UWF International

Union of Wrestling Forces International

Acronym	UWFi
Founded	May 10, 1991
Defunct	December 27, 1996
Style	Shoot style
Headquarters	Japan
Founder(s)	Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki, Yukoh Miyato, Yoji Anjo and others
Predecessor	Newborn UWF
Successor	Kingdom

Union of Wrestling Forces International, better known as UWF International, U-Inter, or simply UWFi, was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996. The UWF international was the successor to the Newborn UWF that ran from 1988 to 1990, which itself was the successor to the original Universal Wrestling Federation.

Although the matches were predetermined, the UWF-i was very convincing for its time, promoting a combat-based style featuring a mix of wrestling, submission grappling and kickboxing. The promotion also held kickboxing contests and, in rare instances, special shoot matches. In retrospect, UWFi, along with other shoot-style promotions, served as a precursor to mixed martial arts and to popular Japanese MMA promotions, particularly Pride FC. The promotion was also known for hiring dangerous shooters Lou Thesz, Billy Robinson and Danny Hodge as trainers and promoters of their product in order to establish legitimate credibility.