Shinya Aoki long ago established himself as mixed martial arts royalty, so he undoubtedly expects the next generation to bare its teeth whenever the opportunity to pursue him arises.
The former Shooto, Dream and One Championship titleholder will square off with Saygid Izagakhmaev in a ONE 163 lightweight showcase on Saturday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Aoki has rattled off four wins across his past five outings. He last competed at ONE X, where he succumbed to punches from Yoshihiro Akiyama in the second round of their March 26 clash. Izagakhmaev, meanwhile, steps into the cage on the strength of a four-fight winning streak. He last appeared on Sept. 29, when he was awarded a unanimous decision over Lipeng Zhang in their three-round ONE 161 pairing.
As Aoki and Izagakhmaev make final preparations ahead of their upcoming battle at 170 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
39: Years of age for Aoki, who was born in Shizuoka, Japan, on May 9, 1983.
4: Aoki wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 9% of his career total (47). His complete list of victims: Shannon Wiratchai, Kazushi Sakuraba, Antonio McKee and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Aoki holds 30 other wins by submission (64%), 11 more by decision (23%) and two others by disqualification (4%).
20: Consecutive calendar years in which Aoki has fought at least once. In addition to his 0-1 mark in 2022, he went 2-0 in 2003, 1-1 in 2004, 3-1 in 2005, 5-0 in 2006, 3-0 in 2007, 5-1 with one no contest in 2008, 4-1 in 2009, 3-1 in 2010, 4-0 in 2011, 2-1 in 2012, 3-0 in 2013, 2-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 0-1 in 2016, 0-1 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 2-1 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 2-0 in 2021.
5: Sub-minute finishes on the Aoki resume, with two of them having taken place in One Championship. He submitted Ev Ting with an arm-triangle choke in 57 seconds at ONE “Kingdom of Heroes” on Oct. 6, 2018 and put Honorio Banario to sleep with a brabo choke in 54 seconds at ONE “Century” Part 2 on Oct. 13, 2019.
212: Combined victories between the nine opponents—Akiyama, Hayato Sakurai (twice), Christian Lee, Ben Askren, Eduard Folayang, Eddie Alvarez, Gilbert Melendez, Joachim Hansen and Jutaro Nakao—who have defeated Aoki. They sport a cumulative .700 winning percentage at 212-89-7.
28: Years of age for Izagakhmaev, who was born on Sept. 3, 1994 in Makhachkala, Russia.
13: Izagakhmaev victories by submission, accounting for 62% of his career total (21). His methods of choice: five armbars, three rear-naked chokes, two triangle chokes, one arm-triangle choke, one kimura and one brabo choke. Izagakhmaev owns two other victories by knockout or technical knockout (10%) and six more by decision (28%).
50: Seconds needed for Izagakhmaev to put away Artem Savov with an armbar at a Liga Kavkaz show on Aug. 15, 1993. More than nine years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
35: Rounds completed by Izagakhmaev as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on seven different occasions and carries a 6-1 record in those bouts.
.704: Cumulative winning percentage between the two opponents—Carlston Harris and Elias Silverio—who have beaten Izagakhmaev. They boast a combined record of 34-14-1.
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