Shinya Aoki News

BJPENN.COM Staff - August 17, 2023

Another epic matchup has been confirmed for ONE Fight Night 15 on Prime Video, and this one features Mikey Musumeci. The ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion meets Shinya Aoki in an openweight submission grappling super-fight on October 6. It takes place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and will air live in U.S. primetime.

Harry Kettle - May 9, 2023

Sage Northcutt has called out Shinya Aoki for a fight following his recent comeback victory in ONE Championship. Last week, Sage Northcutt returned to the cage for the first time in four years. Back in 2019, he was knocked out by Cosmo Alexandre in a contest that shattered his face – quite literally. However, just 39 seconds into his comeback, he was able to submit Ahmed Mujtaba with a nasty heel hook.

Josh Evanoff - June 3, 2022

ONE Championship lightweight Sage Northcutt is targeting a return against former champion Shinya Aoki. ‘Super Sage’ has been out of action for over three years. In May 2019, Northcutt faced off against Cosmo Alexandre in his debut for ONE Championship. He wound up losing the fight via a brutal first-round knockout.

Andrew Whitelaw - August 23, 2021

Dan Hardy has been itching to lace up the gloves again for a long time. Having been released from his UFC contract earlier this year, it looks like ‘the Outlaw’ may be about to get his wish in ONE Championship. Having last competed in MMA in 2012, the 39 year old is looking to make a comeback out in Asia – starting with a caged Muay Thai bout against John Wayne Parr. The Brit says that he and JWP have been exchanging messages and that the fight is ‘verbally agreed.’

Tom Taylor - February 24, 2021

ONE Championship’s Sage Northcutt is finally slated to return to action. The former UFC star will take on Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki at ONE on TNT 4 on April 28. News of this matchup, which will occur in ONE’s 170-pound lightweight division, was given to ESPN by ONE officials. The promotion has since confirmed the fight on social media.

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2021

Shinya Aoki has long been known as one of the most enigmatic characters in combat sports. His latest pro wrestling appearance reaffirmed that. Aoki, a decorated mixed martial artist, has been working as a pro wrestler for years, and returned to that arena over the weekend, appearing at the Kawasaki Strong 2021 event from Japanese organization DDT Universal Championship.

Tom Taylor - January 18, 2021

Shinya Aoki is no longer motivated by money or world titles. The Japanese MMA legend strives only to continue doing what he loves as long as possible. Aoki, one of the most lethal submissions in MMA history, is set to return to action at ONE: Unbreakable next Friday in Singapore, where he’ll welcome former LFA welterweight champion James Nakashima to the lightweight division.

Tom Taylor - January 12, 2021

ONE Championship has announced a host of high-profile matchups for its next three events on January 22, January 29, and February 5. The promotion’s first event of the year, titled ONE: Unbreakable, will go down on January 22. That event, it’s been announced, will be topped by a bantamweight kickboxing title fight between champion Alaverdi Ramazanov and challenger Capitan Petchyindee Academy, and co-headlined by a welterweight clash between former title challenger James Nakashima, and former lightweight champion Shinya Aoki. The card will also feature appearances from former ONE welterweight champ Zebaztian Kadestam, and atomweight contender Meng Bo—the only woman to defeat UFC strawweight champ Zhang Weili.

Tom Taylor - April 5, 2019

ONE: A New Era in Tokyo, Japan was so stacked that some fans worried ONE Championship might be overdoing it; that the promotion’s next few cards might suffer as a result. That doesn’t seem to be the case.

Tom Taylor - March 31, 2019

Nobody expected Eduard Folayang to beat Shinya Aoki on the night of their first meeting in 2016, but the Filipino ONE Championship veteran did just that, clocking the Japanese veteran in the third round, and winning the lightweight title. In the years since that first fight, both fighters have enjoyed some huge wins and endured some tough losses. Their respective paths led them to a 2019 rematch, at ONE: A New Era in Tokyo, Japan. This time around, it was Shinya Aoki attempting to take the lightweight belt from Eduard Folayang.

Tom Taylor - March 31, 2019

On Sunday night (early Sunday morning in North America), Singapore-based martial arts powerhouse ONE Championship debuted in the MMA hotbed of Tokyo, Japan with the aptly named ONE: A New Era card. To celebrate this Tokyo debut, ONE Championship bolstered this card with some of the biggest names on its roster.

BJPENN.COM Staff - March 17, 2019

Every athlete scheduled to compete on ONE Championship’s historic ONE: A NEW ERA card will have the opportunity to be a part of one of the most special events in the promotion’s history. However, there are those who will have the honor of representing their home country in the promotion’s first-ever event in Japan. Tatsumitsu Wada and Mei Yamaguchi are set to see action, and so is kickboxer Hiroki Akimoto.

BJPENN.COM Staff - January 11, 2019

Eduard Folayang has vowed to make a statement when he defends his crown at ONE: A New Era on March 31 in Tokyo. Taking on the legendary Japanese grappler Shinya Aoki, the man he stopped back in 2016 to claim the ONE Lightweight World Title for the first time, Folayang has promised to deliver another beating of the No.1 contender.

Tom Taylor - January 10, 2019

The four quarterfinal bouts of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix are now set. This tournament will feature eight of the promotion’s best lightweights in Eddie Alvarez, Timofey Nastyukhin, Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev, Ev Ting, Amir Khan, Ariel Sexton, Lowen Tynanes and Honorio Banario. These eight fighters will be competing for a shot at the ONE Lightweight title, which will next be on the line at ONE: A New Era on March 31 in Tokyo, Japan, when the champion Eduard Folayang defends his title against Shinya Aoki.

EVOLVE MMA - March 29, 2018

This video was first published on Evolve Vacation. Japanese legend Shinya Aoki is the former ONE Lightweight World Champion and one of the most highly-skilled Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in the world. So when he shows you how to execute a submission, you better be listening.

EVOLVE MMA - March 20, 2018

This video was first published on Evolve Vacation. Nicknamed “Tobikan Judan” which in Japanese loosely translates to “The Grandmaster of Flying Submissions”, Shinya Aoki is a well-known figure in the martial arts world who is recognized for his technical grappling skill. He is a multiple-time grappling world champion, and is widely-considered one of the most talented grapplers in all of MMA.

EVOLVE MMA - March 8, 2018

This video was first published on Evolve Vacation. Japanese legend Shinya Aoki is the former ONE Lightweight World Champion and one of the most highly-skilled Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in the world. So when he shows you how to execute a submission, you better be listening.

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Today at an historic ONE Championship event, Ben Askren leaves MMA for good. His retirement match was against a legend in his own right, grappling wizard and multiple-time former champion, Shinya Aoki. Askren slammed the former ONE lightweight champion Aoki down after he pulled guard, then it was basically all over from there. After some thundering ground and pound, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, awarding Askren a technical knockout for his final victory in MMA. “Listen, I told someone this the other day, and this is something I ca0n be totally proud about, I hope I don’t eff this up while I’m telling it live: I have never turned down a fight, I have never pulled out of a fight, I have never missed weight, I have never failed a drug test, and I have never lost. And I don’t know that anyone else can say that, ever.” —Ben Askren on a previous episode of The MMA Hour.