When it started back in March 2003 R.I.S.E. was just another small kick boxing promotion. Not many fans knew R.I.S.E. actually stands for Real, Impact, Sport, and Entertainment. To most kick boxing or combat sport fans in Japan it was just another small promotion that does their shows in Tokyo.
Japan has more than a few kickboxing promotions each with a long history, and solid fan base. There are two old houses, All Japan Kick Boxing and New Japan Kick Boxing. Plus new promotions like IKUSA, J-NETWORK, MA Kick, NJKF, and TRIBELATE, and these young promotions are all hoping to send one of their bread and butter talents to a mega powerhouse everyone knows, K-1.

Alex Roberts was just too big and too poweful for everybody else in the tournament.

And it's does not hold strictly kickboxing but is appropriate to include the very popular Shoot Boxing in this category.
There really wasn't room for R.I.S.E., another new promotion with nothing really new or unique or innovative and revolutionary idea. At least, that's what it seemed like in the beginning.
However R.I.S.E. with their aggressive marketing somehow survived. The promotion held five shows in 2003 and seven shows in 2004.
But the turning point was In July 2004. R.I.S.E., at a bigger venue, Differ Ariake, held its first international show and named it "Japan vs. the World." Just a year and four month since its
foundation, R.I.S.E. went out and invited fighters from Thailand, U.S.A., Brazil, U.K. and Australia, sending a message to fans in Japan that R.I.S.E. was looking into the world and also, out of five international fights, Japanese fighters winning three, and two others drew, it somehow created an impression that fighters competing in R.I.S.E. are in fact world class fighters.
R.I.S.E. didn't waste any time after this big show. In December of same year, the promotion held its first tournament called DEAD OR ALIVE and crowned their one-night tournament champion at 70 kg (154.35 lbs) & under.

In 2005, they added a tournament of heavyweights called G-BAZOOKA as one of their nine shows. On top of this, in 2006, R.I.S.E. announced two more annual tournaments - for 60 kg & under named FLASH to CRUSH, and MIGHTY EIGHTY, for fighters in the 80 kg & under category.
With four annual tournaments at Differ Ariake, with a small show, six in 2006 to be precise, at Tokyo Gold's Gym South Annex, R.I.S.E. established the format where fans can easily understand and perhaps relate to and that maybe is the reason why R.I.S.E. is where it stands right now. A notch below K-1.

A popular fighter like Akeomi Nitta (left) often makes an appearane at R.I.S.E. shows.

R.I.S.E.'s first one-night tournament of 2006 was for the heavyweights. 2006 G-BAZOOKA tournament took place on March 26th and this year, it belonged to Alex Roberts. A man originating from Wisconsin who now resides in Japan teaching English. This former champion of Daido Juku, Japan's oldest MMA organization, was just too big, too strong, and too powerful for everyone in the tournament.

In the first round, Roberts destroyed last year's tournament finalist Magnum Sakai with a solid right knee shot to the liver, in the semi-final he KO'd Koichi Petas with a high kick, and in the final, just in 20 seconds, floored YUKI with one kick to the leg.
Although Robert is no stranger to R.I.S.E. shows, among Japan's combat sports fan, he is best known as an MMA fighter competing in Pancrase. He was on his way to challenge Tsusoshi TK Kosaka's King of Pancrase heavyweight title but got caught by Anthony "Tastuji" Netzler's heel lock and since then he was in search of his own road. Therefore, this win indeed was a confidence booster Roberts needed.
Since Roberts is a resident of Japan, he is qualified to compete in the K-1 Japan tournament. From what Roberts showed on this night, he may still need more time and experience to catch Musashi but it seems like he already has got what it take to square off against top fighters in the K-1 Japan series such as Hiromi Amada, Tsusyoshi Nakasko, Yusuke Fujimoto, and Hiraku Hori.
Fighters like TATSUJI and Shingo Garyu gained experiences in R.I.S.E. and went on to K-1 MAX.
Now, Alex Roberts might be the first heavyweight out of R.I.S.E. who will step up to K-1 ring.