Media How Good was Sexyama?

[Momentosis]

Very solid. Strong all around. Great chin and power.
Cardio a bit weak and has always been his downfall.
Not a title contender but could take it to the best and put on great fights.

 

[piropiro]

Better than his record would suggest, he was relatively inexperienced when he made his debut in the UFC but he was already 33 years old. Still good enough to give experiened high level fighters like Shields, Bisping and Leben competitive fights. Without a doubt one of the best judokas to represent their base in MMA.

This.

Also had some holes in his game … mediocre cardio and ground game, as well as questionable fight strategy with over reliance on his striking power and fearless warrior spirit, but nonetheless was very competitive in most losses (to top fighters) and always absolutely went to war.

Was definitely top-10 in his prime and could have been top-5 with a more careful buildup and earlier start in the UFC.

Between his abilities, charisma, looks and personality, he nonetheless became a big celebrity in Japan and Korea, with lots of endorsements and TV series, so I would imagine he’s doing quite well. Seems like a very nice guy (I’ve seen him in a couple of TV shows).

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

His decisions with Shields and current BKFC HW champ Belcher were very close fights, which is pretty legit for a natural WW as him. I dont think he has any case for the W vs Bisping




I'd say he was rather fringe top10. Never established himself in there.



yes he was.
Kang was a rare case, he really went off after a brilliant run in Pride
I Amar Suloev is very underrated. He would have been a tough out for any WW imo.
Okami was a step above both too

akiyamas wins over kang and the NC over misaki, IMO put him at the top.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

Do you remember what the beef was about with Misaki? Right after the fight when Misaki thought he had won (before his soccer kick was ruled a NC), he got on the mic and was lambasting Teh Sex about being a cheater or traitor or something and Sexyama was just standing there respectfully without saying anything. I figured it was something about greasing vs. Saku but I don't recall it ever being fully translated.



MMA debut on NYE 2004. Yeah I mistakenly thought he had won Olympic gold but the man did win many international Judo tourneys in 2001/2002 and going to the World Championships representing Japan pretty much puts you on the short list among the world's top Judoka.

i think it was something about the sakuraba grease scandal. thats when japan did a 180 on akiyama and right around the same time when he Chu Sung Hoon was blowing up in korea. i'll never forget his win over kang, it was a big deal. dude looked beastly. then to come after that against kazuo the grabaka hitman misaki, got damn. what a time. akiyama doesn't get the fight credit he deserves, but glad he got the success. WAR CHU SUNG HOON

 

[Reach Finesse]

The other way around. He seems to be pretty big in Korea. Prob bigger than in Japan. I saw him in a lot of Korean shows I used to watch.

He's of Korean descent but raised in Japan

 

[Franklin U.]

he was absolutely top ten material in his k1 heroes day and rise up to dennis kang win. thats a bad take, revisionist.

Top promotion wise, he certainly WAS NOT.
Denis Kang was one of THEE most overrated fighters of all time. To reference him and a win over him to establish akiyama as a top 10 fighter is absolutely f----- silly.

 

[Zanmato]

A decent fighter whose personality and general game got him opportunities he couldn't really back up at that level (his record shows it). His appearance on Physical 100 shows he is determined, supportive, intelligent and strategic in his thinking. I imagine he'd make a fantastic coach & mentor

 

[turbotime]

Yum Yum Akiyama.

Striking a bit stiff, but he makes me stiff so it evens out

 

[pankrat]

Top promotion wise, he certainly WAS NOT.
Denis Kang was one of THEE most overrated fighters of all time. To reference him and a win over him to establish akiyama as a top 10 fighter is absolutely f----- silly.

akiyamas wins over kang and the NC over misaki, IMO put him at the top.

#9 is the highest he got in official sherdog rankings, around the time he beat Kang:

https://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/4/Sherdog-Official-Mixed-Martial-Arts-Rankings-13325

Didnt retain the rank for much long.
I don't see how a win over a talented but flakey fighter in Kang is credit enough to claim Akiyama was "absolutely" top 10 fighter, nor how his fights with Saku and Misaki could helped him much given the controversial ending of both fights.

I think the comparison with Lombard is pretty on point. They share lot of strenghts and weaknesses. i'd say Akiyama was a slightly inferior version of Hector and their respective fights with Shields refflect it pretty well imo.

 

[Crazy Librarian]

Yum Yum Akiyama.

Striking a bit stiff, but he makes me stiff so it evens out

 

[I_IZ_BACK]

Akiyama is your all time favorite fighter but you haven't seen his fights. Sounds to me you have a crush on him (full homo)

 

[turbotime]

How is he a meme? He's a sexy man.

 

[turbotime]

He knows what he's doing.

 

[pankrat]

He was as Huge as Okami at one point

Excuse me but Okami was never a big MW. He weighted in at 181lbs for his last bout in Pride (which was a 205lbs bout).

He then put weight on his frame but still a tall, lanky, average sized MW. Huge head though.

He was a level above Akiyama, and its a known fact that Yushin used to dominate him in Wajutsu KK gym.

 

[slavomir]

Does Sherdog likes him truly or just for meme brada? I think Jake Gyllenhaal is more handsome than Akiyama.

That's Racist!
Jk.

Sexyama was above average fighter. He got to celeb status in Japan during Pride days and later on. He was very good grappler and most of his fights were exciting. The Sexyama act helped him with his celeb status a lot too.
We old doggers member him.

 

[TimeToTrain]

He was on the same level as Jake Ellenberger

 

[Royce's Gi]

Sexyama > Yushin "Thunder" Lyger, Jake Gyllenburger and Jake Ellenhaal

 

[ChickenBrother]

I don't remember now. I'm blasted. If I can't remember by tomorrow afternoon, I'll gladly research about it.
What I remember is that Sexy did use a lot of body lotion against Saku.
And he's a Korean born and raised in Japan, who eventually moved to Korea and nowadays, I believe, presents himself as Korean. So he's Yoshihiro Akiyama in Japan and Choo Soon Hoo in Korea (if Korea follows the Chinese and Japanese standard for this, Choo is the last name. So we'd call him Soon Hoo Choo in the west).

i think it was something about the sakuraba grease scandal. thats when japan did a 180 on akiyama and right around the same time when he Chu Sung Hoon was blowing up in korea. i'll never forget his win over kang, it was a big deal. dude looked beastly. then to come after that against kazuo the grabaka hitman misaki, got damn. what a time. akiyama doesn't get the fight credit he deserves, but glad he got the success. WAR CHU SUNG HOON

I can't find it anywhere online but I remember Misaki was just going off on him like reprimanding a kid, saying he was a disgrace and Akiyama (thinking he'd just lost) just stood there taking it. It's interesting that Sexyama flip flopped between competing for Korea and Japan in Judo but most recently had represented Japan prior to debuting in MMA. According to Reddit, while he was popular in Japan at the time, he was perceived as a pretty boy douche heel.

Excuse me but Okami was never a big MW. He weighted in at 181lbs for his last bout in Pride (which was a 205lbs bout).

He then put weight on his frame but still a tall, lanky, average sized MW. Huge head though.

He was a level above Akiyama, and its a known fact that Yushin used to dominate him in Wajutsu KK gym.

Lol it's Dan the Wolfman getting handled by Okami. Tough to tell but I think that's Sexyama in the blue rashguard going with Dong Hyun Kim in the red rashguard. The view is blocked by the pillar, but looks like Stun Gun takes him down with a sweet ankle pick and then controls him from top position for the rest of the round. I remember DHK saying in an interview around that time he was happy to be training with Okami because there weren't any bigger guys at his gym in Korea. But I didn't realize Sexyama was also training with them. Makes you wonder why he fought 185 when he looks smaller than DHK who fought 170.

 

[regmma123]

I'm sensing a lot of man on man lust here

 

[pankrat]

Lol it's Dan the Wolfman getting handled by Okami. Tough to tell but I think that's Sexyama in the blue rashguard going with Dong Hyun Kim in the red rashguard. The view is blocked by the pillar, but looks like Stun Gun takes him down with a sweet ankle pick and then controls him from top position for the rest of the round. I remember DHK saying in an interview around that time he was happy to be training with Okami because there weren't any bigger guys at his gym in Korea. But I didn't realize Sexyama was also training with them. Makes you wonder why he fought 185 when he looks smaller than DHK who fought 170.

Yeah, Akiyama is in black. The one in blue is Koji Ando.
Akiyama and DHK trained with Okami for a long time. Since at least 2007.
Wajutsu KK used to be the best gym for big men over there. Riki Fukuda is also in some of those videos from Dan.