Casual MMA fans who are looking to get up to speed on just who this Shinya Aoki dude is, will have a great opportunity next weekend, when the highly regarded lightweight takes on Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce’s upcoming April 17th event. Here’s a quick rundown on the Dream champ- 1) Aoki wears crazy spandex pants (although not this time due to our propensity in N.A. for only fighting in shorts…) 2) he has a crazy good, OMG submission game 3) he may in fact be slightly crazy?
Of course by now, any MMA fan who frequents the internet should at least be aware of Aoki’s recent WTF win over Mizuto Hirota. Not only did Aoki break Hirota’s arm, he didn’t really seem too concerned about his crippled opponent, unless flipping the bird to someone means something completely different in Japanese culture (and we’re pretty sure giving the finger is universally known as eff you…). Speaking to MMA Junkie, Aoki said this, when asked if he’s sorry about rendering Hirota’s arm useless for several months.
“No (I don’t) because it happened during the fight,” Aoki told MMAjunkie.com
Huh. Okay. Well why did Aoki do it? Well according to Aoki, powers not detectable by the viewing audience might have had a say…
“The thought came down to me,” Aoki said. “Maybe the bad thought came down to me.”
So does tapping bring in the referee as well as ward off ‘bad thoughts’? Something to consider. Should be interesting to see how Aoki fairs against Melendez.