Shinya Aoki had a rollercoaster experience at ONE 165, but the Japanese MMA legend came out on top nonetheless.

This past weekend at ONE 165: Superlek vs Takeru, “Tobikan Judan” was slated to square off against “Super” Sage Northcutt in a lightweight MMA battle. However, during the broadcast, it was revealed that he would instead face former bantamweight king John Lineker in an openweight MMA bout.

Shinya Aoki reveals his sentiments coming into the fight at ONE

Aoki and “Super” had a fiery back-and-forth during the lead-up to their matchup – a pairing that has been almost two years in the making. Fans anticipated a huge payoff when they finally squared off, but it was ultimately not meant to be as Northcutt pulled out at the very last minute due to his coaches’ visa issues.

While everyone was surely caught by surprise, the Japanese martial arts star in Aoki went on with business as usual and asserted his dominance against “Hands of Stone” by taking the match to the ground early on. The Evolve MMA representative went on to submit the hard-hitting Brazilian in the first round, claiming his 48th career win and a cool US$50,000 performance bonus.

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During a post-fight interview with ONE Commentator Mitch Chilson, Aoki revealed the various emotions that he went through during the event. “I want to say that I’m really satisfied with my performance. In my career, today was the first time ever that I lost an opponent (before the fight), and I was on the verge of tears. But then I had to pinch right back into fight mode for a different opponent. But at the end of the day, I can say that I displayed a great show of martial arts and got the job done.”

At 40 years old, Aoki is closer to the end of his career than he is to his peak. He can still put out brilliant performances like his latest win, a victory that snapped a five-fight slide across MMA and submission grappling.

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Tobikan Judan’s possible retirement?

When asked about rumors that this could be his last match, Aoki did not outrightly say that he was hanging up his gloves just yet.

“In order to compete at this level, I had to train every day, so hard, and I was very strict with myself as I was preparing to fight Sage Northcutt, who really is one of the top fighters. And being 40 years old, I honestly don’t know how long I can keep this up. But I’d still like to keep competing, but not at this top level,” he said.

Shinya Aoki despite going up in age, showed that he could still compete amongst the best in one of the toughest MMA promotions. Given Aoki’s dominance in his last fight, do you expect Tobikan Judan to retire? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

ONE 165 Full Results: Six Fighters Handed $50,000 in Bonus as Superlek Edges Takeru in 5 Round War