A longtime competitor in RINGS before the organization began hosting true MMA bouts, Naruse had his first taste of MMA during his early career in mixed-style fights. He had his first shoot fight against submission wrestlerKoichiro Kimura which he won via ankle lock. He 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. They then had a rematch two months later which Naruse won again, this time via arm triangle choke.
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 (commonly referred to by his nickname Volk Han).[2]
He 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.[3] He then went 3–6 over his next nine fights before RINGS dissolved in 2002.[2]
After RINGS
After wrestling for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Naruse decided to go back to competing in MMA. On December 31, 2003, he defeated Jan Nortje by rear-naked choke at K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite!!. He then defeated Tommy Williams via armbar at Jungle Fight 3 in Brazil.
Return to MMA
Nine years after retiring in 2004, Naruse returned to MMA on October 27, 2013, as he lost to Sanae Kikuta via armbar at Grabaka Live! 3.[4] Naruse then faced Japanese MMA legend Yuki Kondo at Pancrase: 257 on March 30, 2014.[5] He lost the fight via majority decision.[6]
Naruse and other RINGS wrestlers made the transition to mixed martial arts with the promotion in 1995.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
In 2001 with RINGS on the verge of collapse, he moved to New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It was a well timed move as owner Antonio Inoki was giving former MMA fighters immediate pushes & he was immediately placed into a feud with Minoru Tanaka, who used to work for BattlARTS, RINGS' rival promotion. Within 4 months of his debut, Naruse captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from his rival Tanaka.[8]
He 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.[1] His next chance at the title was as one of 11 competitors in a Battle Royal on October 13, 2003 which as won by Jado.[1]
