It wasn’t a good night for “Sexyama.”
ONE Championship 165 went down this morning on pay-per-view (Sun., Jan. 28, 2023) from inside Ariake Arena in Toyoko, Japan, and in a special custom rules bout Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) legend Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama got crushed by former Glory kickboxing champion Nieky Holzken in under two minutes.
The fight wasn’t competitive and seems like Akiyama was in the ring to get slaughtered. Once Holzken established his range it was all over. The kickboxing champion cracked Akiyama with a nasty left hook off the clinch, which dropped Akiyama. Akiyama got back to his feet, meeting the ten count, and then got cracked with a body shot and right hand that ended the fight.
Watch the knockout below:
Former Glory welterweight and ONE Kickboxing lightweight champion Nieky Holzken @niekyholzken gets a first round TKO win over Yoshihiro Akiyama in their special rules fight.#ONEChampionship #ONE165 #ONE????????? #MMA #Sexyama #Tokyo #Japan #?? #?? #WeAreONE pic.twitter.com/BiVL7iVZ7T
— Armaan (@armaanyounis) January 28, 2024
RAPID FIRE ?? Nieky Holzken stops “Sexyama” in under a round!
Purchase the PPV now to catch the rest of ONE 165!#ONE165 | Live Now
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Global PPV https://t.co/8azyYuxNG9#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/2myA41T3h1— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 28, 2024
Akiyama (16-7) snaps his two-fight win streak with the knockout loss, while Holzken snaps his own two-fight losing streak.
Another Japanese legend was in action, but unlike “Sexyama,” he picked up a win.
Shinya Aoki was supposed to face Sage Northcut, but less than an hour before the fight, it was revealed Northcutt pulled out of the fight because his coaches didn’t have work Visas.
Northcutt explained his reasoning in an Instagram post.
“I’m sorry to all my fans and to my opponent Shinya Aoki for not fighting tonight,” Northcutt wrote. There were some last-minute visa issues with two of my coaches and they are on their way back to the US right now. One Championship offered to help by giving me a world champion Jiu Jitsu coach for a replacement, but not having my coaches that I trained my whole camp with out there with me to compete against arguably the worlds greatest MMA submission artist of all time wasn’t going to be best for me. Thank you Chatri and One Championship for trying your best to make things work at the last minute. Again I apologize to Shinya and everyone that was tuning in. I know that One 165 is an incredible card with incredible world class talent that everybody will still enjoy.”
Because of the last-minute withdrawal, former ONE Championship Featherweight champion John Lineker stepped in; however, it did not go well at all.
Aoki took the knockout artist down and had his way with him for three minutes until he tapped him with a rear-naked choke/face crank, proving that weight classes do matter.
Check out the highlight below.
??????????????????????? #ONE165 #ONEChampionship #ONE????????? #Kickboxing #Tokyo #Japan #?? #?? #WeAreONE pic.twitter.com/5xiXTMzq5h
— ArchiveMMA (@Archive_MMA) January 28, 2024
LEGEND Shinya Aoki submits John Lineker in their openweight MMA showdown! @a_ok_i
Purchase the PPV now to catch the rest of ONE 165!#ONE165 | Live Now
Abema PPV https://t.co/xQ4Ifm4TH5
Global PPV https://t.co/8azyYuxNG9#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/oClCgjxfZi— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 28, 2024
Aoki (48-11) snapped a four-fight losing streak (two of those losses were in ONE FC grappling matches) and picked up his first win in Japan since 2020. Brazil’s Lineker (37-11) snaps his two-fight winning streak but hopefully will get rebooked against Liam Harrison in a Muay Thai bout in the future.