Aoki's wrestling myth

[RubberGuard5]

Can the myth of his bad wrestling stop now? Yes there are better fighters than him, but his takedowns are top notch. He failed to takedown like 2 or 3 guys in his career.

 

[Fork]

amen, it's always surprising how often his takedowns get overlooked.

 

[Troublesome10]

His takedowns are like a combination between Judo trips and wrestling against the fence.

 

[Tamriel Terror]

Underrated wrestling , finally at least some people realize it

 

[Steve08]

Yeah, he mostly prefers leg trips and stuff so far as I can tell but those are actually in both wrestling and judo. Needless to say, his takedowns are certainly effective.

He uses no moves native to wrestling besides takedowns, so hard for me to think of him as having "good wrestling", but his overall grappling is truly excellent of course.

 

[The Reed]

He's adapting to fighting in the cage now. In rings he'd always use the corner to get people down. Hope he continues to find success.

 

[ShutYourMouth]

Agreed. I don't know if people know this, but he's a black belt in Judo. Not sure where this myth even came from. Just because his takedowns are unorthodox compared to the traditional wrestler? ... He rarely shoots for a double leg, he just latches onto his opponents, relies on his trips/drags them to the ground. He's great.

 

[Troublesome10]

He's adapting to fighting in the cage now. In rings he'd always use the corner to get people down. Hope he continues to find success.

It might be overlooked that his losses in the states were some of his first cage matches. Who knows how much that affected his game. To be fair though I think he loses to Alvarez and Gil no matter what, but I still think he could compete fairly successfully in the UFC.

 

[PIT FIGHTER]

Haters need to eat it!

OP made a thread over three years ago exhibiting the takedown finesse of Shinya A_OK_I yet doubters still remained!

http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f61/aoki-takedowns-gifs-1609897/

 

[johnyboy]

He has a knack for getting the fight to the floor. People also freak out when he gets a hold of them because they know how dangerous he is.

 

[Zarathustra]

Not sure where this myth even came from.

It came from a bunch of people who have never seen any of his fights other than the Melendez fight.

 

[dsdoubled]

Aoki is good at getting guys down. Id say hes good at judo not really wrestling in the traditional sense. Bottom line is he can get opponents to the ground. And I think the misconception of Aoki having poor wrestling comes from his appearance of having a relatively frail looking physique.

Here is what I wana know though on a somewhat related note. Does Tatsuya Kawajiri have a traditional wrestling background? As far as I know Japan is one of the few nations worldwide to have a structured college wrestling program and Kawajiri went to a college that has a wrestling team/club. Anyone have any info on this?

 

[Lucifer Alpha]

OneFC now has two champs who UFC tards refuse to give their due.

 

[Mr Boogaloo]

I was gutted for him that he was unable to injure his opponent in the finish. maybe next time, eh shinya bro? thinking of you at this tough time.

 

[Volizei]

He is one of, if not the best grapplers in the sport. askren as well, funny how two of the very best are not in the ufc.

 

[The Taxman]

Training with Askren probably helped that

 

[Double Leg]

He's an A Class Shootist. That's big.

 

[SBC]

Aoki is good at getting guys down. Id say hes good at judo not really wrestling in the traditional sense. Bottom line is he can get opponents to the ground. And I think the misconception of Aoki having poor wrestling comes from his appearance of having a relatively frail looking physique.

Here is what I wana know though on a somewhat related note. Does Tatsuya Kawajiri have a traditional wrestling background? As far as I know Japan is one of the few nations worldwide to have a structured college wrestling program and Kawajiri went to a college that has a wrestling team/club. Anyone have any info on this?

Kawajiri had no wrestling experience before getting into MMA. He was a middle-distance runner and a baseball player. He began training MMA at the age of 19 and that's where he started picking up his nifty wrestling techniques. His teammate Mitsuhiro Ishida was a top Greco-Roman wrestler in college though so I assume he learned a lot from him.

As to Aoki, it's true. Morons reference the Melendez fight as some kind of sterling evidence that he can't wrestle but it's just BS. It's probably like the only fight they've seen of his. Aoki really isn't you're traditional single leg double leg type of a guy, which is what you see most often in MMA, so of course idiots who know nothing of technique just scream about him being a horrid wrestler. He's aided by a solid base in Judo, him being a black belt. One of the things I think is great about him being at Evolve is that he trains under Heath Sims, a Greco-Roman guy. I think that is a fantastic next step for Aoki as Greco is more of an upright in the clinch type of wrestling that would be easier for him to adapt to given his Judo background.

 

[ThatBJJGuy]

he was always undersized at 155 ...he's looking good at 145

 

[dsdoubled]

Kawajiri had no wrestling experience before getting into MMA. He was a middle-distance runner and a baseball player. He began training MMA at the age of 19 and that's where he started picking up his nifty wrestling techniques. His teammate Mitsuhiro Ishida was a top Greco-Roman wrestler in college though so I assume he learned a lot from him.

As to Aoki, it's true. Morons reference the Melendez fight as some kind of sterling evidence that he can't wrestle but it's just BS. It's probably like the only fight they've seen of his. Aoki really isn't you're traditional single leg double leg type of a guy, which is what you see most often in MMA, so of course idiots who know nothing of technique just scream about him being a horrid wrestler. He's aided by a solid base in Judo, him being a black belt. One of the things I think is great about him being at Evolve is that he trains under Heath Sims, a Greco-Roman guy. I think that is a fantastic next step for Aoki as Greco is more of an upright in the clinch type of wrestling that would be easier for him to adapt to given his Judo background.

Nice man not many people mention/know A. who Heath Sims is. B. He was an early member of Team Quest. C. he was a Greco Olympian who fought MMA. D. He is a trainer at Evolve.