Akira Maeda

Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

前田日明 · 마에다 아키라

Born

24 January 1959, Fudegasaki-cho

Citizenship

Japan

Sport

mixed martial arts, professional wrestling

Occupation

mixed martial arts fighter, professional wrestler

Team / club

New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Universal Wrestling Federation, Fighting Network Rings

Akira Maeda (前田 日明, Maeda Akira) (born Go Il-myeong (Hangul: 고일명, Hanja: 高日明), January 24, 1959) is a Japanese mixed martial arts promoter, writer and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Maeda was also known by the ring name Kwik-kik-Lee during his time on the British wrestling's slot on the sports show World of Sport (WoS). Maeda helped develop the shoot-style of professional wrestling during the late 1980s. He founded Fighting Network RINGS in 1991 which would become one of the top MMA promotions before it folded in 2002.

Awards and honours

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame

Teachers

• Antonio Inoki
• Karl Gotch
• Kotetsu Yamamoto
• Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Students

• Tsuyoshi Kosaka

External links

• Wikipedia
• Sherdog
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q4701157 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.