“Everybody called me ‘Sexyama' and I gained my power” - Yoshihiro Akiyama credits crowd support in beating Aoki

Yoshihiro Akiyama was inches away from certain defeat when he got a power boost that worked solely for him.

Shinya Aoki had Akiyama’s back in the first round of their lightweight bout at ONE X, ONE Championship’s 10-year anniversary show, and the man also known as ‘Sexyama’ was about to get choked out until the crowd starting chanting.

The chant? A chorus of ‘Sexyama’ that boomed inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Akiyama said it was at this point that allowed him to survive Aoki’s grappling in the opening round. The Japanese star eventually turned the tables in the second round and scored a technical knockout win.

The 47-year-old told Mitch Chilson after the fight:

"At some point I thought I was going to lose but everybody called me ‘Sexyama’ and I gained my power."

Aoki tried the same approach at the start of the second round where he shot for a takedown and transitioned into a dominant position, but Akiyama stifled his countryman’s offense and did a bit of grappling of his won.

Akiyama, a third dan black belt in judo, pinned Aoki to the cage and it was there that he launched a rage-filled attack. Holding Aoki down, Akiyama rained some heavy punishment using his right hand and even snuck in a knee to the face of his opponent until referee Mohamad Sulaiman decided that enough was enough and called a stop to the fight at 1:50 of the second round.

He added:

"In the second round, when I hit him with a straight, Aoki’s eyes looked scared and I felt that it was the time to finish him off."

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Yoshihiro Akiyama ends the 14-year feud

Aoki and Yoshihiro Akiyama were never friends in their professional career with ‘Tobikan Judan’ taking exception to how ‘Sexyama’ used martial arts to live as a celebrity.

Their 14-year-old feud reached a boiling point heading to ONE X but Akiyama, who is nine years older than Aoki, simply shrugged off his rival’s taunts.

He also said:

"I didn’t care so much because that’s Aoki’s style and it’s something like a child saying ‘daddy daddy’ so I just ignored him."