Shinya Aoki v. Yuichiro Nagashima at Dynamite!!

More crazy fight news for Dynamite!!, though it looks like this one is actually happening and not just a rumor.  Daniel Herbertson at MMAFighting reports that Shinya Aoki will face the K-1 MAX 2010 Japan champion Yuichiro Nagashima as part of the year end show.  With Aoki being a Dream champion and Nagashima a MAX champion, the big question of course is - under which set of rules?  The answer: both, as the bout will alternate between rounds of K-1 and MMA rules.

How this fight goes depends largely on how they start.  If round 1 is MMA, then Nagashima is screwed.  Aoki has made a career out of latching on to his opponent, dragging them to the ground, and twisting them until they submit.  And as we learned last year, if you don't submit, he'll twist until you break.  Many of the sport's best have been unable to stop Aoki's submission game, and an MMA novice like Nagashima will stand little chance of surviving long in an MMA round.  I see that going down much like Minowaman v. Errol Zimmerman two years ago.

Where things get interesting is the K-1 rounds.  Nagashima has a significant advantage here, but I think many fans are being too quick to write Aoki out standing.  Is the Dream champ's standing a weakness?  Yes, clearly.  But in his weird kickboxing-styled fight with Shaolin, Aoki demonstrated patience on his feet.  Combine that with a serious reach advantage and I think Aoki can survive 3 minutes of stand up.  And survive is all he has to do because again, once that K-1 round ends, Nagashima is in a world of trouble.

So, is this somewhat of a freakshow fight?  Absolutely.  And no, it doesn't really have much significance at all.  But it is exactly the kind of odd thing that I love about fighting in Japan, and I'm looking forward to the weirdness of it.