On April 17th, a lot of North American fans will likely get a first look at Shinya Aoki, which for die-hard, MMA nerds like ourselves, seems unfathomable…it’s like someone saying they’re a music buff but they haven’t heard of Coldplay, because they only listen to music from the U.S. Now of course, this is our snobby, we have no life, way of looking at…to be fair, Japanese MMA isn’t exactly widely covered on this side of the Pacific.
So what’s the big deal? And why should Johnny lunch pail ‘I watch the odd UFC’ give a sh-t about Aoki’s upcoming Strikeforce debut? Well, he’s a damn entertaining fighter, who has been known to pull off fight winning submissions before you have time to say ‘HTF did he do that?’ Against Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez, however, Aoki’s going to be in tough. Not only is Melendez a well rounded and talented fighter, but Aoki will have to adapt to fighting in the cage, as well as, he won’t be wearing his colorful trademark spandex pants…(yeah, not something you expect to read on a MMA blog)
Speaking to MMA Weekly the outspoken (and often controversial- this is a guy that flipped his opponent ‘the bird’ after breaking his arm) Dream champion let N.A. fans know, that he’s not too worried about fighting in a cage, or wearing shorts for that matter…
“During the fight, I’m focused on my fighting. It won’t affect my fight,” Aoki said about not wearing his usual fight gear.
Should be a doozy of a tussle. Wonder what color Aoki’s shorts will be?