DREAM lightweight fighter Shinya Aoki talks about the differences between DREAM and the UFC promotions. He tells us he is a huge fan of the UFC, but he believes that “it hasn’t been interesting lately.” He feels that wrestling your way to a unanimous decision win isn’t true MMA, whereas MMA in Japan focuses more on finishing fights either by submission or TKO/KO.
From Shinya Aoki:
“I am really a huge fan of BJ Penn, he is one of my favorite fighters. He lost by decision. When we look at martial arts in it’s most extreme form, we need to win by submission or knockout. In that sense, he didn’t lose. He lost that fight but he is still ‘the man. He is still my favorite fighter… The American wrestling style – punching a little bit, getting a takedown and moving to side control to win the round has no risk. It’s an easier fight. It’s just using the judges. They don’t even have to worry about injuries or anything like that. There is no risk… I’m a huge fan of the UFC, but I think that it hasn’t been very interesting lately. There are good fighters of course but not so many interesting fights. They punch a little bit, then get a takedown and every round is just a repetition of that. Japanese MMA is totally different. We go for knockouts and submissions from the beginning and going for the decision isn’t an option.”
