Despite not being nearly the hot commodity he was before his Strikeforce loss to Gilbert Melendez three years ago in April of 2010, Shinya Aoki is still a fascinating MMA talent. In the years since that disappointing night on CBS Aoki has gone 9-1 with impressive wins over Tatsuya Kawijiri, Lyle Beerbohm and Antonio McKee, but you wouldn’t really know he’s been so active since most of his fights have been of the radar in the supreme. Dream isn’t even a shell of it’s former self. It’s barely even there, we couldn’t even consider it a shell. The Japanese promotion that was supposed to take over for Pride is a barely functioning mess, with no TV distribution and the uneasy feeling that every show they’ve put on for the last few years will be their last. So Shinya has made the move to ONE FC, where he is fighting for the Asian promotion’s lightweight belt against Shooto vet and striker, Kotetsu Boku.
Shinya Aoki’s highlight reels play out like a horror movie. He snaps limbs with ease, and is downright evil to his opponents sometimes. But would you know that the Master of Flying Submissions is afraid on the inside? At least for a little while?
“I’m very scared, always, before the fight,” “But once I step into the cage or the ring, I feel nothing. Empty. No anger. Nothing.
“I want to kill my opponent. I know that my opponent is going to have that exact same mentality, want to kill me. That’s why I have a lot of fear before the fight. But once I step into the cage, once I step into the ring, all those feelings of fear or anger just dissipate and I feel nothing.”
And while Shinya feels nothing, his opponent usually feels muscles tearing and bones breaking wherever Shinya holds his grasp. Check out ONE FC this weekend at a rapidly approaching time (13 hours and counting) on internet PPV. Man, what a fight weekend.
