigger, in the world of fight sports, than Rickson Gracie. Someone with more myths, with superior credentials. A fighter already considered a legend.
Maeda could think of only one such an athlete, and that was Aleksandr Karelin.

Everyone was startled by the rumor of Karelin. Aleksandr Karelin is stepping into the world of professional fight sports? Russian legend? I mean this two-time Olympic gold medallist was, at the time aiming on Sydney, shooting for an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold. He had no reason to take a risk fighting this big Japanese guy in a country he had no familiarity with. It just didn't make sense. It didn't sound right. Unrealistic.
But RINGS surprised even the biggest skeptics by officially announcing Aleksandr Karelin as the opponent for Maeda's retirement bout. Then RINGS quickly revived from a swoon began attracting the attention of the general public and the mainstream media. This indeed was a golden opportunity for RINGS. K-1 had Andy Hug and PRIDE was building the event around Rickson Gracie. Now RINGS has Karelin who undoubtedly has a much fancier amateur record than both of them.

Akira Maeda, till this date, desides Antonio Inoki and Kazushi Sakuraba, is probably the most well known figure in Japanese fight sports Photography by Hideto Ida

Soon after the signing of Karelin, the opportunity did knock on Maeda's door. The national television station was interested in airing this monumental fight. Maeda however didn't even think twice about not paying a loyalty to WOWOW, the cable station that supported RINGS from the very beginning. In a country like Japan where the majority of the population still only watches terrestrial broadcast, choosing cable network over a national television station is like choosing glass over diamonds. But Maeda's answer was negative. He didn't betray WOWOW, a long time partner. Maeda once said, "I don't contradict the loyalty" when asked of this decision but I believe Maeda was also thinking of his long-term vision. After all, this national television station just wanted to air Maeda's retirement bout. Just once. They couldn't promise anything in the long run. But, on the other hand, if the national television station broadcasted Karelin – Maeda, it might have helped RINGS in the long run too. Who knows? The fight could've scored a high rating and that could've attracted a major advertising agency or some big corporation or other national television station that might've taken RINGS to a different level.
The result was, WOWOW broadcasted, and every fight fans in Japan was aware of it, but the general public basically ignored this professional debut of the Olympic legend from the north.

Part 4 >>