US fighter David Gardner may not have made the smartest decision in the middle of this fight with one of Japan’s biggest stars and most renowned ground fighters.
At Dream 7 in 2009 Shinya Aoki was matched up against another grappling in New Mexico’s David Gardner. Aoki had been a dominant force on the Japanese MMA since debuting for the DEEP organization in 2004. Aoki carried a 17-3-1 record int the fight and had already faced some of the sports biggest stars. Gardner was a veteran himself prior to the fight, coming in with a 14-8 record and with experience against top competition.
The fight started out with a little feeling out process with both fighters feinting take downs and throwing non-effective punches. Aoki takes the first real shot, but a good sprawl by Gardner lands him on top of Aoki’s half guard. He starts to land some solid punches, but Aoki defends well and then lands a sweep to full mount. He immediately transitions to back mount as Gardener tries to run. Aoki spent the next four minutes on Garnder’s back alternating between striking and attempting a choke submission.
Finally Gardner is able to shrug Aoki off his back and leaps to his feet and runs across the ring. Another short feeling out process before Aoki is able to shoot again and this time lands a solid throw and immediately transitions to Gardner’s back. Then Gardner makes a fatal mistake. In a seated position with Aoki on his back, Gardner lifts his hand to wave to the crowd, and mouth’s ‘Hello Japan.’ Aoki uses that lapse in judgement to sink in the rear naked choke and get the submission win.
About Shinya Aoki
Shinya Aoki (born May 9, 1983) is a Japanese mixed martial artist competing currently for Rizin Fighting Federation, grappler, and former police trainee currently competing in ONE Championship’s lightweight division. He is noted for being the DREAM Lightweight Champion, ONE Lightweight Champion, former WAMMA Lightweight Champion and former Shooto Welterweight Champion. Aoki holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Yuki Nakai, as well as a black belt in judo.
source: wikipedia.com
