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Slome
16-11-2010, 20:27
Shinya Aoki - Interview


Interviewer: You were the Shooto World Middleweight Champion before you were fighting in Pride and while you were in college. You then joined the police academy to try to find work. Were you moving away from MMA?
Aoki: Yes, it seemed at some point that I just wanted to quit (laughing)

http://en.susumug.com/dream/080615/susumu01.jpg

Interviewer: Being such an athlete in the sport, what put you back on this career track?
Aoki: There were many reasons, but the main reason was that I thought this is a world where you have to eat to survive.


Interviewer: So you had to eat….yet you were a college student that was practicing mixed martial arts on the side?
Aoki: That is right. Mixed martial arts was just an interest to begin with. It was clear the guys at the top were making a lot of money, but someone had told me, “Going into MMA just for the money


Interviewer: So if you had not have thought like that, there could have been some things you could not have done?
Aoki: Yes, it was probably a little of that as well. I had no money either, so during those times I guess I took a break from MMA. It is sad…I was thinking to myself, “Going like this, I will not be able to ever eat.” Somehow becoming the Shooto Middleweight Champion, I realized that I would not be able to support myself by solely doing MMA. Even if I came from a wealthy family, or owned a dojo, I did not have the will to make the sacrifices to fully commit myself.


Interviewer: Well, at that same time, PRIDE Bushido, and HERO’s were coming up. These events could “feed” a fighter. Did you think you would like to try fighting with them?
Aoki: To be truthful, I really wanted to try. At that time, I felt like my “want to try” feeling was diminishing. I didn’t even care to go to any PRIDE events

Interviewer: Oh, really?
Aoki: Before I began fighting in MMA, I was always a fan of watching it. After I actually started it, and engaged in it, I stopped watching it. That was a real conflict. Hasegawa from Koubudo was not around to advise me either.


Interviewer: Hasegawa – your manager?
Aoki: Yes. I did not make much effort. I was struggling with conflict.


Interviewer: I understand. So, when you became the champion in Shooto and said to the audience, “I will not ever fight anywhere but Shooto”, was that a display of the hardships you were facing?
Aoki: Yes. During that time, I was still a child in many ways. So, the PRIDE Bushido events made me grow up. Bushido made me learn to think as a professional, it showed me that if I put the effort in, fighting in MMA will allow me to eat.


Interviewer: When you started with PRIDE Bushido, there was some adjusting, wasn’t there?
Aoki: It was a professional atmosphere in all aspects. The staff would do as much as they could to make sure the fighters would concentrate on the event. They would give us money for food, supplies for the fight, and the locker rooms were stocked with anything we needed. There were no worries as a fighter. Seeing how we were treated, I asked myself, “What am I, a king?”


Interviewer: You made your “King” debut at Bushido (Laughing out loud)
Aoki: With that treatment, they required you to do a lot. They wanted you to win, of course. They wanted to keep the fight exciting for the fans. They wanted you to make professional speeches. By them requesting me to do all this, it made me mature as a professional. It was a huge impact on my career. I thought, “Can you make a living in MMA?” “You can make a living in MMA!”


Interviewer: Before you began fighting for Bushido, you quit your job with the police, correct? Did you quit because you had decided you were able to make a living in MMA?
Aoki: I thought “I have to make a living.”


Interviewer: Did you have any worries (making the transition)?
Aoki: Yes, many.


Interviewer: What lead you to this decision?
Aoki: First, even if I had become a police officer, I wanted to continue to train judo. I had a goal to be in the Olympics. When MMA came into the picture, I was unable to compete in judo.


Interviewer: Ah, the professional judo world is very demanding, isn’t it?
Aoki: I assumed it was okay, but when I started with the police, I found it was absolutely impossible. That was a real shock.


Interviewer: And this made you consider your future?
Aoki: Even if it was not MMA, I wanted to achieve something in the fight sport. While I was attending police college, an offer came from the UFC.


Interviewer: To the police college? (laughing)
Aoki: It came through a foreign connection I had. They offered a certain amount of money and said my opponent would be BJ Penn.


Interviewer: A BJ Penn fight for X dollars?
Aoki: I figured the pay after taking taxes and all expenses out and I figured that if I could somehow fight 4 times a year, I could make ends meet and pay the bills.


Interviewer: Interesting. So, the UFC made its offer, this must have made you realize you could make it as a pro, right?
Aoki: This is what I thought.


Interviewer: So do you have gratitude toward the UFC?
Aoki: Yes! Dana White, thank you! (Laughing)

http://www.thefightnerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Shinya-Aoki.jpg

universele
16-11-2010, 20:55
Thanx, is een top vechter!
Ik zie hem graag vechten en ben blij dat hij voor mma is gegaan.
Wil hem wel met BJ zien vechten :-)