Masayuki Naruse was born on March 15,1973 and is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, competing in the light heavyweight division who fought most of his career in Fighting Network RINGS.
13 Facts About Masayuki Naruse
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In MMA, Naruse was the first and only RINGS Light-Heavyweight Champion and a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in professional wrestling.
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Masayuki Naruse started practising shotokan karate in high school before turning his attention to puroresu.
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Masayuki Naruse was eventually accepted in Fighting Network RINGS and trained under his chairman Akira Maeda.
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Masayuki Naruse had his first shoot fight against submission wrestler Koichiro Kimura which he won via ankle lock.
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Masayuki Naruse then had another special shoot fight against kickboxer Atsushi Tamaki which went on for 24 minutes before Naruse emerged the winner via TKO due to lost points.
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Masayuki Naruse experienced little success early in his mixed martial arts career, dropping six of his first seven mixed martial arts bouts, including fights against Valentijn Overeem and Magomedkhan Gamzatkhanov.
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Masayuki Naruse turned things around as a participant in the eight-man Light-Heavyweight title tournament in 1997, defeating Lee Hasdell, Wataru Sakata and Chris Haseman en route to becoming the first RINGS Light-Heavyweight Champion.
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Masayuki Naruse then defeated Tommy Williams via armbar at Jungle Fight 3 in Brazil.
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Masayuki Naruse then faced Japanese MMA legend Yuki Kondo at Pancrase: 257 on March 30,2014.
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Masayuki Naruse debuted for Fighting Network RINGS in 1992 where he was billed as a scrappy junior heavyweight.
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Masayuki Naruse fought for NJPW from 2001 to 2006, defending his Junior Heavyweight title against Shinya Makabe and El Samurai before losing his belt to Tokimitsu Ishizawa, later Kendo Kashin.
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Masayuki Naruse paired with Mitsuya Nagai to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship on July 26,2004 against Genichiro Tenryu and Masanobu Fuchi.