1986-10-9
an interesting look back.
Maeda's corner from the U.W.F includes Fujiwara,Takada and the legendary Karl Gotch. Nielsen has Blinky Rodriguez and the jet center guys. From masahiko kakihara youtube.
thanks! that was awesome. that is where pancrase got the touching the rope release rule from.
and haha that sub of boston half crab was awesome.
it's old time pro wrestling rules.
I had to repost this because I just discovered this match and was about to make my own thread on it.
It’s basically a real pre-UFC pro wrestling vs. kickboxing match. Very cool to watch, and a way better fight than Ali vs. Inoki.
I’m surprised this thread didn’t get more attention.
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We covered this extensively in the Kakutogi Road thread a while back. Here is the section from Volume 50 where we talk about it:
Our most excellent translator, John Krummel, was kind enough to look into this event and was able to find some interesting information about one of its participants (Don Nakaya Nielsen) from an interview he did right with a member of the Japanese press right before his death.
Here are his translations/comments: “I just came across some interesting information on the Nielsen vs Maeda proto-mma fight in New Japan in the 1980s… This is from a Japanese youtube talking about the last interview of Nielsen with a Japanese press/journalist before he died and when asked about his fight with Maeda, whether it was a work or shoot… he said it was a business fight, that is, the ending was left undetermined, but he was told that if he wants to get paid he must not KO Maeda… Otherwise, it was not determined… He said that at one point early in the match his left jab did hit Maeda hard and almost KOd Maeda and he thought “oops!” and after that was more careful about not hitting him too hard. But the ending and winner were left undetermined, so it could have gone either way. As for the finish, he said that he tapped out because it did genuinely hurt him… Anyways, I thought it was interesting… This interview happened 30 years after the fight, but more recently Nielsen died in Thailand, after working as a chiropractor for a couple of decades and running his own practice after retiring from fighting.
For Maeda vs Nielsen, it also seems that New Japan wasn’t too keen at the time on protecting Maeda, hence left the ending undetermined, because they wanted the Inoki vs Spinks fight on the same night to look better and Inoki himself look better with Inoki winning vs Spinks; and that was a time when among UWF guys who had returned to New Japan, Maeda was especially disliked by the New Japan wrestlers for being too stiff (hence later he gets fired for his stiff kick against Choshu)… they tried to get Andre the Giant to shoot on Maeda, to “teach him a lesson…” But the Inoki vs Spinks fight ended up being a disaster that the fans hated while the Maeda vs Nielsen became the crowd-pleasing fight of the night, and this pivoted Maeda into even greater popularity… While New Japan wasn’t sure what to do with Maeda because many of the wrestlers couldn’t trust him to work cooperatively (especially Inoki… they even set up the IWGP tournament at the time so that Inoki would not have to face Maeda in a singles match), all such controversies ended up raising Maeda’s popularity even more so that when he got fired he had no problems getting backers/sponsors to help him start the new UWF.
In light of these comments, it seemed good to me to crack open the vaults here at Kakutogi HQ and examine this fight:
Right away, there is a palpable tension in the air, and I’ve never seen Maeda look this pissed off. Interestingly, Karl Gotch is in Maeda’s corner tonight. If I hadn’t had just read Nielsen’s comments, I would never have guessed that he was trying to avoid knocking Maeda out. This battle felt like a shoot from the get-go, and it was easy to see where Nielsen almost knocked Maeda out with a left jab right down the pipe. He also came close to taking Maeda out a 2nd time with an upkick to the face (a la Renzo Gracie vs. Oleg Taktarov).
Round 2 shows that Maeda discovered the perfect answer to the sidekick when he simply grabbed Nielsen’s lead leg and swept him by attacking his support leg. Nielsen seems to back away from using any more punches, opting to make this a kicking battle, which Maeda seems to be getting the better of. Maeda shifted to trying to take Nielsen down via a double-leg, but to my surprise, Nielsen had a great sprawl and was able to stuff his attempts. During the 2nd failed takedown, Maeda shifted off to Nielsen’s side and locked in a straight/Fujiwara armbar. If we discount the fact that Nielsen was trying his best (and hilariously almost didn’t succeed) to avoid knocking Maeda out, then I would decree this a shoot. Whatever it was, it was super entertaining, and it’s easy to see how Inoki got upstaged.
This match took me off guard by really highlighting what a diverse martial artist Maeda was when he was healthy. He was outkicking Nielsen at times, and he had grappling tools at his disposal as well. It’s a shame that he didn’t shoot more, although it’s easy to understand why he didn’t as the success of RINGS was completely based around him, and I’m sure he couldn’t risk it (not to mention his bad knee).
ML: This classic contest did a ton for Maeda, proving his ability in a shoot that blew Inoki’s “shoot” out of the water on a show that drew an amazing 28.9 prime time rating. Nielsen was at a decided disadvantage here in that he was both trying not to win because he wasn’t allowed to knock Maeda out, as well as, of course, trying not to lose, while Maeda presumably had free reign to do anything he wanted to win. Though this match is in the gray area due to promoters shenanigans, as so many matches that are considered to be completely legitimate really are (and lets not even talk about gambling…), they definitely were not faking what they were actually doing, so define it however you like. The important thing is it’s an awesome match with an amazing atmosphere. Maeda was incredibly over, and this had a ton of heat, with Nielsen doing a great job of playing charismatic heel in an arrogant, annoyingly overly self confident huge presence kind of manner. The intensity and ill will were off the charts, really taking things to the next level. Nielsen was so much quicker, more athletic, and flexible than when I’m used to seeing him 3 or 4 years later, at this point he’s much a lighter, and really has the speed to pull off some of these flashy movie kicks that he was trying. The problem for Nielsen was not so much that Maeda would punish him for his flashiness through return fire, but for instance, Nielsen has never been in a situation before where the opponent catches a high kick and drops down into a kneebar. Nielsen can do things that Maeda never sees in pro wrestling bout, for instance, one of his best techniques was kicking the body then following with a quick left straight to the face, which Maeda was never ready for, so conditioned to the pro wrestling world where even the “best” strikers are notorious for never using any actual striking combos unless it’s the same exact sequence in every match. The match was super exciting, largely because any mistake seemed crucial, with Nielsen, for instance, diving for the ropes with life or death urgency anytime it hit the mat. Nielsen had no real submission training/defense, so Maeda was almost immediately able to threaten with a variety of submissions anytime it hit the canvas. Maeda went all out to pounce on every opportunity to submit Nielsen, which in some sense annoyed the hell out of me because the thing that ruins his normal matches is that he just durdles around with no urgency on the mat, mostly just killing time. Mixed matches in New Japan have traditionally been horrible, so seeing something so competitive and exciting with this level of heat, drama, intensity, and excitement was more or less a revelation. I mean, sure Inoki vs. Willie Williams existed, but that was more great for Williams being an amazing athlete who was able to throw incredible karate at Inoki than for anything Inoki could must or the actual back & forth. Nielsen’s performance was perhaps not as good as Williams, but definitely among the best for a name from another sport coming into pro wrestling, and Maeda was definitely much better than Inoki, able to somewhat hold his own in standup, as well as find ways to get the fight to the mat, rather than just trying to squirm around on his butt to avoid the areas where he was at a disadvantage, and thus the fight in the process. This match had an amazing aura, but the actual action was also able to stand up on its own. There were a couple moments that particularly stood out, the round ending while Maeda had Neilson trapped in a wakigatame, and the finish because of Nielson’s dramatic pained expression. I am not certain I buy that the finish wasn’t pre-determined. On one hand, Nielsen did expend a ton of energy trying to kick his way out of the kneebar (rather than just get to the ropes as he had been doing all night), on the other hand, once Maeda switched to the half crab, Nielsen basically just gave up despite being incredibly close to the ropes (and now being in a far less dangerous hold). ****1/2
*This amazing pre-UFC shoot between Don “Nakaya” Nielsen and Akira Maeda along with the infamous work-turned-shoot between Maeda and Andre the Giant can be found over at www.patreon.com/Kakutogiroad *
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