[1992-12-19-RINGS] Mitsuya Nagai vs Sergei Sousserov

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Inevitably, these guys in RINGS who I've never heard of and will likely never see again impress the hell out of me. In this case, it's Sergei Sousserov, who is an outstanding athlete and has some gorgeous reversals and surprise takedowns. Great finish and a big moment for Nagai, who takes Sousserov off his feet with a great high kick.

[Tim Evans]

Sergei looks like the lost on of Brock Lesnar and Dolph Lungren. Good match with a lot of kicks and slaps. I enjoyed Sergei's crane kicks.

[PeteF3]

I've never, ever been able to differentiate between Mitsuya Nagai and Masashi Aoyagi. I'm not entirely convinced that one is not a secret identity of the other and would welcome proof that they've been seen in the same place at the same time. Nagai does come off as a gutsy bastard, as Sergei basically takes him down and ties him up at will for most of this ,while also throwing some beautiful kicks at him. Nagai creates distance with some awesome kicks of his own before finally landing one that puts Sousserov down.

[WingedEagle]

Sousserov forces an early rope break with cross armbreaker, while Nagai's strategy is working leglocks on the ground . Nagai lands a big high kick for a pop but Sousserov follows with a quick takedown. Nagai sold damage to his leg while trapped very well. Nagai finally hits a couple close range knees and slaps to set up a big high kick for the win. Typically enjoyable shoot style but not stand out.

 

***

[Zenjo]

The Russian did look like a smaller version of Dolph Lungren. Movie star looks. When he started out with some fancy suplay I had high hopes for this. It didn't live up to its initial promise, although it was a decent effort for an undercard bout. Nagai was one of those reliable career midcarders that are the lifeblood of every good promotion.

[garretta]

Nagai was able to tie up Sousserov for most of this, though I was impressed by Sousserov's takedowns. If he'd gone puro, I could see him being marketed as a master of the suplex, kind of like the Iron Sheik was. In the end, Nagai puts the Russian away once and for all with a devastating high kick.

 

RINGS accidentally (or not) gave the finish away by not putting the score on the screen after Nagai hot the winning kick. It'll be interesting to see going forward if that was just a one-time thing or if it was standard operating procedure.

[superkix]

Oh boy, Sousserov could fill the void left behind by Willie Peeters in 1992. He's the Soviet version of Guile from Street Fighter. He's all about 80's jumping roundhouse kicks and suplex slams. Nagai, in true scrappy underdog fashion, comes flying in with these big wheel kicks, completely missing the mark. He mainly hangs on Sergei's leg throughout the match, taking him to the ropes a few times. Loved his shoot STF. This definitely could've been a 10 minute "classic" but it drags out sluggishly to 17:29. Sergei's takedowns aren't as effective and Nagai continues going after the leg before going to town with the knee strikes, kneeing Sergei in the face for the KO.