As the title states how good is Akiyama and what is/was his potential? Did he have the talent to be a champion in a major organization?
I always felt with his side projects modeling and acting that he never reached his full potential and had long gaps between fights, so long i thought he had retired after his 3 year layoff. That and he would move around and didn't really stay in the same place. He started off fighting out of Japan then he moved to Korea I believe because he had those shows with his daughter. He's on the Netflix show Physical 100 right now. Then he moved to Hawaii for a bit during the pandemic. There's gyms everywhere so he can train but I always wondered if he could be more.
Where does he have his training camps? Sherdog lists his camps as Team Cloud (the gym he started) and Jackson Wink though I don't think he trained there long. Team Cloud has no other notable fighters I can see. Does he have quality training and sparring partners?
He's shown skills in his fights with his takedown defense against Jake Shields, he got out struck. He lost to Chris Leben but he was winning the fight until he gassed and got subbed. He got KOed by TRT Vitor, no shame in that.
Physically he takes care of his body and seems to always be in shape (though maybe not cardio wise as he has gassed in fights). He has power and KOed Sherif Mohamed and a smaller Shinya Aoki at the age of 46. If MMA was his main focus do you think he could've been a champion in a major organization? He probably makes more money with all of these other endeavors.
I always felt with his side projects modeling and acting that he never reached his full potential and had long gaps between fights, so long i thought he had retired after his 3 year layoff. That and he would move around and didn't really stay in the same place. He started off fighting out of Japan then he moved to Korea I believe because he had those shows with his daughter. He's on the Netflix show Physical 100 right now. Then he moved to Hawaii for a bit during the pandemic. There's gyms everywhere so he can train but I always wondered if he could be more.
Where does he have his training camps? Sherdog lists his camps as Team Cloud (the gym he started) and Jackson Wink though I don't think he trained there long. Team Cloud has no other notable fighters I can see. Does he have quality training and sparring partners?
He's shown skills in his fights with his takedown defense against Jake Shields, he got out struck. He lost to Chris Leben but he was winning the fight until he gassed and got subbed. He got KOed by TRT Vitor, no shame in that.
Physically he takes care of his body and seems to always be in shape (though maybe not cardio wise as he has gassed in fights). He has power and KOed Sherif Mohamed and a smaller Shinya Aoki at the age of 46. If MMA was his main focus do you think he could've been a champion in a major organization? He probably makes more money with all of these other endeavors.