Shinya Aoki fights in less than a week in Singapore, and the guys at Evolve MMA has released a new "Road to ONE FC" clip that goes in depth with the Tobikan Judan as the decorated lightweight champion prepares for his first featherweight fight.
"Featherweight is a new challenge. Cody Stevens is a new challenge," Aoki said as he talks about his upcoming bout, "I want to show the new skills that I have learned. I love all of this."
"All the lightweight fighters are very big. I am one of the smallest lightweights," says Aoki, who is listed at 5'11, "So I want to go to featherweight. I like the new challenge of it. I love new challenges."
Aoki has recently made the permanent move to Singapore so he can train full-time at Evolve, and he says this would be very beneficial for his career.
"I wake up at 7 am. I train from 9 to 11 am. I rest, and then I train again from 2 to 4 pm." he said, as he talks about his regimen in Singapore, "For meals, I eat after my training sessions. However, with my weight cut, I am very careful about what I eat. It doesn't matter if I am in training camp or not. It does not matter if I have a fight or not. I am always training hard. I am always in shape. I always watch what I eat. I give my best effort every day."
"It is lonely without my family during training camp, but I am a fighter. Fighting is my job. I have no choice if I want to improve, so I have to make the sacrifice"
Aoki has won 10 of his past 11 bouts and is known as one of the best lightweights from Asia. On October 18, he will look to make his mark on yet another division, and it will be interesting to see how well he can impose his game now that he will be one of the larger fighters at featherweight.
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