#5
Shinya Aoki
"Tobikan Judan"
"Tobikan Judan"
Record: 26-5 (1 NC)
Weight: 155 lbs
Height: 5'11
Hometown: Shizuoka City, Japan
Ranking: 6th in the Lightweight Rankings
Association: Nippon Top Team / Paraestra Tokyo
Organizations: Strikeforce (formerly DREAM, PRIDE, Shoot, DEEP)
For unknown reasons, the proposed fight with Melendez did not take place. Instead, Aoki faced highly ranked lightweight fighter Joachim Hansen. Aoki submitted Hansen with a gogoplata—considered the first successful gogoplata in MMA competition.[7]
After his win over Hansen, Aoki was set to rematch Kikuchi in Shooto, with Aoki's Shooto middleweight title (previously won from Kikuchi) on the line. Aoki successfully defended his title against Kikuchi, winning via split decision.
Following his victory, Aoki announced that he was to be the Shooto representative in the forthcoming Pride Lightweight Grand Prix tournament. Aoki's next fight was at Pride 34, where he faced little known Dutch fighter Brian Lo-A-Njoe. At the event Aoki submitted Lo-A-Njoe in the first round with an armbar. Following the fight, Aoki once again confirmed his participation in the Lightweight Grand Prix. With the purchase of Pride by the majority owners of Zuffa LLC, the Pride Lightweight Grand Prix was cancelled.[8]
On November 21, 2007, Aoki's participation on the New Year's Eve MMA card Yarennoka! was announced. Originally, his opponent was to be two-time K-1 Hero's Middleweight Grand Prix champion Gesias "JZ Calvan" Cavalcante. Rumors that Cavalcante was injured surfaced only two weeks before the bout, though Cavalcante denied them before eventually admitting the injury and withdrawing from the fight. Aoki defeated Korean Olympic Judo silver medalist Jung Bu-Kyung, Cavalcante's replacement, via unanimous decision in what was Jung Bu-Kyung's mixed martial arts debut. Aoki had promised to use a never before seen submission in the match but was unable to finish the debut fighter.[
After the purchase of Pride by Zuffa LLC, most Japanese fighters signed to newly created mixed martial arts promotions with Aoki signing to Dream. Here Aoki finally faced Cavalcante on March 15, 2008 at the opening round of the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix tournament. Early in the first round, the referee stopped the action when Cavalcante apparently landed illegal elbow strikes to the back of Aoki's neck. The ringside doctor announced that Aoki was unable to continue due to the injury and Cavalcante apologized for the incident.[11] The fight resulted in a no contest. Elbow strikes to the neck and spine area are illegal under Dream rules. Aoki was later found to have sustained concussion of the cervical vertebra.[12]
They had their rematch at Dream 2 on April 29, 2008. In that match, Aoki defeated Cavalcante via unanimous decision, and shocked the Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world with his use of the De La Riva guard to deliver multiple heel kicks to Cavalcate's Head.[13] He sustained a severely bruised rib and tore cartilage in his costal area during the match. At Dream 4, Aoki defeated Katsuhiko Nagata via a mounted gogoplata (possibly the first ever in professional competition, later to be dubbed "the Aoki-plata") submission to advance to the semi-finals of the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix.[14] At Dream 5, Aoki defeated Caol Uno by unanimous decision. Later that night, Eddie Alvarez was set to fight Aoki, but had to bow out due to injury from his previous match that evening. Joachim Hansen took his place and defeated Aoki by TKO (punches) at 4:19 round 1 to become the first Dream Lightweight Champion.
At Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year's Eve, Aoki finally squared off against American Eddie Alvarez. Aoki started quickly, securing Alvarez's back after catching a kick, before being thrown to the canvas by the stronger American. In a scramble, Aoki latched onto the foot of Alvarez and applied a heel hook. Alvarez fought the hold, but tapped out shortly after Aoki adjusted his grip. Alvarez also suffered ligament damage in his knee. With his victory over Alvarez, Aoki became the very first WAMMA Undisputed World Lightweight Champion.[15]
Aoki defeated David Gardner at the March 8, 2009 featherweight-grand-prix card at Dream 7 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan (this fight is remembered for Gardner waving to the crowd as Aoki was controlling his back and saying "Hello, Japan!", thus allowing Aoki to secure a rear naked choke from that position).[16] Aoki, who is still recognized by Shooto as its middleweight (168 pounds (76 kg)) champion, also moved back to that weight to fight in Dream's welterweight grand prix at Dream 8 in 2009.[17] His first match in the tournament was a rematch with Hayato Sakurai.[18] Aoki lost the fight in twenty-seven seconds via TKO due to punches and knees following a Sakurai reversal from a takedown by Aoki. As a result of the match, Aoki did not advance in the DREAM 2009 Welterweight Grand Prix.
Aoki met WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko during a five-minute "special exhibition" at an April 29 M-1 Challenge (presented by Affliction) event in Tokyo.[19] Emelianenko made Aoki tap out from an Achilles lock just before the bell sounded to end the exhibition.[20]
Aoki defeated Vitor Ribeiro at Dream 10 on July 20, 2009, which earned him a title fight against Joachim Hansen. Aoki faced Joachim Hansen in a rematch for the DREAM Lightweight Championship at Dream 11 on October 6, 2009. Last time they met, Aoki previously fought a tough match against Caol Uno on the same night which went on for both two rounds (15 minutes) when Hansen only fought for 2 minutes 35 seconds previously. Aoki ended up defeating Hansen in the second round for the title shot via submission (armbar) to become the new DREAM Lightweight Champion.
On December 22, 2009, it was announced that Aoki would not be taking on fellow DREAM fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri, but would be fighting Sengoku Lightweight Champion, Mizuto Hirota.[21] In his pre-fight interview Aoki stated that he felt insulted with the short notice changes as he was looking forward to battling it out with one of the world's other top lightweight competitors in Kawajiri. Aoki's opponent Hirota just came off a spectacular win over long time friend of Aoki's, Satoru Kitaoka to become the new Sengoku Lightweight champion. The fight between Aoki and Hirota was considered to be one of the main events of the night along with Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida and the K-1 bout Masato vs Andy Souwer. Aoki defeated Hirota with a brutal submission (hammerlock) that broke Hirota's arm in the first round at 1:17. He then proceeded to get in the face of his downed opponent and give him the finger then, get up and run around the ring doing the same to the crowd before leaving the ring.[22][23]
"When I had his arm behind his back, I could feel it popping, I thought, 'Well, this guy's pride just won't let him tap, will it?' So without hesitation, I broke it. I heard it break, and I thought, 'Ah, there, I just broke it.' I was stopped afterward, but even if I hadn't been, continuing to break it more would have been fine by me."[24]
Aoki would later apologize for his behavior in his post fight interview:
"After my fight, I was excited, and so I did something rude that I should apologize for. But that showed just how excited I was over that fight."[24]
As a result of his actions following his win, Aoki has been dismissed as an instructor at the Paraestra Kasai gym.[25] However he is still training under Yuki Nakai and representing Paraestra when he fights.
Aoki lost his US debut against current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez on April 17, 2010 at Strikeforce: Nashville.[26] The fight was broadcast live to a North American audience on CBS. After Aoki's defeat to Gilbert Melendez in Strikeforce he has expressed interest to train at Cesar Gracie's camp in Northern California.
Aoki successfully defended his Lightweight title against top contender Tatsuya Kawajiri in just under two minutes of the first round via an achilles lock submission, at Dream 15 on July 10, 2010.
Aoki defeated Marcus Aurelio by unanimous decision in a non-title bout on September 25, 2010 at Dream.16.
He then competed again at Deep: 50th Impact on October 24 against former PABA and WBA boxing champion Yokthai Sithoar.[27][28] Aoki won by submission (Keylock) 1:00 into the first round against Sithoar.
After the proposed rematch with Melendez fell through due to contract issues on Melendez's part, Aoki faced K-1 kickboxer Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima in a special rules exhibition bout at Dynamite!! 2010.[29] In the first 3-minute kickboxing round, Aoki evaded Nagashima's offense by breaking the rules via excessive clinching, falling to the ground, and going for takedowns in order to run out the clock and move onto the 5-minute mixed martial arts round. Aoki was warned repeatedly by the referee, however no points were deducted as there could not be a decision winner. The commentary team of Michael Schiavello and Frank Trigg were openly criticising Aoki for his rule breaking during the first round, while the Japanese crowd uncharacteristically booed him. At 0:04 of the second MMA rules round, Aoki was knocked out immediately as he went for a double leg takedown via flying knee and subsequent grounded strikes. Since the bout was contested as an exhibition, the loss is not reflected on Aoki's professional mixed martial arts record.
Aoki then defeated Lyle Beerbohm on April 9, 2011 at Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley via neck crank in the first round.[30]
Aoki was expected to face Willamy Freire on May 29, 2011 at DREAM.17.[31] Freire reportedly had trouble getting a visa, and it then appeared that he would be facing Antonio McKee instead,[32] but then McKee chose to pull out of the card for visa reasons and he complained that he wouldn't get paid for the fight. Dream is currently looking for a new opponent to face Aoki at Dream 17.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinya_Aoki
