(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Japanese star and UFC middleweight fighter, Yoshihiro Akiyama, was questioned by the Japanese press about his loss to Michael Bisping this past weekend after returning home from his UFC 120 bout in England.
One startling comment, but not a real accusation, was that “Sexyama” felt Bisping was “slippery” during their fight.
“I only went for one takedown but Bisping’s body was really slippery. Even if I do say so myself…”
MMAFighting.com has put together brief history of Akiyama “greasing” allegations by other opponents, helping to explain his “Even if I do say so myself…” comment.
In the 2002 World Judo Championship Trials and 2003 World Judo Championships, Akiyama was accused of waxing his judogi by four different opponents. Officials asked him to wear a reserve judogi after the first three matches of the 2003 Championships but cleared Akiyama of any wrongdoing, stating that the slippery texture was due to high humidity and the detergent used to wash the uniform.
Akiyama’s real rise to dermatologic notoriety came during his 2006 New Year’s Eve bout with Kazushi Sakuraba.
In one of the most unusual bouts in MMA history, Akiyama easily slipped and slided out of Sakuraba’s trademark low single leg takedown and rained in ground and pound as Sakuraba screamed out in protest to referee Yoshinori “Chiba” Umeki. The fight continued despite Sakuraba calling out while being punched that Akiyama was slippery, cheating and that officials should check for themselves but Akiyama was declared the winner by TKO as Sakuraba refused to fight back.
After reading that, I guess Akiyama would be the one to know about “slippery” opponents.