A few weeks ago I read a thread on the UG entitled ‘AOKI “little nerd” Shinya‘. The only thing I could do was shoot milk from my nose. I had no control over myself. That night I spent hours sporadically laughing at the thought of Shinya Aoki’s nickname being ‘Little Nerd’. If you go by the name ‘Little Nerd’, then you’re five times more likely to be immortalized on the face of a Garbage Pail Kids trading card. Trust me, I ran the stats earlier this morning and they’re verified. Actually, that entire sentence is a line from an episode of The Prisoner. There, got you with an obscure quote. Take that.
In an interview with Japan’s ‘GBR‘, Shinya Aoki discussed his upcoming Dream 16 fight with Marcus Aurelio and also noted that Aurelio defeated Gomi in the past. Aoki also said that he sees a bout between Gomi and himself in the future.
“I think that some people see through the filter of [Takanori] Gomi , what I feel I have some, but it is not to be taken. Gomi has fought the best fighters in America and Japan…Gomi and I are on the same path and someday I think there will be a fight [between us]”
They had a chance to bang at Pride 12 but execs matched Gomi up with David Baron in a non-title fight instead of the relatively unknown (8-2 at the time) Shinya Aoki. At Pride 13, Gomi defend his title against Marcus Aurelio who he beat in a split-decision while Aoki submitted Clay French on the same card. The bout could have happened at the Dream vs. Sengoku NYE event if Sengoku officials didn’t insist on their lightweight champion facing off against Dream’s lightweight champion in some display of Japanese MMA supremacy. Apparently that didn’t work out so well for Hirota’s arm. [Source]
