Founding and Early Years (2003-2007)
RISE, an abbreviation of "Real Impact Sports Entertainment," was founded in 2003 by Takashi Ito, a former kickboxer who serves as the organization's president. The promotion held its inaugural event on February 23, 2003, at the Gold Jim South Tokyo Annex in Ōmori, Japan, and is headquartered in Toshima, Tokyo. On December 23, 2003, RISE staged the first of its "Dead or Alive" tournaments, a year-end event contested at 70 kg that would become an annual fixture. By 2005 the Dead or Alive format had expanded to additional weight classes, including 60 kg, 80 kg and heavyweight divisions.
Establishing an Identity Alongside K-1 (2007-2011)
In an era dominated by K-1, then the premier kickboxing brand in Japan, RISE distinguished itself by emphasizing the lighter weight divisions and a faster pace of competition. Before the bankruptcy of K-1's parent company, the Fighting and Entertainment Group, winners of RISE's Dead or Alive tournaments earned places in K-1 MAX Japan tournaments. The promotion began holding events at larger venues such as Korakuen Hall, and in 2008 it made a structural change, moving away from deciding champions through single-day tournaments in favor of five-round championship bouts. RISE's ruleset also evolved: originally elbow strikes were permitted while knees were prohibited, but on May 16, 2010, the promotion adopted K-1-style rules permitting single knee strikes and disallowing elbows. A women's division was established on November 23, 2011, when Rena Kubota defeated Erika Kamimura to become the inaugural RISE Queen champion.
The Nasukawa Era and the RISE World Series (2014-2019)
RISE became a launching platform for a generation of young Japanese fighters, most notably Tenshin Nasukawa, who debuted with the promotion as a teenager and went on to hold RISE bantamweight (55 kg) and world featherweight (57.5 kg) titles while building an undefeated kickboxing record. To showcase such talent on a larger stage, RISE introduced the RISE WORLD SERIES, a multi-event Grand Prix tournament format featuring international competitors. The 2019 edition was a high point: Nasukawa won the 58 kg tournament, defeating Shiro by unanimous decision in the final held on September 16, 2019, while Taiju Shiratori captured another bracket. These events raised RISE's domestic and international profile during a period when K-1 and RISE maintained a long-standing rivalry that kept their respective stars apart.
THE MATCH 2022 and Cross-Promotion (2022)
On June 19, 2022, RISE and rival promotion K-1 set aside their rivalry to co-promote THE MATCH 2022 at the Tokyo Dome, headlined by a long-awaited bout between RISE's Tenshin Nasukawa and K-1's Takeru Segawa. Nasukawa, then 23 and undefeated, won by unanimous decision over the 30-year-old Takeru, ending his kickboxing career before transitioning to professional boxing. The event drew a reported live attendance of 56,399 and over 500,000 pay-per-view buys, making it one of the most commercially significant kickboxing cards ever staged in Japan and a landmark of cooperation between the country's two leading promotions.
Modern Era and International Partnerships (2022-2026)
Following THE MATCH, RISE pursued a series of cross-promotional agreements that defined its modern era. On January 5, 2022, it announced a partnership with the Dutch promotion Glory enabling fighter exchanges and co-promotion, and on February 10, 2023, it reached a similar agreement with K-1. On January 11, 2024, Glory and RISE announced deeper integration, including joint tournaments, unified rankings and shared championship structures, producing events such as the GLORY RISE Grand Prix. RISE continues to operate the annual RISE WORLD SERIES and maintains a roster of male and female weight classes, with domestic broadcasts on AbemaTV and full bouts distributed via YouTube, cementing its position as one of Japan's principal kickboxing organizations into the mid-2020s.