September 17, 201312 yr Author comment_5563266 RINGS just keeps on giving. This may be my #2 MOTY for the promotion and I'm not sure it's even that big of a gap between this and Han/Tamura from January. Kohsaka looks incredible and rolls out some awesome combination submissions and strikes. This is possibly the hardest fought match of the year and is immaculately filmed and mic'd, where you can hear the hard breathing and struggle to apply submissions. I keep wanting to describe this as simplistic and advanced at the same time,if that makes any sense -- simplistic because they strip wrestling to its most basic and true components and advanced because the matwork is so above anything else happening in the world, and the intensity on display is something to behold. I see a match like this and wish the wrestling style everywhere had borrowed whatever elements would fit their own house style from these guys. Absolutely tremendous.
October 2, 201311 yr comment_5565623 This Mikhail guys has some good fight to him. Falling behind in scoring but sticking it out. Tough how this group was going to succeed with Pride ready to take off. But not stopping these two from going out and have a really match. The overhead camera adds so much to these type of matches when it goes to the mat and they are reversing out of holds.
June 25, 201411 yr comment_5609449 This was fantastic and showed such aggression and relentless for the limb work. Every motion felt consequential in this match and the ending played off of that result. Kohsaka is one of my favorite shoot style guys and he showed a lot of fire in this one and even took the defeat well which shocked me.
August 15, 201411 yr comment_5619160 I usually like the RINGS stuff, but this was more on the boring side to me. I mean the match was fine and all, but Volk Han vs. Tamura usually is a more entertaining match-up than this was.
August 16, 201411 yr comment_5619414 Volk Han vs. Tamura usually is a more entertaining match-up than this was.That's a pretty high bar to clear...
March 10, 20169 yr comment_5732785 I've been way high on Tamura in particular and '97 RINGS in general, but this was a chore to get through. As boring as the worst of '80s UWF, which is quite boring indeed.
February 17, 20178 yr comment_5788798 Aside from one meaty strike this was all matwork, glorious matwork. Fundamentally very sound with a variety of different holds and smart reversals. It may have lacked the dynamism of a Tamura or Han contest, but technically this was rock solid. More crowd heat would've been beneficial. The Russian competitor was down on points and seemingly heading for defeat, yet a wrestling match can always turn on just one move.
August 19, 20178 yr comment_5811110 Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Mikhail Iloukhine - RINGS 11/97 Iloukhine is an average height stocky ex-Soviet that does not seem all that special to me. I much preferred the bullish Tariel from Georgia to him. Kohsaka acquits himself well on the mat early on. They have a pretty good scrap on the mat that Kohsaka wins after some human pretzel making. After that it is Iloukhine with the takedown but he has no control over the takedown and Kohsaka builds up an impressive lead forcing Iloukhine to go to the ropes to escape out of an array of submissions. Iloukhine struck me as kinda clumsy and completely outclassed by Kohsaka on the mat. Iloukhine does work an elementary front chancery (guillotine choke) in the latter stages of the match which was first effective maneuver. Even here Kohsaka maneuvers into a triangle and then works a heel hook while Iloukhine tries a figure-4, but the Russian has to go for the ropes. It is 6-2 Kohsaka at this point. All of sudden, Misha gets a rolling legbar takedown and it is a heel hook, legbar combo that gets him the flash submission. I am surprised this was so highly acclaimed. It is a good match. It feels like a blowout, but Kohsaka chokes and just doesn't put the Russian away. It eventually bites him. Everything was well-worked, but nothing really stuck out to me. ***1/2
October 29, 20195 yr comment_5902962 A very good fight between these two, with Mikhail grabbing kicks and tossing or trying to go to the mat, whereas TK is rolling around, trying to avoid whilst also trying to entangle. TK plays great defense against the armbar attempts and manages some very nice takedowns and transitions. He also lets loose with the kicks and knees, trying to take Mikhail down with his strikes but Mikhail typically overpowers him on the mat. There's a real rugged quality to the matwork, in that they're working hard for each hold and counter. Nother super fancy, like Tamura/Han, but rough and tumble. The finish was dominant and looked pretty nasty. Good stuff.
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