Akira Maeda vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS - 1/24/1996)

Fantastic. I've been told this wasn't as great as their 12/16/94 bout but I don't see it. Yamamoto not going over was disappointing, but this was a classic Maeda performance in front of a hot crowd and Yamamoto was really sharp in this match as well. Yamamoto doesn't hold back against his teacher and pushes him to the very limit as both men go down 4 points in the final stretch of the match. Yamamoto throws stiff-looking palm strikes and catches Maeda several times in some of the submissions he has learned over time. The post-match is really interesting as Maeda takes off the victory crown and puts it on Yamamoto's head, perhaps signaling that he felt Yamamoto really won the match? Really good stuff overall. ****1/2