"I haven't signed it yet" - Yoshihiro Akiyama dispels report of fight with Shinya Aoki at ONE X

A recent report published that Yoshihiro Akiyama and Shinya Aoki will battle it out in the circle at ONE X, but ‘Sexyama’ quickly tried to calm people down.

The 46-year-old took to Twitter to set the facts straight, as he quoted the article and replied with a caption that said:

“I haven’t signed it yet! !! !! ^ _ ^,” read Akiyama's translated tweet.

The report claimed that the 46-year-old wants a fight to happen soon because he’s not getting any younger, and he’s training well to get back into shape.

Meanwhile, Aoki has been confirmed to appear at the monumental tenth anniversary show. However, there has been no news yet regarding his opponent until this report came out. A fight with Akiyama certainly fits the big fight feel that the rest of the announced fights have.

However, Akiyama’s tweet did not outrightly deny that there is something in the works. There may be hope yet that they are actually working on making this fight happen.

For now, all we can do is cross our fingers and wait for things to fall in the right places.

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Yoshihiro Akiyama and Shinya Aoki beef has been brewing

Yoshihiro Akiyama has become an icon in Japanese martial arts after representing both South Korea and Japan in judo. Later, he also found success in various MMA promotions around the world in a career that spans close to two decades.

For his part, Shinya Aoki started his professional career around the same time, building his name in the local martial arts scene through MMA, jiu-jitsu and professional wrestling.

Following his win against Eduard Folayang in April 2021’s ONE on TNT IV, Aoki expressed his desire to compete against his fellow Japanese legend in a fight, ideally in front of their compatriots in Tokyo.

While COVID-19 restrictions would make it difficult to pull off, it seems that Aoki has become more open to fighting Akiyama elsewhere.

On October 2021, ‘Tobikan Judan’ battled Shutaro Debana to a draw in a grappling bout at Road to ONE: Sexyama Edition, a show that was meant to be a tribute to the Japanese martial arts legend.

After the match, Aoki took the microphone to accuse Yoshihiro Akiyama of ducking him. While Akiyama apologized and said there were multiple factors he had to consider before pulling out of his match against him, Aoki did not accept any of it.

Who else wants to see this fight happen soon?