Too bad UFC never signed Shinya Aoki

He probably would have been signed to the UFC if he would have made it past Gilbert back in Strikeforce.
 
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.
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This a hundred times over.
 
Aokis a smart little fucker, come to the UFC and get 10 and 10 more likely just the 10 since he would get a bad match up
Or fight bums for big cheques in Japan
 
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...

Not really. Obviously this guy is a noob who never watched the first fight.
 
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...
You think so?
Maia, Khabib and Jacare have done very well when finding the right weightclass. They Are all just as onedimensional as Aoki. I would think Aoki could get pretty close to the top.
 
I would have liked to have seen him as well but I know he wouldn't have made it too far.
 
Mondo Freaks said:
he got KTFO by a cross-dressing COSPLAYER.
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I remember that! That was awesome especially cause he was butt scooting & having shitty antics during the kickboxing portion of the fight. When the mma rules rounds started Aoki went for a takedown & ate a brutal knee.
 
Enough japanese fighters and those who fought in japan who were thought to be gods were exposed in the Ufc. He would have been another.
 
He would of gone the same route as Gomi or Hioki. Get a few wins and fall from grace.
 
beastman said:
Aoki has beaten plenty of former UFC/Strikeforce guys in his career, no reason to think he wouldn't have done the same in the UFC. It definitely would have been interesting to see him train at Jackson's game planning and getting practice time in a cage.



5'10 at 155 isn't too small. Could he use a little more muscle.... probably.
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Well yeah that's what I meant. He's a skinny 5'10 at 155 that can probably make 145 if he wanted. Will get overpowered in grappling. That kind of size would be fine if he was a striker.
 
See the Melendez fight for how his UFC career would've went.

And I like Aoki.
 
Not every fun fighter needs to win a title. Even if he hadn't cracked the top five it would have been fun to see him attempt to strangle Kenny Florian or whoever.
 
thobra said:
You think so?
Maia, Khabib and Jacare have done very well when finding the right weightclass. They Are all just as onedimensional as Aoki. I would think Aoki could get pretty close to the top.
Click to expand...
I think all those guys are better than Aoki honestly.
 
Undying Poster said:
Yeah, I'm sure he'd win some but ultimately he wouldn't reach the heights he did in Japan. He was #1 at some point, or at least should have been. Can't remember. I think Sherdog ranked BJ as #1 but Aoki was way more accomplished (which is what matters in rankings)

Plus, it would be harder to win when almost everyone you face has a decadent of wrestling background, many extremely accomplished. He's not gonna be able to takedown anyone and would be forced to pull guard.
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Honestly though the guys he beat in Japan don't seem that dissimilar to me, Alvarez during his prime years, Kawajiri during his prime years, the latter especially is very much what people often point to as a UFC style fighter, wrestler with good striking and good sub defence(good enough top beat up Shaolin during his peak).

LW has never really had anyone go on a Fedor style run but I could see Aoki say winning 3-4 big matches in a row with a bit of luck. At his best it was probably harder to avoid grappling with him than anyone in MMA history, just look at the second JZ fight, that's like Maia today but faster and with more athletic guard pulls and more sub threat.

The issue really is the same as with Gomi, JZ and Kid, when they were at there peaks they could earn big money in the far east and the UFC wasn't prepaired to equal that. Its only when decline set in and they lost there spot at the top that the money dropped off and they moved to the UFC who naturally tried to ignore that dropoff. Aoki's been gradually looking less impressive for several years now.
 
Aoki might have more good wins at LW than any other LW. There are so many fighters that he beat that are really good and are not known. He has a few great wins, a shit load of good wins, and many solid wins. You could argue him as the LW goat with Gomi and Penn.
 
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...
I was an aoki fan for a long time, but that dude is fed scrubs. Gil fought like he was scared to death of him and still won 30-27.
 
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