Akiyama makes WW debut against Shields

http://www.ufc.com/news/Akiyama-Makes-Welterweight-Debut-against-Shields-in-February

Surprised they didn't just give him a striker. As long as he makes weight though his judo should prove tough for Shields to just take him down repeatedly

great match up. if Shields can't get him down it'll be interesting! i think he can survive the fight but would probably lose a decision. now if it goes down i think Shields can control him

Ouch, a 4th straight loss would be horrible for Sexy. Is this atleast in Japan? I was hoping for a more favorable matchup. What about Dan Hardy?

Ouch. I think Shields will tap him.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Ouch. I think Shields will tap him.

Me too

MMAEYES wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:

Ouch. I think Shields will tap him.

Me too

me also. If he doesn't tap him Jake will smother sexy the whole fight. Horrible match up by Joe Silva imo.

Yeah they should have given him Hardy, Shields has too much ground game for him, but he does have better striking, so?

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

Yeah they should have given him Hardy, Shields has too much ground game for him, but he does have better striking, so?

Whatever Joe. Drew I know u are not DW and I have told people that in the past. I do however know for a fact that you are Joe Silva. You fucked us on this fight, and better yet you screwed Japan by making this fight. Shame on you Drew! I still can't beleive Joe Silva is a Raiders fan though. I would've thought Joe Silva was a Niners fan because he looks so gay.

Shields should control and win via submission or UD

Anything else would be a surprise.

I see Sexy having a legit chance here. Shields, despite the incredible run, has always been seen as vulnerable. And now coming off a couple of losses, he too has his confidence shaken.

I like the matchup.

i just don't think Akiyama is very good. Just about nothing impresses me about the guy outside of his entrance. It would be a pretty bad loss if Shields were to lose to him.

I give Akiyama little to no chance at all. Shields will lay-n-pray all the way to a UD.

I don't think Shields is gonna to have an easy time laying on a judoka of Akiyama's caliber especially when he won't be undersized

bobbitt15 wrote:

I don't think Shields is gonna to have an easy time laying on a judoka of Akiyama's caliber especially when he won't be undersized

Shields will do whatever he wants against Akiyama. I want to see Akiyama atleast fight somebody when he Debut's at WW since he is now fighting in the right weight class. This is just a waste of a name against a guy that will do one thing to win. Jake is gonna wrestlehump and do no damage in this fight to get a win. We all know what he brings and he has humped a few guys that fight in the UFC at MW and LHW that would destroy Akiyama. I just don't see why anyone would think Akiyama would put up a fight?

Shields while good is a very flawed fighter than can be beaten by a lot of guys if he struggles to get takedowns. I think he'll tap Akiyama if he can put him on the ground but if he gets stuffed a few times, he ain't winning the standup

bobbitt15 wrote:

Shields while good is a very flawed fighter than can be beaten by a lot of guys if he struggles to get takedowns. I think he'll tap Akiyama if he can put him on the ground but if he gets stuffed a few times, he ain't winning the standup

I agree he can be beaten by a lot of guys if he struggles to get TD's. Guys like Chael, Cain, and Brock. Shields can get TD's on guys like Akiyama, Daley, Hardy with ease and hold them there, repeat, repeat. You will see.


Have I mentioned I hate this fight?

Akiyama doesn't deserve to be mentioned with Daley and Hardy when it comes to TDD. His credentials are too good for that

bobbitt15 wrote:

Akiyama doesn't deserve to be mentioned with Daley and Hardy when it comes to TDD. His credentials are too good for that

Where is all this coming from exactly? He hasn't faced a single competent wrestler in his entire MMA career other than maybe Dennis Kang. His takedown defense might be 100% but he's fought Alan Belcher, Chris Leben, Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort in the UFC. Between the four of them he has had five takedowns attempted against him, all of which were by Bisping.

Additionally he has only face 26 takedowns all time, 9 of which came from Tokimitsu Ishizawa, who's only MMA win was over Ryan Gracie due to injury. So outside of Bisping and Ishizawa he has faced 13 takedowns in 15 fights. Out of those only 7 opponents have ever tried to take him down, most of those being of little to no worth as wrestlers. Sakuraba and Kang being the only real exceptions to that last part. Below is a list of his MMA opponents to date and how many takedowns they attempted:

Belfort 0 of 0
Bisping 0 of 5
Leben 0 of 0
Belcher 0 of 0
Tonooka 0 of 0
Shibata 0 of 0
Misaki 0 of 0
Kang 0 of 1
Sakuraba 0 of 3
Manhoef 0 of 3
Smirnovas 0 of 0
Kin 0 of 0
Nagata 0 of 4
Ishizawa 0 of 9
Okuda 0 of 0
Lerma 0 of 0
Toomey 0 of 0
Lebanner 0 of 0
Botha 0 of 1

bigbeastcardinal12 wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Shields while good is a very flawed fighter than can be beaten by a lot of guys if he struggles to get takedowns. I think he'll tap Akiyama if he can put him on the ground but if he gets stuffed a few times, he ain't winning the standup

I agree he can be beaten by a lot of guys if he struggles to get TD's. Guys like Chael, Cain, and Brock. Shields can get TD's on guys like Akiyama, Daley, Hardy with ease and hold them there, repeat, repeat. You will see.


Have I mentioned I hate this fight?

The problem is Shields will hunt that takedown until he has it. He'll latch onto a leg and chain takedown attempts against the cage until he gets it, gets shucked off, or until the Ref resets them.

Ugh what a horrible debut for Sexy, Silva's really beginning to lose his touch.

Ali wrote:

Ugh what a horrible debut for Sexy, Silva's really beginning to lose his touch.

Did you see 139? He's got it.

OU wrote:

Shields looks bigger.

I figured he would.

OU wrote:

The sexiness is too much, I need to relieve myself now.