Shinya Aoki gives his thoughts on American MMA

His image of US MMA: "First, the cage. Then, elbows. And, it's very athletic."

"They have places to train standing and on the ground, all at the same "mega-gym"-type place. That's something Japan really doesn't have. That's amazing, right! They have [so much] mat space, a weight area, cage, ring, sandbags. The kinda gym with all that stuff doesn't exist in Japan. And also, there is such a huge population of competing fighters, so they get very good."

"I don't think that the US is the top in MMA, but more like they became the leader of a new MMA trend. The UFC is to MMA as 109 is to Shibuya [see note below]. Japanese MMA would be more like Yokohama. It is a bit far from the heart of the city, and occasionally you see strong-looking foreigners out there on dates."

Note: (109 is a department store in Shibuya in Tokyo where girl's fashion trends start for a certain type of style that emanates through Japan. It is also a hotspot for male tourists to visit because of the sexy flower-like nature of not just the customers but the shopworkers).

Asked about fighters calling him out from the US, Aoki answered:

"I will fight anyone [of them, anywhere]. But [whoever it is], it's likely I'm going to be the strongest one... Oh yeah!"

First, I hope everyone has fun watching Sengoku!

Today the Sengoku champion's belt was unveiled.

More than a fighter's purse...

The belt is a large chunk of real gold, valued at 5 million yen (approx. $50,000 USD).

Gomi spoke on his match and the belt at the press conference:

"As the main event, I want to show my power and win. [Liking the belt,] Getting the new belt would be great. I'm going to keep focused on my goal and let it all out!"