Sherdog’s Top 10: Japanese Fighters

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3. Shinya Aoki

Aoki is perhaps the most dangerous ground fighter ever to compete in MMA. A grappling wizard in every sense of the word, he has posted an incredible 66-percent submission finish rate during his brilliant career, which continues to this day in One Championship. At 32, Aoki has quite a few years left through which to wreck opponents, dazzle fans and build his legacy.

“Tobikan Judan” grew up on the Deep and Shooto scenes before he moved on to Pride Fighting Championships, Dream and K-1, taking out credible foes like Gesias Cavalcante, Joachim Hansen, Caol Uno, Eddie Alvarez, Vitor Ribeiro, Satoru Kitaoka, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Marcus Aurelio. Aoki has won 15 of his past 16 bouts, a loss to Alvarez in their April 2012 rematch in Bellator his only misstep.

On an eight-fight winning streak and currently lording over the lightweight division in Singapore’s One Championship promotion, Aoki has the requisite skills and the necessary time to move up on this list if he plays his cards right.

Number 2 » He was for a time MMA’s premier lightweight. He won his first 14 fights and 24 of his first 26, capturing titles in both Pride Fighting Championships and Shooto.