[oyaji poi]

I thought it was not a very good fight. Aoki fights very one dimensionally, and tries very hard to do so. and it makes for a fairly uneventfull fight in that he refuses to move the fight into anything other than a grappling match, nor does he do anything to gain points to take the fight to the ground. Pulling guard and butt scooting is what makes a lot of international grappling events less interesting to watch. Bringing that into MMA is just another version of the wrestler's take down then lay and pray, a highly-skilled one dimensional format in a 15min fight.

His guard is amazing, but it's equivalent to a great wrestler passing guard and lay and praying to a finish. The wrestler has great takedowns, guard passes and ground control, Aoki has a great guard, both are just a type of lay and pray for something to happen allowing them a win. Either for their opponent to make a silly mistake (ala Dennis Kang) or for the clock to run out and get a decision.

A few slick moves with potential here and there that might catch a b-level fighter, but basically the fight was majority L'n'p on his back and with a few choice offensive manouvers by both JZ and Aoki.

Same with taking the back for 5min. If someone clinched against the fence in the UFC and tried to go for a guillotine while dirty boxing a little bit to set up the choke for 5min the fight would be restarted.

Without a doubt, he's a very skilled grappler. But his lack of offense on the feet and his refusal to do anything but the equivalent of counter-punch on the ground was frustrating to watch.


EDIT: I'm not saying Kang is a b-level fighter, just that he got caught by making a silly mistake.