“An amazing show” – Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki stacks praise on memorable ONE 165 in Tokyo

ONE Championship’s return to Japan wouldn’t be complete without some of the biggest names from the region featuring on the card, and that included Shinya Aoki.

The promotion planned to make a significant impact in Japan, but those intentions were put on hold due to the pandemic, making last weekend’s event a long overdue comeback.

ONE 165 will hopefully be the kickstart that this expansion needed, and that’s the way that Aoki sees it after featuring at the Ariake Arena.

The Japanese icon is hopeful that through the strength of the events like the card this past weekend, continued activity and diversity, ONE will establish a strong foothold in the 'Land of the Rising Sun'.

He spoke about the promotion’s achievements over the years during his post-fight interview, and shared why he thinks the promotion has all the right ingredients to make it big in Japan:

‘Tobikan Judan’ said:

“ONE Championship has got a whole range of great events. So rather than exploding right away in the Japanese scene here, with next week’s ONE Friday Fights cards and continuing events in Japan here, it would be awesome if the popularity of ONE could grow. And it really was an amazing show, and we put on a good show for the fans, sharing with them a good story. So, yeah, hopefully, step by step, ONE could keep growing.”

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Legends like Shinya Aoki make events like ONE 165 possible

ONE Championship is so keen on making Japan a regular part of their schedule because of the history that the country has with martial arts, and Shinya Aoki is a living example of that.

Events like ONE 165 on January 28 are only possible because of the groundwork that the likes of Aoki have put in over the years to establish a fanbase which has strong roots and connections to martial arts.

The 40-year-old veteran getting his hand raised following a dominant performance against late-notice replacement opponent John Lineker was one of the moments of the night.

Sending the Japanese fans home with some incredible highlights that they will never forget is sure to build into bigger and better things for ONE Championship in Japan in the near future.

Fans that missed out on any of the action from ONE 165 can watch the event back via the on-demand PPV on ONE Championship’s website.