Too bad UFC never signed Shinya Aoki

VanMMA

VanMMA

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Big fan of Aoki. I wish he would've come to the UFC around 2012-2013 but he stayed in One FC instead. Probably more lucrative.

I would've liked to see him against the top LWs and FWs. Who else wishes we got to see this?
 
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his standup would have been exposed by top UFC LW's.
look at the second Alvarez fight and the Giblert fight for what his UFC career would have looked like.
 
cumafish said:
his standup would have been exposed by top UFC LW's.
look at the second Alvarez fight and the Giblert fight for what his UFC career would have looked like.
Click to expand...

This.

He would get rasstle farked.
 
cumafish said:
his standup would have been exposed by top UFC LW's.
look at the second Alvarez fight and the Giblert fight for what his UFC career would have looked like.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Not hating on Asian MMA, but they have historically underperformed in US. Uno, Kawajiri, Gomi, Sexyama, Hatsu Hioki, Yamamoto, the list goes on. Zombie and Okami are the few exceptions.

It could be that guys came over at the downside of their careers, or jetlag, or lack of wrestling, or <insert conspiracy theory about fight-fixing/PED/etc>, but results speak for themselves.
 
I'm one of his biggest fans as well, but the UFC octagon is too big. I'm not that dissapointed that I didn't get to see him in the UFC, but I would have loved to see him and BJ Penn when they were trying to put that fight together. Would have been an awesome sight!
 
Wouldn't have minded seeing the old Butt Scoot N' Boogey in the UFC once or twice.

alvarez_aoki_1.gif
 
I think Imanari and Aoki in their primes would both perform quite poorly in the ufc (similar to Hioki), and I say that as a fan.
 
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the Gil fight was definitely a boilerplate on how American grappling & brawn would beat him. but Gil was a monster in 2010.

Alvarez...meh. he went 1-1 with him; sub and then got KTFO'd. no different than going 1-1 with Hansen 5 years earlier.

it would have been fun to see him in the UFC, but like Fedor he was unwilling to give up fighting in Japan. hard to blame him. and no, i'm not talking about easier opponents.
 
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If I remember right Aoki stated he was not interested fighting in the ufc
 
Remember when BJ Penn was reigning and Joey Josh Rogan was like "who do we have left for him now? We need to bring in Shinya Aoki from Japan"

And Mike Goldberg was like "yeah sure Joe, you are so smart you are the Michael Jordan of commentating Joe"
 
Strongly dislike Aoki. He's acted classless in the past, but when he decided to beat on Sakuraba, rather than just grappling with him, it sealed it for me.

I hope he withers into obscurity and is forgotten.
 
I think he would've been exposed.

As good as his ground game is, he has subpar wrestling and he lacks explosive striking. He's basically a 155 Hatsu Hioki.
 
I always wanted to see him in the UFC, but Gil & Eddie gave him a taste of what it would have been like. My sense is that he knew it would not have been a successful move and hence never pursued the UFC. They would have signed him in a heartbeat had he any interest.
 
Why are you racists all comparing him to Hioki instead of Paul Sass or the like...
 
Great fighter but I don't think he would adapted to people who actually "gameplan" and drop elbows as he's pinned up against the cage.
 
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