Shinya Aoki vs. BJ Penn Needs To Happen

By now, it’s highly probable that you have heard about Shinya Aoki’s devastating and even cringe-inducing victory over Mizuto Hiroka at Dynamite!! 2009.  Then, Aoki followed it up with behavior as subtle as the use of multiple exclamation points in the event’s name by sticking his middle finger directly in the face of his fallen opponent.

There are a couple of things to be learned from this display.

1) Aoki is a different breed of submission specialist.  He has always been able to make top lightweights look silly with creative and unorthodox submissions, and this finish was no different.  It started as a seemingly-harmless hammerlock of sorts, which Jason “Mayhem” Miller aptly compared to a move that a police officer may use against a perp.  However, Aoki took the opportunity to move into mount, torque the hold until Hirota’s arm was cranked behind his back up towards his neck, then flipped Hirota over, bending his arm in the wrong direction to do the damage.  Thus, we saw Aoki’s innovation and brutality, all in one fight.

2) Aoki is definitely not your average Japanese fighter.  While many Japanese fighters are not the stereotypically respectful, somewhat bland competitors these days who just want to put on a good show and fight hard, Aoki’s behavior after the fight (as well as his behavior during and after other fights) was a stark contrast to such generalizations.  The easy joke here involves Brock Lesnar himself shaking his head at Aoki’s actions, which is really saying something.

3) Aoki needs to fight BJ Penn.  As soon as possible.

Sure, many of us may have known those three things before the fight against Hirota, but now those statements have been bolded, circled and underlined.  While there are many risks with putting Penn against one of the many worthy competitors from Japan right now, Aoki makes for the perfect candidate; a fact which is now more clear than ever.

Not every talented fighter from Japan makes for an ideal matchup against Penn, after all.  Such a fighter would need to pose a credible threat against Penn, which is not easy to do with BJ tearing through the division’s top fighters with ease.  Also, the ideal candidate would have to have at least some charisma or personality to appeal to the American fans who crave characters almost as much as they do knockouts and submissions.

Aoki brings both of those elements.  While everyone is quick to point out that Penn has among the best jiu-jitsu skills in MMA, not all jiu-jitsu is the same, and Aoki’s unorthodox style would make for an interesting matchup.  Furthermore, Aoki has a lot of notoriety with hardcore fans that would spread infectiously as the fight neared among more casual followers, much as it did for newcomers like Wanderlei Silva or Fedor Emelianenko when they came stateside.  After all, most fans order pay-per-view events in groups, and most groups will have casual fans who will ask their more-informed counterparts who this guy is that’s getting a shot at BJ Penn.

The most important element of all is that Aoki has the mindset to come into the UFC and take a shot at Penn.  Someone who has the audacity to break an opponent’s arm and then flip him the bird immediately after may not make a good role model for your kids, but he’ll definitely be a guy that could come into the United States and throw any xenophobic boos or “U.S.A.!” chants right back at the crowd, rather than letting it all get to him.  Aoki has even mentioned many times that he would love to fight in the UFC and get a chance at Penn.

Now, whether the logistics involved will ultimately keep this fight from happening is neither here nor there.  As for me, like just about any other fight fan, I want to see this happen one way or another.  Will it happen?  I don’t know.  Should it?  Absolutely.  Dana White couldn’t get Fedor…maybe he can get Aoki.

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Tags: BJ Penn, DREAM, Sengoku, Shinya Aoki, UFC