Yoshihiro Akiyama: The best offense is a sexy defense

by Akimitsu Kuwabara on Sep 28, 2009 11:45 PM EDT

akiyama

The famed Xtreme Couture gym will add more world class talent to the "Who's Who" of mixed martial artists who train or have trained at the Las Vegas, Nevada-based gym.

Yoshihiro Akiyama, a Korean-Japanese middleweight who made his UFC debut at UFC 100, will travel to "Sin City" to train at Xtreme Couture in October, according to Sherdog.com.

Akiyama will devote an entire month to training with Shawn Tompkins and Vitor Belfort to refine his striking. Tompkins acknowledged Akiyama's merit as a fighter, describing his fighting style as "slick and aggressive." He aims aims to shore up Akiyama's defense during the month-long training sojourn.

A world class judoka, Akiyama made his name in K-1 Hero's, compiling an undefeated record (11-0, 1 NC). After K-1 pulled the plug on Hero's, he fought twice in the newly formed DREAM in 2008 before signing with UFC. He made a successful UFC debut in July, edging out Alan Belcher via split decision victory.

Immediately after his UFC 100 bout with Belcher, he underwent a surgery to treat the eye injury he sustained in the bout. With his eye fully healed, Akiyama strives to elevate his game to ensure his future success in UFC's talent-rich middleweight division.

The date and opponent for his second appearance in UFC have yet to surface.

Stay tuned to MMAmania for more news on Yoshihiro Akiyama and his return to the Octagon.

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Comments

this was a good decision by sexyama!~

he needs to get some solid training in a cage..

and training with vitor on his standup should help alot.

by stinky~fingers on Sep 29, 2009 12:30 AM EDT reply actions

and dropping to welter weight cud always help..

by guyverbob on Sep 29, 2009 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah he’s way small for MW.

by NameNotRequired on Sep 29, 2009 1:11 AM EDT up reply actions

he wasn’t a small mw in japan..

after his close fight with belcher, i think he realized he can’t compete with the big dawgs at mw..

very smart choice!~

i hope he makes the cut healthy.. if he does it proper he could be a top ww in no time..

by stinky~fingers on Sep 29, 2009 1:25 AM EDT up reply actions

His first ufc ‘win’ was such a joke. Dana better toss him a can if he plans to use sexyama to bring in the Asian fans.

Wanderlei and his new face would destroy akiyama.

by Arnold on Sep 29, 2009 6:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Or you could learn how score MMA bouts?!

by NameNotRequired on Sep 29, 2009 8:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Big Akiyama fan. I would love to see Akiyama / Drwal for his next fight. Think it would be a great style matchup.

by Cole on Sep 29, 2009 8:53 AM EDT up reply actions

No kidding NNR. Just because Rogan says Belcher has the fight in the bag halfway through the second round does not make it so.

by PW on Sep 29, 2009 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Maybe I was the only one who felt Belcher won the first and second rounds? I also didn’t think Akiyama reached half the hype that followed him into that fight.

by Arnold on Sep 29, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I like Sexyama but he looked tiny against Belcher, his best chance at success is to drop down to WW. He’ll struggle badly against the bigger MWs like Nate, Hendo, Wandi and Vitor, nevermind Andy.

by David W-S on Sep 29, 2009 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Looks like he might face wanderlei in 108. I like both fighters and dont want to see any of them lose but i would go with akiyama.

by Jose on Sep 29, 2009 12:57 AM EDT reply actions

Sexyama is really bringing the Sexy to the western world.

I hope Wandy vs Sexy doesn’t happen. I would hate to see either lose.

by o on Sep 29, 2009 1:05 AM EDT reply actions

Xtreme Coutoure aint the place to go to learn standup

by zack on Sep 29, 2009 1:17 AM EDT reply actions

he will be training with vitor~

by stinky~fingers on Sep 29, 2009 1:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Vitor alone isnt going to make him better.. they have way more wrestlers there than there are guys that have real standup skills. Unless he brings in his own standup coach like Randy does.

by zack on Sep 29, 2009 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Shawn Tompkins and Ray Sefo aren’t gonna hurt your stand up game are they?!

by Neil on Sep 29, 2009 5:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Vitor + Randy + Kampmann + Tyson + Maynard + Forrest + Junie (lol)

by Synyster on Sep 29, 2009 8:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Tompkins is about as good as a standup coach gets.

by JB on Sep 29, 2009 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Tompkins is horrible ask Wanderlei ask world champion Kit Kope… this guy was 0-6 or whatever in mma and u think hes a good techincal coach u moron. Randy Coutoure doesnt even let him train him u idiots… MMA CRossfire is a tool

by zack on Sep 29, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions

zack — Ah, of course. You would know this. You sense it. It’s a feeling.

by MMACrossfire on Sep 29, 2009 6:47 AM EDT up reply actions

For striking, I’d rather go to Ken Hahn at Striking Unlimited or ATT.

by LLC on Sep 29, 2009 10:03 AM EDT up reply actions

MMAmania comes through once again with the best headline for this story.. and the gigantic sexyama photo is a nice touch

by 604Sambo on Sep 29, 2009 1:21 AM EDT reply actions

i have a feeling that the whole training partners issue not wanting to fight eachother is only going to become an even bigger problem than it already is… cause top talents are wanting to train with other top talents and its going to create problems!

by JR on Sep 29, 2009 1:33 AM EDT reply actions

that has more to do with fighting guys who know their style than fighting friends. you see the same things in boxing where guys don’t want to fight former sparring partners.

my guess is that dana will get his way on that one. there are only a handfull of gyms churning out top talents, they have to fight each other.

by Conan the Barbarian on Sep 29, 2009 1:59 AM EDT reply actions