"It's a big milestone for me" - Yoshihiro Akiyama on the significance of his Shinya Aoki win at ONE X

Yoshihiro Akiyama’s emotional victory over Shinya Aoki at ONE X wasn’t just an achievement on a personal level, but also on a scale that the two legendary fighters resonate with.

The two Japanese stars capped off their 14-year feud at ONE Championship’s landmark 10-year anniversary show with Akiyama getting his hand raised after his second-round stoppage of Aoki.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Akiyama said beating Aoki was one of the greatest milestones of his career. The man fondly called ‘Sexyama’ said his fight wasn’t just for himself. As per the the 46-year-old, their showdown shone a spotlight on Japanese mixed martial arts as a whole.

Yoshihiro Akiyama, through a translator, said:

“This fight, in terms of my all my athletic career and in MMA, is a big milestone for me because this fight put a spotlight on Japan.”

Akiyama looked to be in trouble in the first round, when Aoki rode his back for nearly the full length of five minutes, trying to finish his signature face crank. However, he managed to survive the early submission attempt and regained his composure in the second.

It was in the following round that Akiyama dictated the action and tagged Aoki with a stiff straight. ‘Sexyama’ then landed numerous punches to the face of ‘Tobikan Judan’ that forced referee Mohamad Sulaiman to stop the fight 1:50 into the second.

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Yoshihiro Akiyama ends the feud with Aoki

Yoshihiro Akiyama and Shinya Aoki have had a silent feud since 2008 and it reached a boiling point in October 2021.

Aoki, a former ONE lightweight world champion, took exception to Akiyama living a celebrity life off of martial arts.

A bout between the two was supposed to take place in late 2021 but Akiyama declined due to injury and it was only at ONE X that the two would trade blows.

There was, however, an even earlier fight that was proposed in 2008 but it didn’t amount to anything since Akiyama and Aoki were in different weight classes at the time.

“He was requesting to fight as early as 14 years ago I remember. But there was the weight difference and I didn’t think much of him. But his demands overtime became bigger and after I joined ONE Championship, he would measure every time. I just thought it was enough, I had enough,” said Akiyama.