Shinya Aoki vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama booked for ‘Japanese MMA legends fight’ at ONE X

Shinya Aoki vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama goes down March 26

ONE Championship has booked a legends fight for their ONE X card.

The promotion announced that Shinya Aoki will take on Yoshihiro Akiyama at ONE X in Singapore at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on March 26. The fight came together after Aoki called for the bout after a recent grappling event where he confronted Akiyama and asked why he declined the bout. According to reports, Akiyama said he was injured but is open to making the fight happen and now the bout has been booked.

Shinya Aoki (47-9 and one No Contest) is riding a four-fight winning streak and coming off a submission win over Eduard Folayang. Also on the win streak, he defeated James Nakashima, Kimihiro Eto, and Honorio Banario. His last loss came back in May of 2019 as he suffered a TKO loss to Christian Lee to lose the ONE lightweight title. He’s a two-time lightweight champ and defended the belt twice.

In his career, the 38-year-old, holds notable wins over Kazushi Sakuraba, Eddie Alvarez, Caol Uno, while Aoki also has competed against the likes of Ben Askren and Gilbert Melendez.

Yoshihiro Akiyama (15-7 and two No Contest) has not fought since February of 2020 as he scored a TKO win over Sherif Mohamed. Prior to that, he suffered back-to-back losses as he dropped decisions to Agilan Thani, Alberto Mina and he’s just 2-6 in his last eight including going 1-4 in the UFC. In his UFC tenure, the 46-year-old has fought all of the world and is considered a legend to many in Japan. He also holds notable wins over Melvin Manhoef, Denis Kang, and Alan Belcher. His UFC losses were to Michael Bisping, Chris Leben, Vitor Belfort, and Jake Shields.

With the addition of Shinya Aoki vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, ONE X is as follows: