Bad news for Aoki: he may not be able to use those magic tights.
According to a report by Sherdog, Bellator is trying to wrangle a actual, no-shit SuperFight for Eddie Alvarez — a rematch against the Japanese submission wizard Shinya Aoki. The two met previously at Dynamite!!! 2008 for the DREAM lightweight championship, which Aoki won in just 92 seconds via heel hook.
The loss was Alvarez’s first (and only) loss at 155; he’s since reeled off seven straight wins in Bellator and DREAM, winning the Bellator lightweight strap along the way. Alvarez has seen his stock rise in the intervening years, while Aoki has suffered some humiliating losses, including an epic beatdown from Gilbert Melendez for Strikeforce and a hilarious KO loss to Yuichiro Nagashima at DREAM’s 2010 New Year’s Eve show.
(That Nagashima matchup was conveniently labeled an “exhibition” so it’s like it never happened. Except it did happen, and it’s on YouTube, and it’s still a splendidly humorous illustration that karma will occasionally catch up with you, send flying knees into your face, and then laugh while you weep openly.)
While nothing has been made official at this time, we cannot articulate how much we would like to see this bout. Alvarez has continued to develop his game since New Year’s Eve 2008, and Melendez demonstrated a perfect gameplan to beat Aoki. (** Spoiler alert: it involves hitting him until he cries.) Meanwhile, the only part of Aoki’s game that has improved is his asshole persona.
Reportedly, the fight to determine the best lightweight in the world not fighting for Zuffa is being targetted for early 2012 sometime, to take place somewhere. Bellator has stood by its stance that fighters will only get title shots through winning tournaments, so the BFC big gold belt won’t be on the line. Likewise, don’t expect Aoki to put his DREAM title up for grabs either.
Not that titles are what’s important here. Just keep your fingers crossed that this fight goes down.
[RX]